Halpin Denounces Rauner’s Veto of Worker-Protection Bill

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, is urging his colleagues to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of legislation designed to protect the rights of Illinois’ working men and women.

“Across our country and right here in Illinois, we’re seeing attacks on the rights of workers to collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and safer working conditions,” said Halpin. “I stand with local workers in firm opposition to Governor Rauner’s extreme agenda to enrich large corporations at the expense of the middle class.”

Halpin sponsored Senate Bill 1905, which would prevent local governments from enacting “right to work” ordinances within their limits. “Right to work” is a term used by right-wing special interest groups to describe laws that seek to remove collective bargaining rights, which allow tens of thousands of men and women who build roads, maintain infrastructure and keep our communities safe to level the playing field against big businesses and ultra-wealthy CEOs by banding together to negotiate for fair working conditions and pay as a group.

Rauner has pushed the special interest agenda by calling for “right to work” zones in Illinois. While his corporate agenda has been roundly rejected by Republicans and Democrats alike, Rauner vetoed Senate Bill 1905. His attempt to disenfranchise working people sets Illinois in a race to the bottom against low-wage states like Alabama, where a leading business journal Bloomberg recently found steps to curtail collective bargaining and pad corporate profits at the expense of middle-class families have led to poverty-level wages and unsafe working conditions comparable to third-world sweat shops.

“Governor Rauner’s veto of this measure jeopardizes working families’ financial security and their livelihood,” said Halpin. “I am calling on my colleagues to protect the middle-class lives we’ve built and vote to override the governor’s veto.”

For more information, please contact Halpin’s full-time constituent service office at 309-558-3612 or at rephalpin@gmail.com.