Since March, WCRJ’s allies have sent over 1,200 emails through our Racial Justice Online Action Center, demanding support from state lawmakers on policies that would promote equity, opportunity and liberation in Illinois. As a result of your commitment, two important bills that aim to secure crucial protections for workers across the state have passed the Senate. These policies now require passage through their assigned House committees before advancing to a full floor vote. As we enter the final weeks of session, WCRJ is demanding that Illinois lawmakers prioritize passage of these crucial policies.
With just a few clicks, you can send a pre-written message of support for these bills to every member of their assigned committees:
SB 1485, would require the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) to establish a telephone hotline and online portal for workers impacted by racial discrimination and harassment to anonymously report and pursue complaints. (Read More)
SB 471 would require all Illinois employers to provide full-time employees with a minimum of five days of paid sick leave per year. (Read More)
Your voice is vital to advancing the fight for racial equity. Advocate for the change you want to see in your city, state and beyond by visiting WCRJ’s Racial Justice Online Action Center and demanding policy action of your elected officials.
Yesterday, the Illinois legislature passed an important bill that would safeguard protections for hundreds of thousands of workers across the state. SB 1474 would prohibit local governments from enacting anti-labor “Right to Work” ordinances. In order to ensure fair labor standards for all Illinois workers, WCRJ is calling upon Governor Pritzker to immediately enact SB 1474.
In recent years, so called “Right to Work” policies have been aggressively championed by rightwing, pro-business interest groups in an effort to curtail the power of workers to collectively negotiate fair labor standards. Right to Work laws prohibit organized labor from requiring non-union employees to pay reduced rate “fair share” dues. In order to effectively negotiate equitable labor standards for all employees, unions rely on small fees from every staff member who stands to benefit from such contracts. Anti-labor activists deceptively frame the issue as a matter of free speech, despite the fact that fair share fees only finance union negotiating efforts, not political activity.
From its inception in the 1940s, the Right to Work movement sought to destabilize organized labor by stoking racial resentment among white workers. Its founder, oil magnate and white supremacist Vance Muse, exploited anti-Black sentiment held by segregationist southerners, arguing (accurately) that increased unionization would accelerate workplace integration and improve wages for workers of color. The anti-Black motivations behind Right to Work policies persist in the modern day.
Historically, organized labor has advanced critical workplace protections for employees of color and served to reduce racialized wage discrimination. For this reason, Black employees in Illinois are significantly more likely to be unionized than any other racial group. Collective bargaining also sets higher local wage standards, which benefits workers throughout the state. By undermining the ability of unions to collectively bargain on behalf of all employees, local Right to Work ordinances pose a serious threat to Black workers across Illinois.
The Illinois legislature has judiciously upheld workers rights by refusing to enact proposed Right to Work policies. However, in 2015 the village of Lincolnshire succumbed to politicized pressure of corporate interest groups and passed a local Right to Work ordinance into law. In swift opposition, four unions mounted a legal challenge to Lincolnshire’s policy on the basis that the U.S. Constitution only upholds state level Right to Work legislation, not that of subordinate local governments. The lawsuit is now poised to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, which, as a result of recent Trump administration nominations, has assumed an extremist anti-worker disposition. In order to protect Illinois workers from future assaults on collective bargaining rights, the state must outlaw local Right to Work ordinances.
Your voice is crucial to advancing the fight for racial equity, opportunity and justice. Advocate for the change you want to see in your city, state and beyond by visiting WCRJ’s Racial Justice Online Action Center and demanding policy action of your elected officials.
Since the beginning of April, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has faced an unrelenting onslaught of deceptive public attacks and racialized vitriol intended to malign her office over its decision to drop charges in the sensationalized case against actor Jussie Smollett. What began as an isolated public protest, made up of hardline opponents of police reform and members of white nationalist groups, rapidly erupted into a barrage of insidiously distorted media reports and unjustified calls of condemnation against Foxx from the likes of outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and President Donald Trump. The culmination of this politicized charade was marked by an unprecedented vote of no confidence by the Chicago police union and 30 suburban police chiefs.
Foxx's detractors have sought to exploit the scandalous nature of the allegations in the Smollet case as a means to stoke unwarranted public outrage against the State's Attorney. The true object of her opponents' indignation, however, is Foxx's assailing commitment to promoting racial justice in county law enforcement and upending systemic police violence, corruption and impunity. The success Foxx has achieved in enforcing police accountability and reversing mass incarceration as head of the nation's second largest prosecutor's office has incited outrage among Cook County's powerful police unions and their allied stakeholders. The recent outpouring of hostility, misinformation and inflammatory dog whistling over the Smollet case marks the opening salvo in what is certain to be a ruthless battle to unseat Kim Foxx in the 2020 prosecutor's race.
The decision of the State's Attorney's office in the Smollet case should serve as a model for all public officials who profess their commitment to reversing mass incarceration and promoting equal justice in law enforcement. Despite the disgraceful nature of the allegations and mounting public outcry for retribution, Foxx's office handled the Smollet case with equanimity. Resisting the ingrained political impulse to sate public bloodthirst with the proverbial pound of flesh, the State's Attorney's office exercised reasoned prosecutorial discretion in its decision to drop charges against Smollet. Under Foxx's progressive policies, 75% of defendants who, like Smollett, plead not guilty to class four felonies have their charges dismissed. This practice -- which has diverted nearly six thousand community members accused of low-level offenses away from the toxic prison system -- is a fulfillment of Foxx's campaign promise to reverse Cook County's overly punitive and racially targeted prosecutorial policies. Our communities deserve more leaders like Kim Foxx, who will uphold principles of justice, equity and liberation, not only when it is politically popular, but also when it is not.
Throughout her tenure as State's Attorney, Kim Foxx has implemented policies that promote racial and economic justice in the law enforcement system. She has championed reform of the county's wealth based pretrial detention practices, initiated mass exonerations of convictions stemming from abusive policing, and refused to prosecute low level charges related to unpaid traffic fines, marijuana possession and minor retail theft. Moreover, Foxx has advanced a public safety narrative that calls for an end to mass incarceration and racially targeted policing, and a reinvestment of taxpayer dollars into schools, mental health services and drug treatment programs.
By improving police accountability and fostering equity in the court system, Kim Foxx poses an existential threat to individuals and institutions that derive power through the subjugation, exploitation and plunder of Black communities. In an effort to preserve systems of racialized dominance and control, Foxx's opposition has unleashed a calculated campaign of deceit, fearmongering and race baiting, with the aim of removing the State's Attorney from office.
Amidst this hostility, the Workers Center for Racial Justice is proud to stand with State's Attorney Kim Foxx as an unwavering champion justice, equity and liberation in Cook County