Labor leaders call for boycott of nonunion Lincolnshire businesses
Labor leaders are calling for a boycott of certain Lincolnshire businesses over what they contend was an anti-union vote by the village board last year.
Officials from the Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor announced Monday they endorsed a boycott of all nonunion businesses in Lincolnshire in response to the right-to-work ordinance passed by the village board in December.
"We would like the Lincolnshire board to repeal their illegal ordinance," Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor President Patrick Statter said.
Statter criticized Lincolnshire officials for aligning themselves with Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial Turnaround Agenda for Illinois. He said he hopes organized labor and the general public send a message about the ordinance by taking their money somewhere other than Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire's ordinance allows employees at private-sector companies in the village to refuse to have union dues or fees automatically deducted from their paychecks. Right-to-work zones were a facet of Rauner's Turnaround Agenda, but Lincolnshire is the only town in the Chicago area to adopt such an ordinance.
In a formal opinion issued last year, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said federal labor law allows such policies to be enacted only on a statewide basis. A federal judge also has ruled right-to-work laws established by counties in Kentucky were illegal
Lincolnshire Mayor Elizabeth Brandt declined to comment regarding the boycott announcement.
Four labor groups sued Lincolnshire and key village officials over the town's controversial local law in U.S. District Court in Chicago last month.
Statter said a list is being compiled with nonunion businesses in Lincolnshire that'll be available to members and others.