CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Unofficial results Wednesday showed that the proposed Workers’ Rights Amendment was still shy of the 60% voter approval required for it to become part of the Illinois Constitution.
Still, local labor leaders were holding onto hope.
Dian Palmer, President of Service Employees International Union Local 73, said giving public sector workers the right to bargain for wages and working conditions is needed.
She said she’s from Wisconsin — a right to work state — so, she knows what it's like when workers’ rights are not protected.
“The Workers’ Rights Amendment is the right way … to engrave this into the Constitution, so workers have a right to have good wages, [and] to be able to negotiate their working conditions,” Palmer said. “Local 73 was in full support of the Workers’ Rights Amendment.”
Business groups have opposed the measure.
Palmer spoke with reporters just after announcing her labor union will be supporting Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson for Chicago mayor in 2023.
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