The Illinois Governor's Assault on Unions

You would have to know the Illinois labor movement and the Chicago Federation of Labor to fully understand the seriousness of the new governor’s assault on organized labor. Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to ban public employee collective bargaining and enact “so called right to work.” He even wants to outlaw union donations to politics.

Chicago is a union town with a strong middle class. That middle class was created by unions, created in real struggle to turn poverty level, hard, dirty jobs into jobs with dignity and respect where one working parent can provide for a family. Chicago is a magnet for people from around the world, absorbing new immigrants for more than 100 years now.

As my favorite poet Carl Sandburg wrote, “Chicago is a city of broad shoulders.”

The awful irony today is that we have a Supreme Court that says corporations are people and their money is speech, and a governor who says real workers should not be able to contribute.

This asshole of a governor made $60 million last year.

I suspect he will get more than expected in the response.

Image source: www.aflcio.org