SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Governor JB Pritzker signed two bills into law on Thursday that he said bolster worker protections amidst “attacks by the Trump administration.”

Pritzker signed the bills at the Illinois AFL-CIO headquarters in Springfield, symbolic of the hundreds of thousands of union employees in the state. He was joined by state legislators, labor leaders and union members. The bills preserve current pay standards and worker protections.

“Our state stands up for the hard-won advances made for our workers. The Pullman Strikes, the Haymarket Affair — it has been the working men and women of this state that have led the charge of progress not just for Illinois, but for the entire nation,” Pritzker said in a news release. “This legislation protects Illinois workers from the Trump administration’s assault on labor, because our workers can’t afford to be subject to the whims of corruption and chaos in Washington. Today, we continue our progress to make Illinois the best state in the nation to live, work and raise a family.”

The bills Pritzker signed are the Illinois Workers’ Rights and Safety Act and an amendment of the Prevailing Wage Act.

The Illinois Workers’ Rights and Safety Act was an initiative between Illinois AFL-CIO and Illinois Depaetment of Labor to preserve worker protections under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The law requires the IDOL to replace any repealed federal occupational safety standard with a state standard to protect workers across the state.

The amendment of the Prevailing Wage Act ensures that workers on federal construction projects are paid the Illinois prevailing wage if it is higher than the federal rate.

In addition to the bills he signed into law on Thursday, Pritzker also highlighted a law he previously signed in July. It eliminated references to a federal program in the Equal Pay Act, ensuring that federal changes do not undermine the state requirement that private employers with 100 or more employees report on employee wages by gender and race or ethnicity.

The bill also clarifies that apprentices are not subject to a lower fringe benefit rate than journeymen under the Prevailing Wage Act.

“At the Illinois Department of Labor, we are committed to protecting the safety and economic security of Illinois workers,” said Illinois Department of Labor Director Jane Flanagan. “At a time when federal labor enforcement has diminished and workers’ rights face new threats, the work we do every day to uphold Illinois workplace protections has never been more vital.”

“Every day, we see President Trump roll back the protections and rights that working people in the labor movement have spent decades fighting for,” IL AFL-CIO President Tim Drea added. “In 2022, Illinois voters enshrined the Workers’ Rights Amendment into the Illinois Constitution. Today, we continue these efforts by putting workers first and telling the White House that all workers deserve a safe and fair workplace. We applaud Governor Pritzker, Senator Peters and House Assistant Majority Leader Evans for ensuring that Illinois workers continue to be protected in the workplace.”