Tribune Editorial: Right-To-Work And Illinois
From the Chicago Tribune
For more than six decades, talk of a right-to-work law — which backers say would make Illinois more competitive for jobs — was largely irrelevant here. Of the six border states eager to poach companies away from Illinois, only Iowa had a law that forbade making employment contingent on joining or paying dues to a union. Illinois wasn't at a big labor-law disadvantage to most of its neighbors.
In 2012, though, Indiana and Michigan adopted right-to-work laws. And this week, Wisconsin state senators may pass a similar bill; the lower house, the Assembly, is expected to follow suit. Gov. Scott Walker likely would sign the bill, making Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state. And the other two states abutting Illinois? Kentucky's Senate and Missouri's House passed right-to-work bills in January and February, respectively. Prospects for enactment as law in both states are uncertain, but several impatient Kentucky counties have declared themselves right-to-work zones, with more counties expected to follow.
To unions that loathe right-to-work laws and their threat to membership rolls and dues, this suddenly looks like a noose tightening around Illinois. And one other factor has changed: Illinois has a Republican governor who wants to permit local right-to-work zones like Kentucky's.
Thus far, Gov. Bruce Rauner hasn't made an Illinois right-to-work law his priority. And with so many union-friendly Democrats (and some Republicans) in his legislature, we don't know that he will.
What Rauner does stress, every chance he gets, is that the high costs of doing business here make it easy for companies to expand, build or hire in more business-friendly states. When Rauner talks about making Illinois competitive again, he talks about high taxes, high worker's compensation premiums, the need for tort reform — and about communities that may want to enact right-to-work rules different from state government's.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
For more than six decades, talk of a right-to-work law — which backers say would make Illinois more competitive for jobs — was largely irrelevant here. Of the six border states eager to poach companies away from Illinois, only Iowa had a law that forbade making employment contingent on joining or paying dues to a union. Illinois wasn't at a big labor-law disadvantage to most of its neighbors.
In 2012, though, Indiana and Michigan adopted right-to-work laws. And this week, Wisconsin state senators may pass a similar bill; the lower house, the Assembly, is expected to follow suit. Gov. Scott Walker likely would sign the bill, making Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state. And the other two states abutting Illinois? Kentucky's Senate and Missouri's House passed right-to-work bills in January and February, respectively. Prospects for enactment as law in both states are uncertain, but several impatient Kentucky counties have declared themselves right-to-work zones, with more counties expected to follow.
To unions that loathe right-to-work laws and their threat to membership rolls and dues, this suddenly looks like a noose tightening around Illinois. And one other factor has changed: Illinois has a Republican governor who wants to permit local right-to-work zones like Kentucky's.
Thus far, Gov. Bruce Rauner hasn't made an Illinois right-to-work law his priority. And with so many union-friendly Democrats (and some Republicans) in his legislature, we don't know that he will.
What Rauner does stress, every chance he gets, is that the high costs of doing business here make it easy for companies to expand, build or hire in more business-friendly states. When Rauner talks about making Illinois competitive again, he talks about high taxes, high worker's compensation premiums, the need for tort reform — and about communities that may want to enact right-to-work rules different from state government's.
Read more in our daily News Update...