Advocating for Constitutional Amendments to Empower Workers and Contractors
Local 150 has successfully advocated for two key Illinois Constitutional Amendments: the Safe Roads Amendment and the Workers’ Rights Amendment.
Local 150’s commitment to these initiatives demonstrates their dedication to enhancing the rights and welfare of workers throughout the state. By championing these amendments, they have not only underscored the significance of infrastructure and labor rights, but have also set a precedent for future endeavors that prioritize community well-being.
These constitutional reforms showcase the strength of collective action and the lasting influence of labor advocacy. They serve as a powerful reminder that when individuals unite for a shared purpose, they can bring about meaningful changes that benefit future generations.
The Safe Roads Amendment
The Safe Roads Amendment marks a significant milestone in the long-standing effort to establish a “lockbox” for transportation infrastructure funding. On November 8, 2016, Illinois voters overwhelmingly approved the Illinois Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Constitutional Amendment, commonly referred to as the Safe Roads Amendment.
This outcome represented a significant victory for both workers and contractors, as it secured funding for essential infrastructure projects. Moreover, it guarantees the ongoing safety of the roads and bridges that people across the Midwest rely on daily.
However, the origins of the notion of a Lockbox dates back much further. Below is “The Captains of Industry” photograph of the Chicago Roadbuilders Association dinner, circa May 3, 1932. Those pictured include the fathers and grandfathers of many construction contractors signatory to Local 150 to this day. Minutes of the group’s meeting include reference to their legislative goal of enacting statutory restrictions on expenditure of transportation related revenues to transportation construction- the “Lockbox.”
Fast forward more than eight decades to November 8, 2016, when Illinois voters approved the Illinois Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment with an overwhelming 80% of voters in favor of putting into law measures that prohibit lawmakers from using transportation funds for anything other than their stated purpose. Local 150 alongside other trades and contractors led the charge to ensure driver-paid taxes are actually spent on infrastructure, improving road conditions and securing thousands of transportation jobs. At the time, Illinois roads and bridges were in great disrepair, with aging infrastructure, years of underinvestment, and mounting maintenance needs threatening public safety and economic growth across the state. The campaign reflected Local 150’s long-standing commitment to fighting for infrastructure investment that creates jobs, protects funding, and delivers lasting benefits for its members and the communities they serve.
The Workers’ Rights Amendment
Conversely, the Workers’ Rights Amendment (WRA) signifies a substantial advancement in safeguarding and empowering the workforce. Approved by Illinois voters on November 8, 2022, this amendment enshrines the right of workers to organize and engage in collective bargaining. Its aim is to secure fair wages, safe working conditions, and equitable treatment for all employees, ensuring that their voices are acknowledged and respected.
As President-Business Manager James M. Sweeney wrote in the November 2022 Engineer prior to the vote, “Polling shows that the race is extremely close on the amendment. This battle was never going to be easy, but we can win this if those of you in Illinois bring your families out to vote. And when we win, we will kiss the spectre of “right-to-work” goodbye forever in Illinois.”
A majority of Illinois voters approved the Workers’ Rights Amendment, which guarantees the fundamental right of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. The Amendment passed with 2.2 million votes. Of all the ballots cast, the vote was 53.4 percent yes to 37.6 percent no, with 9.0 percent not voting. The Workers’ Rights Amendment lawmakers from passing laws that interfere with, negate, or diminish the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.
Among its many provisions, the WRA is designed to prevent the Illinois Legislature from passing a so-called “Right-to-Work” law. It seems appropriate to recap how Local 150, the Fight Back Fund, and Organized Labor achieved this historic first-in-the-Nation feat.
Right-to-Work laws first appeared during World War II when right-wing groups began to push various types of legislation designed to undermine the American Labor Movement. Often inspired by the racist fears that labor unions promoted economic equality of all Americans, many southern states adopted laws designed to make the “closed shop” illegal. Union contracts at that time required employers to hire only union members. Now, union security clauses can only require employees represented by unions to pay their “fair share” of the costs of that representation. Right-to-Work laws make all such clauses illegal, which undermines unions’ economic strength and creates discord between dues-paying members and non-member “free-riders.”
When the U.S. Congress began considering amendments to the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) in 1947, at least five states had passed or were considering Right-to-Work laws. Iowa was one of the first states to pass a Right-to-Work law in 1947. When those amendments were passed as part of the regressive Taft-Hartley Act, it included Section 14(b), which states:
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law.
Over the next several decades, many other states adopted these pernicious Right-to-Work laws.
In 1959, Indiana passed a Right-to-Work law, but repealed it a few years later. In 1965, the AFL-CIO launched a campaign to repeal Section 14(b), but it failed when Illinois Senator Republican Everett McKinley Dirksen filibustered the repeal legislation to death.
In the 1960s to 1990s, the Right-to-Work Committee and its anti-union supporters turned their attention to limiting the uses to which unions could spend dues money. It was in this period of time when the courts and NLRB created the class of employees who did not have to become union members and needed to pay only their “fair share” of representation costs.
In 2001, Oklahoma became the first state in many years to pass a Right-to-Work law. As unions continued to lose market share in the American economy and their influence in American politics declined, more and more states began to consider Right-to-Work laws.
In 2012, the Indiana legislature again passed a Right-to-Work law. And despite promises not to do so, on February 1, 2012 Republican Governor Mitch Daniels signed it into law.
Local 150 filed a lawsuit in federal court in Indiana challenging the Indiana Right-to-Work law as unconstitutional. After the court dismissed the Union’s claims, we appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. We also split state law claims out of the original suit and refiled in Indiana State Court. Our theories in both that suit and the appeal were the same: Right-to-Work violated the rights of the Union and its fees-paying members to require them to subsidize “free-riders.” The trial court agreed with us, but the Indiana Supreme Court reversed.
At first, we did no better in the Seventh Circuit, where in 2015, the three-judge panel split 2-1 against us. But one judge, Diane Wood, agreed with Local 150 and said the Indiana Right-to-Work law was an unconstitutional “taking” of the members’ property without due process. In a rare procedural move, we asked all the judges of the Seventh Circuit to reconsider the panel’s opinion. Five judges agreed with us, but the other five disagreed—this tie meant we came one vote short of a viable legal theory that could have challenged Right-to-Work nationwide.
Despite Local 150’s efforts, the Right-to-Work cancer began to spread. In late 2012, Michigan—the bastion of Organized Labor and birthplace of the United Auto Workers (UAW)—passed a Right-to-Work law. In 2015, under the “leadership” of Koch Brothers protégé Scott Walker, Wisconsin pushed through Right-to-Work and gutted the public sector labor law there while he was at it.