The Overall Impact of the Illinois Executive Order 2019-02 Project Labor Agreement Act - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Governor of Illinois J.B Pritzer first day in office was able to sign an Executive Order which requires all the state agencies to immediately comply with the state's Project Labor Agreements Act (PLA). The project labor agreement act requires the state agencies to consider on a case by case basis if PLA should be utilized on public work projects. The work of the agencies is to weigh out if the use of PLA will help in advancing the state's interest which includes; quality, cost, skilled labor workforce, labor stability, efficiency. The Executive order is estimated to be 9.1 billion dollars' worth of public construction project at the local level and state to the use of only PLAS. Important to note, the former governor Bruce Rauner opposed the use of PLAs on a public work project and implemented an executive order that was resisting the use of PLAs on public funded construction projects (Amann, 2019). Arguably, the act was basically on talking about the working force, trade unions, employment issues and how to effectively coordinate all the activities efficiently in the Labor Department of Illinois. The paper below critically reviews the overall impact of the act that was signed by the governor, as follows.

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First, the Executive Order on its first 60 days shall be able to review all the pending cases under the wage laws. Many states have lots of cases seeking a trial, and if the arguments pending review can be solved within the first 60 days, this will help explain lots of cases that have been delayed in courts affecting the people of Illinois. The office of the Attorney General of Illinois will lead civil prosecution on petitions on the Wage Payment and Collection Act. The essence of this will help solve labor disputes and clear pending cases to enable effective running of the cases pending hearing at the Department of Labor for the people of Illinois. According to ((Starr & Robert, 2018), the issue of equity in the state government has been a rising matter for a period of time, with the help of the Executive order, the Department of Human Rights in collaboration with the Department of Central management have been assigned the task to review the state pay's plan. The goal is to eliminate biases which are as a result of asking employees to give their salary history. This usually disadvantages women; hence, the state of fairness, justice, and equity will be able to be achieved as a result of the Illinois Executive order 2019-02. Most affected are the women of color and with the act, gender equity will be resolved.

Another impact as a result of the Illinois Executive order is that the use of PLAs raises high standards of quality and efficiency at a lower responsible cost. This not only saves the cost of expenditure but also helps the state in predicting the value on complex projects. Governor Pritzker signed an Executive Order 2019-02 that required all states to work hand in hand with the Project Labor Agreement Act (Jackson, 2019). The main aim of economics is to use the available scarce resources in the process of production at a lower affordable cost with a good output. The use of PLAs was able to lower the cost of production and raise higher standards of quality. Also, another impact is the Executive Order was able to curb corruption and theft in the Labor Department of Illinois. The governor addresses the pervasive challenge of wage theft and worker exploitation in Illinois (Jackson, 2019). The Department of Labor was assigned the task to handle all the pending wage law related cases, complains and to forward appropriate circumstances to the office of the Attorney General. This helped administration bring into account the corrupt officials, and also bring about accountability and the protection of workers; hence the executive order impacted the society effectively.

Another possible impact by the Executive order 2019-02 is it was able to raise awareness on gender and female workers representation. In any society, the plight of women is not adequately represented and given equal opportunities. The governor signed an amendment into the prevailing wage act which addressed female workers and their representation. The bill was to provide a full report on female workers and minorities in the state. A recommendation was to be provided by the county, to be able to increase the number of female workers and minorities into these projects. According to (Amann, 2019), the executive order was able to give a fair representation to gender equality and opposition in the state of Illinois. Apart from promoting gender, the wage act also seeks to promote racial diversity in companies with state contracts. Over a long period, racial diversity has been a growing issue, the bill, on its amendment seeks to solve, have an agreement and give a chance to racial diversity in companies. The governor wants to make the state of Illinois to be a home to all types of races from home to places of work.

According to Starr and Robert (2018), the state concerning the executive order, seeks to initiate a process that will bring the state employees to their appropriate salary level. In any working environment, workers are to be paid according to their working level, most companies and organization have failed to amend this act. Most union employees have not been able to receive a step increase since 2015. As a result, those employees are to be put in an initiative that will help progress their salaries towards levels and groups. Further, the administration looks forward to managing taxpayers' resources effectively and be able to compensate state employees fairly. It further involves the protection of workers' wages from additional deduction and taxes.

Standing with the working families, the first day in office marked a vital appeal by the governor to raise the wages of the people of Illinois and by singing a robust deal to increase and protect the wages of workers. The executive order received massive backing from the union of men and women of the Chicago Laborers' even before he took office. Arguably, the executive order 2019-02 was able to prioritize the needs of workers. Without labor from them, running of state companies will be difficult (Jackson, 2019). The executive order gives an impression of how state policy should respect workers, be able to recognize the state values that they contribute to the economy and be able to promote dignity and fair competition to the economy.

Also, the executive order impacted the economy of Illinois by being able to identify the target growth of industries. To achieve growth and development, the need to determine the market niche and gaps to use an opportunity for growth and expansion. The executive order was able to create a platform where the Department of Commerce and economic opportunity within 90 days will be required to deliver a comprehensive report to the governor concerning growth and expansion of those industries (Starr & Robert, 2018). A plan for investment was underway and for it to be effective, the need to identify a platform for growth of industries and creating a channel for investors and stakeholders.

Conclusion

To conclude, Governor Pritzker first day in office marked a new beginning for the state of Illinois. With the effective implementation of the executive order 2019-02, a lot has been able to be put in the plan to create a favorable environment for the working families, industries, implementation of the PLAs on projects and a new revolution to a better change in the governing of the state of Illinois. Thus, it is evident that the executive order has positively impacted the society with providing a better working environment for both, industries, workers, employers and improving relations in the Department of labor and the state of Illinois as discussed above.

References

Amann, D. M. (2019). Glimpses of Women at the Tokyo Tribunal. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3309257

Jackson, J. (2019). The 2018 Race for Governor of Illinois: Rauner vs Pritzker. Retrieved from https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ppi_papers/54/

Starr, E., & ROBERT, H. (2018). The Use, Abuse, and Enforceability of Non-Compete and No-Poach Agreements. Economic Innovation Group. February. https://eig. Org/noncompetesbrief. Krueger, Alan, and Eric Posner.