Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner fired the first shot across the bow last month against the public sector labor unions by ordering an end to a requirement that workers pay dues even if they decide not to join a union.
"These forced union dues are a critical cog in the corrupt bargaining that is crushing taxpayers," Rauner said, adding that forcing non-union employees to pay union dues requires them to fund political activity they don't agree with."
But local union reaction suggests the executive order may have the opposite effect.
"The governor is attempting to execute an executive order that stops members from paying full dues if they choose to," local AFSCME Steward Bryon Steadman told the Daily News. "This has been used by other politicians throughout the nation, usually an attempt to weaken the union.
"We had approximately 8 to 12 fair-share members that this would have affected," Steadman said. "Ironically, after these members saw what the governor was attempting to do they decided to become full-share members. Our local now has 100 percent full membership, something I've never seen before at our facility.
"AFSCME is prepared to fight the governor's illegal policies and keep our members safe from political attacks.'
Rauner, a wealthy businessman and self-described admirer of governors in Wisconsin and Indiana who've championed anti-union policies, said 6,500 state employees are paying so-called "fair share" dues, or an average of $577 a year per worker.
Rauner frequently criticized organized labor during his campaign for governor, saying they hinder economic growth by stifling competition and have far too much political influence in President Barack Obama's Democratic-leaning home state.
His executive order sets up a fight with the state's powerful labor unions, a key ally of members of the Democratic-led Legislature, just as Illinois has begun divided government for the first time in more than a decade. Unions immediately lashed back, while top Democrats questioned the legality of Rauner's action and said their legal teams would review it.
Illinois labor unions fired back by filing a lawsuit March 5, seeking to invalidate Rauner's executive order ending a requirement that state workers pay union dues even if they don't want to join a union.
Twenty-seven unions sued the Republican governor, saying the order he issued last month violates collective bargaining agreements and state labor law and that Rauner exceeded his constitutional authority. The lawsuit filed in district court in St. Clair County also asks a judge to issue an injunction preventing the order from being implemented.
Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan said Rauner's action strikes at firefighters, snowplow drivers, nurses and other employees who provide critical state services.
"Gov. Rauner's political obsession with stripping their rights and driving down their wages demeans their service, hurts the middle class and is blatantly illegal," Carrigan said in an emailed statement.
The lawsuit was not unexpected, said Lance Trover, Rauner's director of communications.
"We always expected the government union bosses to fight to keep their stranglehold over Illinois taxpayers in place. These forced union dues are a critical cog in the corrupt bargain that is crushing taxpayers, and the government unions will do anything to keep the broken status quo."
Roberta Lynch, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 31, called the order a "scheme" to weaken unions and strip state workers of their rights.
Rauner said he took action after a U.S. Supreme Court decision last July that found state labor law violated the First Amendment by mandating home health care workers have union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks.
In their lawsuit, labor unions argued the money is needed to cover the cost of collective bargaining, handling grievances and communicating with members.
They also said the unions had filed grievances Thursday with the state, claiming Rauner's order violates collective bargaining agreements that allow the fair-share dues.
Rauner's order would eliminate so-called "fair share" dues - those dues non-members covered by collective bargaining agreements pay to cover the cost of bargaining, handling grievances and other non-political activities from which all workers benefit.
Rauner also filed a federal lawsuit against the unions. He wants a federal judge in Chicago - and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court - to declare fair-share dues unconstitutional, saying all union activities are inherently political and making non-members contribute violates their First Amendment rights.
The first-time public office holder and former businessman also has pushed for "right-to-work zones," or areas of the state where local voters could decide whether employees must join a union as a condition of employment. He says such zones would help Illinois compete with other states that have implemented right-to-work statewide, such as Indiana and Michigan. Neighboring Wisconsin also is moving toward becoming a right-to-work state.
The lawsuit notes that Rauner issued his order at the same time that negotiations for a new contract were beginning between members of the governor's administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. AFSCME is Illinois' largest state employee union, and its contract is set to expire June 30.
The order, Rauner said, would have "no impact" on employees who wish to remain paying members of the union and fund union activities out of their paychecks.
Rauner said the union dues requirement was something, "I am duty bound to correct.
