November 18, 2022
Illinois Voters Just Made Collective Bargaining a Constitutional Right
By Lisa Herforth-Hebbert
The state’s new Workers’ Rights Amendment is a historic victory for union organizers, shutting out the anti-labor “right-to-work” laws that have dominated in the Midwest.
On November 8, voters in Illinois took to the polls to approve the addition of Amendment 1, also known as the “Workers’ Rights Amendment,” to their state Constitution. The amendment guarantees the fundamental right to to organize and collectively bargain for Illinois workers. “No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.”
In order to be incorporated into the constitution, the amendment needed 60 percent approval from those voting on the amendment or to be accepted by a simple majority of all those voting in the election. According to a New York Times tracker, “Yes” led with over 2.1 million votes with the Associated Press officially calling it on Tuesday. Half of these votes came from Cook County, the most populous county in the state, which includes the city of Chicago.
At the University of Chicago, the largest employer on the low-income South Side, local organizers have spent weeks reflecting on the impact the amendment will have and the struggles that led to this moment. On November 2, the UChicago Graduate Students Union passed a joint endorsement of the Amendment with organizers at Northwestern during a meeting with over 200 members. “This amendment is a milestone in establishing the right to organize as a fundamental right of workers,” said Joe Rathke, a member of UChicago’s GSU studying labor history.
