Public sector collective bargaining legislative improvements

SEIU Local 73 is part of a coalition which passed legislation to address problems created by the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision. As members know, SEIU Local 73, along with all other public sector collective bargaining agents, must provide representation and collective bargaining services to all represented employees regardless of their union membership. 

The Janus decision which overturned decades of established law and a unanimous Supreme Court decision caused a number of problems for collective bargaining agents (unions).

Those problems included: union members rights to privacy, interference in the relationship between union members and their union (including by employers or outside organizations), who determines union membership-unions or employers, access during work hours to represented employees, and accurate lists of represented employees.

SEIU Local 73 and our allies worked hard to pass legislation addressing these issues in Illinois public sector collective bargaining law. The bill:

• establishes new unfair labor practices when an employer interferes with membership lists, access to members, dues authorization and the relationship between represented employees and their union.
• protects union member and represented employees privacy by restricting employers and other public bodies from sharing employee personal information with outside parties;
• ensures employers will provide monthly lists of employees in represented bargaining unit titles;
• gives collective bargaining agents the reasonable access to public employer premises, including for new employee orientation;
• gives unions the authority, and responsibility, for determining union membership and dues authorization;

The bill will become effective immediately upon Governor Pritzker’s signature.