Are Workers’ Rights Amendment Supporters Lying In Their Ad, Did They Lie To Legislators Or Lie To The Court? – Wirepoints

By: Mark Glennon*

Supporters of Amendment 1, the so-called Workers Rights Amendment, are all over the place with contradictory, outlandish claims about what the amendment would do if approved by voters in November’s election.

The latest is their first TV ad featuring a private sector healthcare worker at a children’s facility. He says, “These kids are fighters. We work with them so they can make it to their next birthday. We see these kids as family, but hospitals see them as dollar signs. They cut corners. Fewer nurses, longer shifts. It’s not safe for these kids. When we speak up, we risk being fired. But the Workers’ Rights Amendment will protect us as we stand up for our patients. I shouldn’t lose my job for putting them first. That is my job.”

But hold on. Applying the amendment to the private sector flatly contradicts what the lead sponsor of the resolution for the amendment told the Senate. In discussion on the Senate floor, Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) said, “as federal labor law stands today, the amendment could not apply to the private sector.”

Which is it?

The ad and Villivalam’s statement cannot both be correct. So proponents either lied then or they’re lying now – on top of exploiting voters’ emotions for sick kids for cheap political points.

The office of the Illinois Attorney General had yet another version of what effect the amendment would have on the private sector when they went before a Sangamon County court to defend having the amendment on the ballot, essentially saying that it would apply on some matters but not others.

That position the AG took is closest to the truth. As we’ve explained repeatedly, state regulation of the private sector labor issues that the amendment purports to cover are generally preempted by extensive federal legislation; for the most part, states simply cannot do what the amendment purports to do in the private sector. There are exceptions around the margins, however, and there are far more examples than the AG offered, which is why the amendment would lead to endless litigation over its scope.

As for public sector workers in Illinois, the absurdity is still deeper. The state can and does regulate public sector labor matters in detail. But the amendment would override all of it with two sentences creating a constitutional right that ignores existing law.

On that public sector matter, Villivalam said on the Senate floor that “it is the drafters’ intent” only to create a new “constitutional floor.” The amendment, he said, “does not and is not intended to preempt or disturb” any existing law, regulation or interpretation that Illinois already has for public sector workers.

No. The state cannot pretend to intend what the amendment does not say. It’s a fundamental rule of statutory and constitutional interpretation that the plain meaning of words controls. The “drafters’ intent” is only considered when needed to resolve ambiguities, inconsistencies and the like.

Here, the amendment’s wording is plain and simple: “No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and work place safety, including any law or ordinance that prohibits the execution or application of agreements.”

The constitutional right it would create would have supremacy over all Illinois statutes and regulations. It does not purport to be limited or subject to existing law in any way whatsoever. If it is supposed to be subordinate to existing law or to be interpreted consistently with existing law it would need to say so.

Illinois better start seriously focusing on this amendment because early voting starts next month. That goes for its union and Democratic supporters as well, who still don’t seem to realize some of what it would do that they probably wouldn’t like. It would end the exclusive bargaining power of major unions, giving that right to any two workers who would be able to bargain through whomever they want. It would also override a list of exemptions from collective bargaining rights put in place by a Democratic legislature and governor. We wrote about both those matters here.

Finally, does anybody really believe that the amendment is about healthcare and kids? Consider how unions successfully blocked a sensible effort last year to alleviate the nurse shortage, as summarized in the National Review:

llinois already faced a shortage of nurses before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and SB 2068 would have allowed more nurses to come to Illinois and quickly help alleviate the state’s long-term shortage. It would have allowed nurses living in Illinois, but licensed in other states, to expand their career opportunities and potentially increase their income and skill set, or to volunteer at an out-of-state camp for children with illnesses or disabilities. Yet after the bill was unanimously passed by the Senate Licensed Activities Committee, it did not receive another vote.

Who opposed the bill? The Illinois AFL-CIO, the Illinois Nurses Association, and the Chicago Federation of Labor, all of which publicly filed notices of opposition. Supporters greatly outnumbered these union interests, with nonprofit faith-based charities that care for the sick and elderly leading the call to make it easier for nurses to come to Illinois, but union bosses had the power where it counted.

This is not about healthcare. It’s about power and money.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints

Earlier Wirepoints articles on Amendment 1:

• Illinois’ biggest fraud on its voters yet is coming in its official description of proposed constitutional amendment
• Amendment 1 Is Illinois Progressives’ Most Frightening Gambit Yet.
• Supporters of Amendment 1 should get their story straight. Latest double-talk is about workplace safety.
• Advancing an amendment to enshrine union power
• Scope Of Pending Illinois Constitutional Amendment Goes Far Beyond Appearances. It’s A Monstrous Giveaway To Public Unions.
• Illinois lawmakers want to cement union powers into the state constitution