Former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton was sentenced to one year in federal prison for embezzlement from a no-work union job. He sponsored the Amendment 1 proposal to make government unions nearly untouchable in Illinois.

The same unions that supported doubling the gas tax in 2019 donated $15 million to politicians who voted for Amendment 1, a proposed tax hike sold as a “workers’ rights” amendment.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders made nearly $50 million selling property paid for with union member dues, only to shuffle the proceeds to a charity with less oversight. Members are voting May 20 for transparency from new leaders.

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act requires open access to government union contracts. But Amendment 1 would allow union leaders to override state law to make those contracts secret.

AFSCME union members receive generous salaries and benefits from their state contract, yet union bosses are pushing to enshrine their power in the Illinois Constitution – something no other state has been willing to do.

Amendment 1, billed as a “Workers' Rights Amendment,” actually covers so much more that it violates the U.S. Constitution. Parents and teachers worrying about it emboldening already militant teachers unions are suing to get it off the ballot.

Membership in teachers unions has decreased nearly 10% since 2017, when public educators gained the right to stop handing their pay to unions.

Amendment 1 would allow government unions to nullify hundreds of Illinois statutes – including laws aimed at protecting school children – simply by contradicting them in union contracts.