Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker burst with enthusiasm for working people and labor as he welcomed delegates to one of America’s greatest union cities at the start of the IBEW’s 40th International Convention on Monday.
“The people of this city and state are thrilled once again to host your international convention,” he said. “It is a city and a state rich in the history of the struggle for labor rights. Chicago workers have been at the forefront of fighting for fair wages, reasonable hours, and safe working conditions for all people.”
Pritzker thanked the IBEW for being on the front lines of those battles and more, including his election in 2018 that put an end to the previous governor’s union-busting.
“The men and women of the IBEW were instrumental in helping me to defeat the Republican administration of former governor Bruce Rauner, who tried to strip away your right to organize,” he said. “By the way, we didn’t just win, we beat him by the largest margin against any incumbent in state history.”
Together with supermajorities in the House and Senate — and the exhaustive efforts of the IBEW — Pritzer successfully banned local right-to-work laws, signed a massive energy and jobs bill, and passed Rebuild Illinois, a $45 billion capital bill that he said is creating and supporting hundreds of thousands of union jobs.
Kicking off his pro-worker agenda, he issued an executive order during his first 24 hours as governor requiring project labor agreements. “With 148 total PLA-covered projects, Illinois now ranks first in the nation, nearly three times the number of all other states combined,” he said.
Pritzker, who is up for reelection this year, had one more thank-you for the IBEW — for coming to Chicago and bolstering its pandemic recovery.
“We’re proud to house you here at McCormick Place, the largest convention center in all of North America,” he said, emphasizing that union labor built, maintains and services the mammoth facility.
“The pandemic knocked the industries that fuel these halls on their back. Your presence here today is poetic: a union convention reinvigorating a unionized convention center in a union city putting union members back to work.”