Heralded as a victory by unions and employee worker’s rights groups even before votes were confirmed, on Nov. 15, 2022, a majority of Illinois voters ushered in the Illinois Workers’ Right Amendment (IWRA). The IWRA is set to take effect once the Illinois State Board of Elections certifies the election results on Dec. 5, 2022.
The IWRA is somewhat novel and certainly one to watch, as the “new” Illinois protections may be viewed by some as impinging upon certain long-existing federal rights under traditional labor law jurisprudence.
Illinois now recognizes, as a fundamental right, the “right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purposes of negotiating wages, hours and working conditions…” through an Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the Illinois Constitution. This alone, however, does not change the overall labor landscape in Illinois, as the new language essentially mirrors rights that historically have existed under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 157 (NLRA) (vesting employees with the right to “self-organization, join or assist labor organizations, bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection”).
More importantly, the IWRA is essentially a “blocking regulation,” i.e., a proactive preventative measure to shield against any other law being passed....
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