SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—In a split with organized labor, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., vetoed Democratic-sponsored and union-backed legislation to protect warehouse workers.
The legislation is important because warehouse workers are among the most exploited in the U.S., particularly by the monster and monstrous anti-union Amazon. Most warehouse workers are people of color, women, or both.
The legislation is especially important in Illinois because intersections of major transcontinental east-west and north-south interstate highways make the area from South Holland to Harvey a national warehouse hub.
The measure, HB2547, would cover individual warehouses with 250-plus workers and warehouse complexes employing at least 1000 workers. Both are present around Joliet.
Federal legislation to protect warehouse workers against employer abuse and exploitation has gone nowhere, but several states, including New York, enacted laws similar to the measure Pritzker vetoed. The Teamsters are also lobbying in Connecticut for a warehouse worker protection bill.
Pritzker wrote he supports the bill’s objective, but vetoed it for legal and technical reasons. One prime sponsor, Teamsters Joint Council 25, is considering whether to push to override Pritzker’s veto or write a new bill to cover his objections.
The measure passed with enough votes to override Pritzker—71—in the state House but fell one vote short of the two-thirds it would need in the state Senate. It garnered 35 votes there.
Warehouse Workers United, a small sector of the Chicago News Guild, representing organizers trying to unionize the Joliet warehouse workers, had no immediate comment. Neither did the state AFL-CIO.
“While I share the goal of protecting warehouse workers from dangerous and unfair working conditions, this bill was passed hastily at the end of the Lame Duck session without engagement with relevant state agencies or my office and presents both legal and operational issues that undermine its effect,” Pritzker wrote.
He cited issues that could have been resolved after passage as poor excuses for his action including an “unclear…definition of who is covered,” no “due process” in its enforcement, and no specific list of “civil damages and penalties.” The due process lacking now as a result of his veto is due process for workers who are exposed to danger. He plans a meeting that will include business representatives to decide where to go from here in drafting a new bill.
“In this tight budget year and in the face of unpredictable enforcement and funding from the federal government, it is critical that advocates, legislators, and my administration work together to ensure any new labor laws are straightforward to implement and do not create a risk of legal challenges,” he concluded.
In Connecticut, the warehouse workers protection law, HB6907, is one of two key Teamsters legislative goals. The other, HB6904, would make strikers eligible to draw jobless benefits. On the other side of the state capitol building in Hartford, SB8 combines both. Connecticut, like Illinois, is heavily Democratic with a pro-worker Democratic Governor, Ned Lamont.
“These bills are essential for protecting Connecticut workers, and our elected officials can send a strong message to working families that they are on their side by enacting them into law,” Rocco Calo, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1150 and the union’s Eastern Region vice-president said in a statement.
“State lawmakers already demonstrated they’re capable of sticking up for workers’ rights when they made Connecticut the first state in the country to outlaw mandatory attendance at anti-union propaganda sessions. There’s no reason they can’t do the same thing on these two measures.”
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