Update: On Nov. 15, AP News officially declared that Amendment 1 in Illinois, the Workers’ Rights Amendment, passed and will be added to the state’s constitution.
As companies like Starbucks and Amazon continue their efforts to stop employees from unionizing, voters in Illinois passed a historic measure to safeguard the right to organize in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The Workers’ Rights Amendment (WRA) would enshrine in the Illinois state constitution “the fundamental right [of workers] to organize and to bargain collectively … for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work.”
The amendment also prohibits the state from passing any legislation in the future that interferes with, negates, or diminishes those rights — ensuring Illinois will never enact an anti-union “right-to-work” law like several of its neighboring states have done in recent years, including Wisconsin, Indiana and Kentucky.
Presented as a ballot question, the WRA needed either 60 percent approval from those voting on the measure or 50 percent approval from everyone voting in the election. As of Thursday, the measure was on track to pass, and Illinois unions were already celebrating a victory.
“We built one of the best coordinated campaigns I’ve ever been involved in,” said Joe Bowen, communications director for Vote Yes for Workers’ Rights — a coalition of unions and progressive organizations led by the Illinois AFL-CIO and...
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