Powerful union pushes to change Illinois constitution to ban right to work – Crain’s

Hoping to nail shut a door that former Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to pry open, a major state labor group is moving to put Illinois permanently off-limits to efforts to ban so-called union shops in the state.

The move is being led by International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, a large, well-funded building-trades group with considerable influence on both sides of the aisle in Springfield. IUOE specifically wants the Legislature this spring to approve—and send to voters for final action on the November ballot—a proposed constitutional amendment banning right-to-work laws in the state. While political conservatives strongly favor such laws, arguing that workers should not be required to join a union and/or pay dues as a condition of employment, labor groups assert right-to-work laws are an effort to disempower working people.