Listen Live
Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – “Enough is enough,” according to the Illinois Legislative Staff Association. Brady Burden, an analyst in Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch’s office along with members of the ILSA filed suit against Welch in Cook County Friday. The staff union is seeking immediate recognition and asking to start collective bargaining over what it says is Welch’s refusal to discuss wages, hours, and working conditions.
The suit states by refusing to deal with the group and its members, Welch is in violation of Section 25 of the Illinois Constitution. In 2022, Illinois voters approved a measure giving every employee in the state the constitutional right to collectively bargain.
According to the ILSA, the Speaker has unlawfully created “a climate of fear” among his staff and “sought to chill the open exercise by the Plaintiff ILSA and its members and Plaintiff Burden of their rights to engage in good faith bargaining.”
A representative from Welch’s office says, “At this time, the Speaker nor the Speaker’s office has been served with a lawsuit, but we will thoroughly review once that has happened.”