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Illinois Politicians Trying to Kill Local Employee Freedom Initiatives

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Big Labor is strong in Illinois, and it has marshaled its forces against attempts by local politicians to free their constituencies from the state’s burdensome forced unionization laws. Illinois State House politicians are working hard to get a law to the governor banning any individual towns or cities from exercising freedom against Big Labor. Greg Bishop reports for the Illinois News Network:

No local government in Illinois would be able to restrict collective bargaining issues for public or private unions under a measure that is one step closer to being sent to the governor’s office.

State Rep. Lance Yednock, D-Ottawa, sponsored Senate Bill 1474 in the House. He said the U.S. Congress didn’t include political subdivisions in the National Labor Relations Act that regulates collective bargaining agreements.

“And doing so, Congress decided to avoid the confusion of having 7,000 units of local government in Illinois with thousands of different laws it would create,” Yednock said. “The [Seventh Circuit appeals] court referred to this situation as an impossible position and a nightmare.”

Supporters of SB1474 have argued that it would only allow the state to set such policy and prohibit right-to-work zones. Supporters also said it would codify federal labor law by prohibiting local government from limiting collective bargaining.

State Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, supported the bill.

“And all the language that was in the original bill that would have to do with penalties, that’s all been removed from the bill,” Wheeler said.

An earlier version of the bill called for municipal officials who voted for local right-to-work zones to face criminal charges.

If the idea of criminal charges for local elected officials who fight Big Labor for employees’ freedom doesn’t scare you, what would? Read more here.

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E.J. Smith

Editor-in-Chief
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com.