Dem Staffers Seeking Union say Welch "Ignoring" Constitution
House Democrat staffer Brady Burden and House Speaker Chris Welch testify before a committee on a bill allowing staff to create a union last November. (Photo: Capitol News Illinois)
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A group of House Democrat staffers attempting to form a union are shooting back at an effort by House Speaker Chris Welch to have their lawsuit seeking recognition of the union dismissed.
In a filing last month, attorneys for Welch asked a judge to dismiss the staff lawsuit seeking to force Welch to recognize their efforts to form a staff union.
The staffers believe the 2022 Workers Rights Amendment grants them the right to form a union, a theory Welch’s attorneys disputed.
In a filing Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, attorneys for the staffers argued the suit should not be dismissed and Welch and his attorneys are presenting an inaccurate interpretation of the law.
“This is a motion that asks this Court to ignore the plain language of the Illinois Constitution. There is nothing ambiguous about Article I, Section 25, the Workers’ Rights Amendment,” attorneys for the staffers wrote. “It is both a universal right and a gap-filling measure intended for employees who currently have no right to bargain because of exclusion either from federal labor law or from the [Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.] Until adoption of the Workers’ Rights Amendment, the Speaker’s own legislative staff had no legal right like other employees to bargain with their employer over wages, hours, and working conditions. Now they do.”
In a statement late Thursday, the staffers accused Welch of attempting to ignore the law.
“In a pattern all too familiar by now, this motion appears to be more focused on optics than on actual legal substance,” the staffers wrote. “This case is, and has always been about the fact that the Speaker is obligated to recognize and bargain with ILSA under the constitution, but refuses to do so. Speaker Welch is not above the law.”
A message to the Speaker’s spokesperson Thursday was not immediately returned.
