Kankakee Times

State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) justified his opposition to the recently passed Senate Bill 525 authored by Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) amending the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.

The act will provide for a state employee to be eligible to become a member of a collective bargaining unit. Barickman argued that the bill would make it difficult for supervisors to properly manage their employees.

"CMS advised our committee that 93% of the state's workforce today is a part of the state's collective bargaining unit," Barickman said. "The concerns that CMS raised because of that, is that it is very difficult for them to manage their own employees because so few individuals are in those management positions."

During the committee hearing on the bill, Aquino defended his bill by explaining that "Employees who had been part of the bargaining unit for decades saw their collective bargaining rights taken away despite never having performed the duties in the written job description that caused them to be excluded."

Maintaining his position that the bill would exacerbate existing labor problems, Barickman closed his address with a firm vote against the bill. “I stand in opposition to the bill and register a 'no' vote on it”

However, Barickman’s position couldn’t shift the count in favor of those who opposed it as the bill was passed with a total of 44 yes votes against 11 no votes.