Illinois Legislative Labor Caucus - pictured l to r: Rep. D'Amico, Rep. Phelps, Sen. Forby, Rep. Verschoore, Rep. Reitz, Rep. Holbrook and IL AFL-CIO Legislative Director Jason Keller. Not pictured are: Sen. Maloney, Rep. Dugan, Rep. M. Davis and Rep. Arroyo.
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The Illinois AFL-CIO along with Illinois House and Senate members who are card-carrying union members have formed the Illinois Legislative Labor Caucus to further advance working family issues.
The Labor Caucus will focus on issues important to workers like health care, pension protections and solvency, public education, public works projects, workplace safety, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, privatization, organizing rights, job creation, and corporate accountability. The Caucus will also be active in recruiting other union members across the state to run for public office.
“Solidarity is and always has been the key principle of the Labor movement,” said Michael T. Carrigan. “By standing together with our brother and sister union members in the General Assembly, we can learn from each other, help each other and generally be more successful in passing worker-friendly legislation.”
Caucus members include, Senators Ed Maloney – D 18th District (AFT) and Gary Forby – D 59th District (LIUNA) as well as Representatives Luis Arroyo – D 3rd District (BAC), John D’Amico – D 15th District (UA), Monique Davis – D 27th District (AFT), Pat Verschoore – D 72nd District (UA), Lisa Dugan – D 79th District (IBEW), Tom Holbrook – D 113th District (UFCW), Dan Reitz – D 116th District (UMWA), and Brandon Phelps – D 118th District (LIUNA).
Since 2005, 28 states have formed successful legislative labor caucuses to help further Labor’s legislative agenda at the state level. The National Labor Caucus of State Legislators (NLC), a bipartisan network of union-member lawmakers, was formed in 2001. The one-thousand-member caucus meets annually to share ideas and develop common working family agendas. The NLC is an auxiliary of the National Conference of State Legislators. The NLC is supported by the national AFL-CIO with the goal of increasing the number of union members who hold elected office. In 2007, more than 3,600 union members held public office nationwide.
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