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ILLINOIS
HOUSE PASSES BILL TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES TO LEAVE
UNIONS, RECOVER FEES
Illinois Policy Institute/
Joe Tabor
SB 1784 would hurt workers trying to stop
paying union dues, give unions greater access to them and their personal
information.
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 The Illinois House of Representatives voted 93-23 on Oct. 29 to
limit public employees’ free speech rights and freedom to distance themselves
from a union under their newly won rights resulting from the Janus v. AFSCME
Supreme Court decision.
In Janus, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government labor unions are
inherently political and that public employees could not be forced to subsidize
that political speech through compulsory fees just to keep their jobs. Public
employees can still choose to be union members, but the Janus decision allows
employees who resign union membership to stop paying fees to a union.
 Illinois Senate Bill 1784, however, creates hurdles that make it more difficult
for employees to opt out of union membership, to stop paying dues, or to gain
information about resigning union membership. It puts a gag on employers about
quitting a union while giving unions face-to-face time with new employees and
the cell phone numbers and email addresses of all public employees, updated at
least monthly.
The bill was originally about the state ethics laws when passed March 13 by the
Illinois Senate. It was changed significantly to include the union policies, so
it heads back to the Senate which must concur with the changes. State Rep. Jay
Hoffman, D-Swansea, sponsored the changes in the House bill.
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Among other things, SB 1784:
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Gives public sector unions the right to meet
with new hires for up to one hour during working hours. It does
not provide that a new hire can refuse the orientation and
prohibits the employer from providing any information that could
discourage membership.
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Requires public employers to provide worker
information – including names, home addresses, and any personal
email or cell phone numbers the employer might have on file – to
the union at least once a month, regardless of the employees’
membership status or preferences.
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Exempts worker information from Freedom of
Information Act requests, making it harder for employees to
receive information about opting out of the union, about their
rights or from being offered information that balances union
views.
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Allows unions to restrict the window of time
that public employees can exercise their rights. As few as 10
days out of every year would be deemed “reasonable” under the
bill. The bill allows any dues authorization to be automatically
renewed if the employee does not request an end to the
deductions within the designated window. These windows are often
tied to the date an employee signed their union card, and
employees might not even know when their window to stop paying
begins or ends.
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Gives the sole authority for processing
requests to stop paying dues to the union itself rather than the
employer, who actually processes payroll checks.
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Attempts to cut off litigation – even pending
cases – for workers seeking refunds of money paid to the unions
before the Supreme Court ruled the money was unconstitutionally
collected. The cases revolve around certain fee payment and
informed dues payment consent issues that have arisen in the
wake of the Janus case.
Public employees are ill-served by SB 1784, which
would restrict the exercise of their constitutional rights to
distance themselves from unions and their politics. It would empower
unions to indoctrinate new employees and call workers’ cell phones.
It tries to legislate after the fact by stopping litigation to
recover workers’ money that should never have been taken from them,
which is sure to draw court challenges.
If the bill reaches Pritzker’s desk, he should oppose it. Public
employees deserve more information about their rights, not to be
made a captive audience with limited information and options.
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