Illinois’ largest public employee union, AFSCME Council 31, finalized their second contract with Gov. J.B. Pritzker July 25. New pay raises will cost taxpayers $625 million.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Illinois state worker Mark Janus in 2018 gave government workers the ability to stop funding government union politics. Chastened unions could have reformed. Instead, they got extreme.

A former Alton labor union president pleaded guilty to transporting thousands of dollars in stolen member dues across state lines to gamble and pay for personal expenses.

Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th ward, is working on an ordinance that would limit the amount unions can donate to a candidate in an election cycle.

AFSCME Council 31’s own federal reports show 18.5% of workers have chosen to break away since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME. It could be because less than 21% of the union’s spending is on representing its members.

Now that the Illinois Constitution has been amended to expand government union power, residents can expect to see costly government union demands, increased taxes and litigation to clarify its vague language.

Illinois government unions wrote the law that gives them a monopoly over all government employees in a unionized workplace. And that means they can’t discriminate against workers who choose not to be members.

Illinois law already allows some government union contracts to override state law. Amendment 1 would allow all government union contracts to do so.