SPRINGFIELD – Illinois is governed by special interests, and the latest iteration of statehouse influence peddling is the progressing effort to codify union protections in the Illinois Constitution, according to State Representative Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City).
The Illinois legislature approved Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 11 last week, which would place a Constitutional Amendment on the November 2022 ballot to ask voters' approval of language to prevent the General Assembly from enacting any law prohibiting the ability of workers to collectively bargain over wages, hours, terms, and conditions.
“I’ll put my working class bona fides against anyone here,” Wilhour said on the Illinois House floor during debate.
“I literally climbed off a pole barn and into the General Assembly. I represent a working-class district. I support union workers and non-union workers, but let’s recognize, unions don’t create jobs. Special interest pandering may create campaign donations, but they don’t create jobs,” Wilhour said.
The effort does nothing more than continue the failed policies that are hurting working families.
“This legislation perpetuates the environment we have right now where too many working families don’t have real opportunities for success and upward mobility in this state,” Wilhour said. “Who’s speaking for them? Who is speaking for the people in my district? These special interests have had control for decades and my question is have things gotten better for working people during that time?
"Where were these special interests over the last 30 years when the private sector economy in my region was being destroyed on the backs of workers and job creators? You want to help workers in this State? How about we display an ounce of fiscal sanity or government restraint that would allow us to put union workers to work, lower property taxes, properly fund education and really prioritize the most vulnerable among us? These are things are things voters really care – not the insider influence peddling we see day to day in the General Assembly.”
Wilhour said if we set the special interests aside and prioritized opportunity and quality of life for the people of Illinois, an economic powerhouse would develop in Illinois.
“A strong economy with real long-term viability that has respect for the balance of power between labor and job creators is an environment that attracts investment,” Wilhour said. “Right now, that dynamic is WAY out-of-balance. This permanent power grab pushes that balance off a cliff-forever. To think that job creators are going to look favorably on this type of environment shows a real lack of critical thinking about what is or is not a smart investment.
Constitutionally codifying the political agenda of a special interest group is totally inappropriate and will do more harm than good for the very people this legislation is supposedly intended to help. I will fight for the economic opportunities and economic empowerment of working folks all day long, but this isn’t it.”
