Good things are happening this election week! Ballot measures and new candidates delivered wins for equity across the country. Illinois secured historic protections for workers’ rights at the state level, while rural Coloradans rejected a local anti-union initiative. In Los Angeles, police divestment messaging proved key to a successful campaign, and a slate of six socialists won races in the Twin Cities. Also, voters around the country approved an increased minimum wage, rent control measures, expanded public health care coverage, and an innovative way to tackle medical debt.
Read about all these state and local wins in this week’s edition of You Love To See It below, a weekly feature reviewing good news, progress, and action steps for Lever supporting subscribers.
Illinois Codifies Worker Rights
This week, Illinois passed an amendment to its state constitution to guarantee workers the right to collectively bargain and organize.
The update to Illinois’ constitution will have lasting effects for the labor movement, since it makes Illinois the first state to have a constitution that bans anti-union “right-to-work” laws, which financially undermine workers’ organizations by interfering with how unions collect dues. While a provision in the federal Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would ban right-to-work laws across the country, the worker empowerment legislation has stalled in the Senate.
“A big important state like Illinois enshrining this right to their constitution sends a signal across the country that the right to bargain collectively is a fundamental right,” Northwestern University political scientist Daniel Galvin told PBS.
