RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, there has been a concerted, successful effort by powerful corporate interests to silence working Americans through relentless attacks on collective bargaining and labor unions throughout the country;
WHEREAS, Wisconsin was the first state in the United States to provide collective bargaining rights to public employees in 1959;
WHEREAS, in 2011, then-Governor Scott Walker signed Act 10 into law, effectively, eliminating public sector collective bargaining, leading to pay decreases and a sharp decline in union membership throughout the state;
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, et al, struck down a 41-year precedent, allowing "free riders" to receive services, benefits, and representation from labor unions without paying for them in the form of fair share fees or membership dues;
WHEREAS, since 2012, so-called "right to work" (RTW) laws have been passed in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Kentucky,
WHEREAS, Illinois workers are not impervious to attacks on their rights;
WHEREAS, Gov. Rauner held the budget hostage for two years, targeting our teachers, first responders, caregivers, causing lasting damage and disproportionately affecting out most vulnerable;
WHEREAS, this year, the Tennessee General Assembly has advanced legislation designed to enshrine RTW in its state constitution and the Missouri General Assembly is once again contemplating enacting RTW, just one year after the voters of Missouri overwhelmingly rejected the measure;
WHEREAS, 27 states currently have RTW laws, several of which are cemented into their state constitutions;
WHEREAS, RTW laws undermine workers' freedom to band together and speak with a more powerful voice;
WHEREAS, working people in RTW states earn lower wages and are significantly less likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance or retirement benefits;
WHEREAS, RTW laws are associated with up to an 8.2 percent decrease in worker earnings;
WHEREAS, union membership is correlated with approximately a 12 to 13 percent increase in earnings;
WHEREAS, collective bargaining has an unambiguously positive effect on workers' wages, union and non-union;
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WHEREAS, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked that "[i]n our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'rights to work.' It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose it to destroy labor unions and collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone... We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.";
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of Chicago assembled this (day and month and year), do hereby call on House Speaker Madigan, Senate President Harmon, and the other members of the General Assembly to place HJRCA 37, the Workers Rights Amendment, on the ballot to be voted upon by the people of the State of Illinois at the General Election to be held November 3, 2020.
Susan Sadlowski Garza Marty Quinn
10th Ward Alderwoman 13th Ward Alderman
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