Amendment 1 to the Illinois Constitution, approved by referendum in November, was promoted as guaranteeing basic fairness for all workers. But it does something else — by prohibiting any new laws that might impinge on worker collective bargaining, Amendment 1 disempowers future elected officials from changing how government operates. Illinois voters will elect governors, mayors and legislators who have been disempowered from fulfilling their main constitutional responsibility: to make decisions on how to best operate government for the public good.

Union officials argue that Amendment 1 merely enshrines the right to collective bargaining. But collective bargaining by government employees has already disempowered Illinois officials from fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities.

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