Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has introduced a bill authorizing legislative staff to form a union. Members of Welch’s staff have been seeking recognition as a union, but the speaker has resisted the effort, arguing that state law prohibits his staff from organizing.
The proposed bill would eliminate that impediment, and Welch said he hopes to see the measure passed in this fall’s Veto Session.
The state constitution was amended last year with a Workers’ Rights Amendment that gives employees in Illinois “the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work.”
However, legal experts noted that the wording in the amendment was too vague to definitively include General Assembly employees, who under state law are specifically excluded from unionization.
The new law, if passed, would make it clear that General Assembly employees have the right to organize in a union, and would create an Office of State Legislative Labor Relations to represent the General Assembly in collective bargaining with legislative staff.
Under the proposed measure, any employee in a cohort with union representation could be required to pay a “fair-share” fee to cover union costs, even when they choose not to join the union. Such fees are not generally collectible under federal law.
