Posts tagged Illinois legislature
Your Uber Driver May Soon Be Unionized. At What Cost?
June 15, 2026 // In fact, this result has already been seen in locales that have pushed aggressive minimum wage laws for gig workers—another one-size-fits-all progressive labor policy that left-leaning cities have begun importing to gig work in recent years. For instance, the waitlist to become an UberEats driver in New York City grew to 27,000 after the Big Apple passed a minimum wage ordinance for app-based food delivery in 2023; the minimum wage rules forced Uber to limit drivers in an effort to control spiking labor costs. Unfortunately, draconian sector-wide labor rules will also raise labor costs for these platforms, with the costs inevitably being passed along to riders in the form of more expensive Uber rides. (Such a passed-along price increase has also already been seen with the minimum wage mandates for food delivery.) The gig worker unionization drive that is spreading acr
Commentary: Union power in Illinois: Shrinking membership and surging political clout
October 18, 2024 // On their face, the slow decline of the unionization rate in the Illinois workforce and the obstacles to public sector unionization created by the Janus decision could raise questions about the long-term viability of the labor movement in Illinois. But a closer look shows labor unions in Illinois are politically stronger than ever.
Union membership in Illinois dropped by 27,000 workers in 2023
February 16, 2024 // Criticizing a new bill filed in the Illinois legislature that would require high schools to observe “Workplace Readiness Week,” Mailee Smith, the Illinois Policy Institute’s senior director of Labor Policy and staff attorney, said unions, particularly government unions, will do whatever they can to ensure they maintain that foothold over power. “With this bill, it is about getting the kids … early on to give them this information about unionization and this becomes part of their thought process and part of their worldview without any sort of opposite viewpoint being taught to them,” Smith said.
Chicago School Principals Average $157K, Unionizing
June 13, 2023 // The already-high pay averages are both substantially higher than other principals and assistant principals in Illinois, which average $116,400 and $100,000, respectively. Median household income in Chicago is $65,781. This movement is likely to succeed. Mayor Brandon Johnson has already signaled support for this unionization attempt during his campaign, and has created a deputy mayor for labor relations position that will “foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of Chicago” and “assure work-related benefits and rights.”