So-called “right-to-work” laws are all the rage among Republican governors in the Midwest. Now Illinois’ Bruce Rauner has gotten in on the union-busting act.

Rauner issued an executive order on Feb. 9 that, if it survives judicial scrutiny, will block public-sector unions from collecting “fair share” fees from more than 6,000 state employees whose workplaces are unionized but who have declined to join a union.

Under Illinois law, public employees who decline to join a union must still pay their “fair share” toward the cost of union representation since all employees, not just union members, benefit from union contracts and collective bargaining.

Rauner’s order effectively attempts to impose right-to-work rules, which prohibit fair share or agency fees, on public-sector workers without approval from the Democrat-led state Legislature.

Roberta Lynch, the executive director of the Illinois branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Illinois’ largest state employee union, described the order as “a blatantly illegal abuse of power” that reveals Rauner’s real agenda: “silencing working people and their unions.”

State Comptroller Leslie Munger, backed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, has refused to enact the governor’s order unless compelled to do so by a court.

Chicago Tribune, Feb. 10, 19
Chicagoist, Feb. 13
The Washington Post, Feb. 10