September 29, 2017
To the Honorable
Members of
The Illinois Senate,
100th General
Assembly:
Today
I veto Senate Bill 1905 from the 100th General Assembly, which prohibits local
communities from allowing individual workers a choice in whether or not they
want to pay a union as a condition of employment. This legislation would damage
the economic health of Illinois’ communities by removing their freedom to determine
the best interests of their workforces and employers.
Illinois
lags behind its neighbors’ economic and job growth despite our many advantages.
Our State’s workforce is fleeing and aging, losing 250,000 people and having
the worst personal income growth in the country over the last decade. Individuals,
families, and businesses who should be eager to come to Illinois stay away. Manufacturers
too often leave across our borders or never even consider investing in new job
creation here. Many businesses will only expand in communities that offer
employee freedom of choice.
Part
of our struggle is that every state that shares a border with Illinois has
already enacted true worker freedom, allowing individuals in those states to
determine whether they want to contribute to a labor union. Many states around
us are growing union jobs as well as non-union jobs faster than Illinois
because more of their communities give workers choice while not preventing
employees from joining unions if they choose.
By
contrast, Senate Bill 1905 would move Illinois in the opposite direction by destroying
the freedom of Illinois’ local communities to choose reforms that can make
their economies more competitive, help their businesses grow, and give the
freedom to individual workers to support a union at their own discretion.
This
legislation forces local communities to follow a one-size-fits-all model of
government, no matter how detrimental they believe it is to them. Our goal
should not be to limit workers’ ability to join a union but rather to give communities
the freedom to embrace new tools to compete economically and to recruit
businesses and talent rather than have their choices dictated by Springfield.
Therefore,
pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return Senate Bill 1905, entitled “AN ACT concerning government”, with
the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
GOVERNOR