As Chicagoans put together to vote within the presidential election, which is simply over a month away, staff on the town’s Board of Elections Commissioners need to unionize, saying they’re overworked and pissed off by “stagnant” wages that aren’t holding tempo with the town’s value of residing. But attorneys representing the Board of Elections have fought again, arguing that election staff are barred from unionizing as a result of the state’s election code bars them from participating in “political exercise.”
Board of Elections staff petitioned the Service Employees International Union Local 73 in July to have their union acknowledged, the union stated. The native proposed recognizing a union that would come with 80 to 90 election staff, together with clerks, ballot investigators and gear specialists, amongst different roles.
Last month, the group’s attorneys responded with a authorized problem urging the Illinois Labor Relations Board to not acknowledge the employees’ union, saying that union membership would represent “political exercise” that the election code prohibits staff from taking part in.
“The membership and participation of Board staff within the union clearly constitutes participation in the kind of exercise prohibited by the Election Code. The union has, partially, an simple political function,” wrote the Board of Elections’ exterior counsel.
Eric Bailey, communications director for SEIU 73, stated the union was “shocked” by the town’s opposition to the employees’ petition.
“They’re working to safe the liberty to vote for the individuals of Chicago,” he stated. “All we wish is for his or her freedom to kind a union to be supported within the metropolis of Chicago.”
Election Commission spokesman Max Bever stated in an e-mail that he couldn’t touch upon the dispute, describing it as “a pending lawsuit with exterior counsel.” City spokesman Ronnie Reese stated in an e-mail that the Election Commission is “a separate entity from the town concerning labor issues.”
“The metropolis has no say in these proceedings or within the ILRB petition,” he stated.
In its August submitting, the Election Commission famous that SEIU 73 lobbies the legislature and offers endorsements and monetary contributions to political candidates. In 2022, for instance, the native supported Brandon Johnson for his present function as mayor of Chicago. The mayor obtained about $4.4 million in marketing campaign contributions from SEIU associates throughout his marketing campaign.
“Clearly, these ‘political issues’ are exactly the kind of actions during which the union and its members often and successfully have interaction,” the submitting reads. Board staff “completely could not, beneath any circumstances” have interaction in such actions, the board argued.
The Board’s lawyer additionally argued that the proposed bargaining unit was invalid as a result of it included some staff whose jobs ought to have been categorized as exempt beneath the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act. Some of the employees ought to have been categorized as ineligible to unionize as a result of they had been supervisors, short-term or in any other case exempt, the Board argued.
According to Kimberly Stevens, government director of the state labor company, the subsequent step within the case might be a listening to earlier than an administrative legislation choose.
Bob Bruno, director of the labor research program on the University of Illinois, described the Board’s argument for political exercise bans as “spurious and extremely speculative.” He stated it’s doable the argument might be trumped by the state’s staff’ rights modification, signed into legislation two years in the past.
State Board of Elections staff are barred from collective bargaining by a greater than decade-old state legislation handed throughout former Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration, in response to Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich. Dietrich stated the rationale the state’s election staff had been particularly barred from unionizing is as a result of they regulate monetary reporting for union political motion committees in Illinois.
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, stated the union had sought to symbolize state election board staff earlier than they had been among the many state staff excluded from collective bargaining.
The exemption didn’t identify the entire state’s election staff, nevertheless; Bailey stated SEIU 73 already represents about 60 staff on the Cook County Election Commission.
City polling place investigator Odel Sterling III stated that after greater than 35 years working for the Chicago Board of Elections, he makes about $66,000 a yr. Sterling’s job consists of scouring the town for potential polling locations, securing their use and inspecting them to make sure they meet accessibility necessities.
On election days, he stated, he’ll take duty when one among his polling locations fails to open on time or there are different issues that stop voters from casting their ballots.
Sterling stated he had obtained a small elevate within the final two years, however had not obtained a elevate in years earlier than that.
“I would really like those that have been right here, who’ve performed the work, to be adequately compensated,” he informed the Tribune.
