Illinois State University can keep using contract employees to fill roles usually done by union workers who are on strike.
McLean County Judge Rebecca Foley on Wednesday denied AFSCME Local 1110's request for a temporary restraining order that would have kicked temporary service employees off the job.
Representing the union, attorney Stephen Yokich argued Wednesday in McLean County court that Illinois State is violating the Illinois Employment of Strikebreakers Act that prevents employers from contracting day laborers to ease the impact of a strike.
During the hearing, held via Zoom from Foley's courtroom at the Law and Justice Center in Bloomington, Yokich said the law is designed to "level the field in a labor dispute" and prevent prolonged strikes by "taking away a tool employers use to outlast a union."
The union said four companies contracted by ISU in early April to perform janitorial services during the strike constituted a violation of the law and is creating irreputable harm to union workers.
"It's a little bit like a war," he said of the dispute. "Every day makes a difference."
By using other workers to maintain campus facilities, Yokich said, the university had fewer incentives to negotiate.
Foley ultimately sided with arguments presented by attorney Jeff Powers, appearing on behalf of ISU.
She said the Strikebreakers Act does not apply to public universities, noting it was illegal for state employees to strike when the law was enacted. None of the four companies contracted by ISU listed in the lawsuit are registered with the state as temp agencies whose sole purpose is to supply day laborers to employers, she said. And she agreed with ISU's argument that temporary workers are filling essential maintenance duties excluded from the law.
Foley said denying the university the ability to provide clean, hygienic public spaces and dorms would "compromise the health and welfare of students and employees."
"It doesn't take a lot of imagination," she said, to predict what might happen without janitorial services over the course of a strike.
Yokich pushed back on that point, noting the university planned ahead for contingency workers, even before the strike began.
"They didn't wait until the bathrooms were really stinky," he said.
About 350 building, grounds and dining workers have been on strike since April 8. ISU has said its sticking to its last offer as final. The sticking points remain wages, back pay since the last contract expired and future raises.
ISU has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for May 29.
