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Op-Ed: Illinois government unions ask
voters to cement their dominion
By Brad Weisenstein | Illinois Policy Institute
If property taxes continue to increase at their long-run average
rate, the typical homeowner will pay over $2,100 in additional property
taxes during the next four years.
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 Chicago’s skyscrapers are designed to sway so they
don’t shatter, but the architects of the 1970 Illinois Constitution failed to
follow those foundational rules: they imposed rigidity.
And 52 years later, Illinois taxpayers are paying dearly because public pensions
cannot bend. Instead, the broken system imperils state services, could fail
retirees and threatens to crush taxpayers.
Flexibility is important when you cannot know the strength of future headwinds.
Lesson learned, right?
Wrong.
State lawmakers listened to the government unions that fund their campaigns and
put a rigid change to the Illinois Constitution at the top of the Nov. 8 ballot.
Union backers call it the “Workers’ Rights Amendment,” but if passed the vague
wording of Amendment 1 would go far beyond stopping Illinois from becoming a
right-to-work state and give government unions unyielding negotiating powers
enshrined in the state constitution.
While lawmakers might not have learned from the pension fiasco – or chosen to
ignore it as they curry favor with union support and cash for their campaigns –
that doesn’t mean voters can’t guard their own wallets from the implications of
Amendment 1.
The plain text of Amendment 1 does four things:
Creates a “fundamental right” for government workers to unionize and bargain –
on par with freedom of speech and religion.
Expands bargaining for government worker unions beyond wages and benefits to
include broad new subjects, including “economic welfare.”
Prohibits state and local lawmakers from passing taxpayer-friendly reforms, such
as limits to the length of government union contracts or improved disciplinary
measures for misconduct.
Bans right to work, a policy that protects workers from being fired for refusing
to pay money to a union.
It’s hard to guess all the implications of Amendment 1 because the language is
so broad. Analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute has uncovered a host of
likely impacts, and none of them make Illinois a better place to live or work.
That’s likely why no other state has granted these powers to a special interest.
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First, the amendment could prevent reforms to reduce property taxes. If property
taxes continue to increase at their long-run average rate, the typical homeowner
will pay over $2,100 in additional property taxes during the next four years.
The tax damage could be far worse as a result of significantly greater
government union power to make broad demands taxpayers would be required to
fund.
Second, it would make the state’s business climate even worse than it already
is, leaving businesses bracing for higher taxes and increased legal costs as
courts try to figure out the limits of the broad dictates.
There are other threats, including stopping reforms of bloated school
administration and redundant local governments, invalidating at least 350 state
laws, including ones that protect students and children in state care, and
allowing secret government contracts that sow corruption.
While increased property taxes is a threat when Illinoisans bear some of the
highest tax burdens in the country, perhaps the most damaging aspect is
Amendment 1 could potentially stop the constitutional amendment needed to fix
problem No. 1 in Illinois – the pension deficit.
Lawmakers and former Gov. Pat Quinn tried to fix the state’s pension deficits in
2013, but government unions fought back and won in the Illinois Supreme Court.
That decision was based on the rigidity of the 1970 Illinois Constitution’s
pension clause.
So, if all government pension benefits are already ironclad, what hope is there
to change the Illinois Constitution and fix the issue bankrupting our state if
we further decide those few government unions that benefit should be reinforced
with steel?
Voters on Nov. 8 will decide whether Illinois can bend, or whether it eventually
will break.
Brad Weisenstein is managing editor of the Illinois Policy
Institute.
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