Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Unions Take Rauner To Court

twitter.com/BruceRauner

Twenty-seven unions, representing some 40,000 state employees, are taking the state's chief executive to court.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in St. Clair County circuit court says Gov. Bruce Rauner's executive order eliminating "fair-share" dues requirements was illegal.

Credit twitter.com/BruceRauner

A spokesman for Rauner says the lawsuit was expected, and that unions are trying to hold onto their power.

The Republican governor last month blocked state agencies from collecting fees from non-unionized employees. Those fees -- known as "fair-share" dues because they support the benefits unions have secured for all workers – are required under Illinois law.

Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, says Rauner's move is blatantly illegal. Carrigan says that, ever since Rauner took office, the governor has been fixated on weakening unions and driving down public workers' wages.

"Let's not kid ourselves, the governor -- his intent here is to weaken unions, and to wipe us out entirely,” Carrigan said. "This just seems to be his own agenda and, if he wants to fight this fight … well, we'll take him on.”

The governor's office says the lawsuit isn't unforeseen -- Rauner's spokesman says he'd "expected the government union bosses to fight to keep their stranglehold over Illinois taxpayers in place."

Rauner says in a statement that "these forced union dues are a critical cog in the corrupt bargain that is crushing taxpayers."

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, has previously cast legal doubt on Rauner's move.

“The current state of the law is that fair-share fees are constitutional,” Ann Spillane, Madigan’s chief of staff, said last month. “As recently as last year, the United States Supreme Court was urged to rule that they were unconstitutional. The court explicitly declined to do that, leaving in place the case law saying these fees are constitutional,”

Also last month, Comptroller Leslie Munger — a Republican appointed by Rauner — released a statement saying only that she would "defer to the guidance" of the attorney general.

Rauner says forcing workers to pay money to unions is a violation of their First Amendment rights, because he says unions and their political activities are "inextricably linked.”

When he issued the executive order last month, Rauner also filed a federal lawsuit to strike fair-share dues. Rauner's office said state agencies would withhold the fees in an escrow account until the federal lawsuit is complete.

Carrigan says unions will file another lawsuit, seeking to block the governor's legal action. He says state court -- not federal -- is the appropriate venue to address issues with state laws.

  • Amanda Vinicky, Statehouse Bureau Chief for Illinois Public Radio, contributed to this report

Copyright 2015 WNIJ Northern Public Radio