Author: Jack Darin, Director, Sierra Club Illinois
The future we all want requires a lot of assembly. Getting to a renewable energy future, lead-free drinking water, healthy lakes and rivers, and efficient transportation will require and create millions of jobs that will last generations.
We now have bold new policies in place to drive this job creation. Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and massive new federal investments in climate and infrastructure have given us a blueprint for a broad, sustained job boom across our state and a variety of occupations.
The quality of these jobs matters. We all need the workers building our electric grid, water lines, pollution controls, and more to be highly skilled to build the infrastructure to support our lives. We want workers to be safe on the job, and feel safe blowing the whistle if they see inadequate or even illegal actions that could jeopardize all of us. We want these jobs to pay a living wage, offering pathways to the middle class for millions who have been left out. We want those workers to be treated with respect and dignity.
The best way to ensure the quality of these jobs is to ensure that Illinois workers will have the right to organize, and we all can do our part to guarantee that right by voting yes on the Workers’ Rights Amendment this November.
The Workers’ Rights Amendment will make Illinois’ workers, economy, and communities stronger by adding an amendment to the Illinois Constitution. The amendment guarantees the right to negotiate fair wages, speak out about dangerous workplace conditions, and ensures access to training and safety equipment.
Last year, the environmental and labor movements worked together to pass the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA)—nation-leading legislation that puts Illinois on a path toward 100% renewable energy. Our movements came together to fight for this legislation because jobs, justice, and climate are inextricably linked. It’s time for our movements to come together again to pass the Workers’ Rights Amendment.
CEJA put Illinois on the map as a leader on climate policy. In order to put that policy to work, Illinois must also be a leader on workers’ rights.