CHICAGO – Illinois residents are getting a flavor of what’s to come this legislative session as Gov. Bruce Rauner moves forward on campaign promises to reform collective bargaining, while labor leaders squeal.

Rauner, a millionaire equity firm executive, took the governorship from Pat Quinn on campaign promises to control spending and reform the collective bargaining process for public sector unions, and he looked to spur that agenda heading into his State of the State speech today, the Associated Press reports.

Rauner sent a memo to legislators Monday asking them to review rules for federal employees that limit collective bargaining to work conditions, and exclude wages, benefits or pensions from discussions. Those rules, which also prohibit strikes, is what Illinois needs, he said.

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He also called on lawmakers to “prevent any future imbalances and unfair practices” that result in overpaid public employees, which Rauner believes is dragging down the economy.

“These levels are unsustainable and unfair to working families, small businesses and other taxpayers in Illinois,” he said, according to the AP. “They limit our ability to grow our economy and to fund much needed social services.”

Rauner doubled down on that message in his State of the State address today.

“To become more competitive we must look to the structural impediments to our economic growth,” he said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In essence, he wants to scale back the privileges afforded to organized labor unions in Illinois by allowing local governments to create “empowerment zones” in which employees are not required to join a union and union wages are optional. He also wants to do away with “project labor agreements” that equate to “uncompetitive bidding” on construction projects, which could save taxpayers billions alone, Rauner said.

Rauner reiterated his message that Illinois needs a ban on political contributions from public employee unions, which often help to elect the same politicians union officials later negotiate labor contracts with.

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“Let’s close the special interest loophole by extending the prohibition on political contributions for businesses with state contracts to all organizations with a state collective bargaining agreement, and organizations funded by entities receiving state Medicaid funds,” he said, according to the Tribune.

The governor’s proposals, however, will face a legislature full of politicians on both sides of the aisle that were elected with the helping hand of Big Labor, and judging by the reactions from union officials, it could be a long hard road.

“It’s bizarre and outrageous for Bruce Rauner to suggest that public employees aren’t ‘working families,’” Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County Municipal Employees Council 31, told the AP.

“He’s wrong to vilify workers who serve the public, earn middle-class wages and have a right to a voice through their union.”

“He’s not some easy-going, blue-jean-wearing, $20-dollar-watch-having good guy who’s coming to save the day. He is Scott Walker on steroids,” says Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis, according to WBEZ.

The union opposition to Rauner’s plan could also make it difficult for the governor to increase funding for education, as he proposed again in his State of the State today.

Rauner’s other significant education proposal – to end the cap on the number of charter schools in the state – is also expected to meet fierce opposition from union officials, particularly those in the state’s teachers unions, who would rather limit educational opportunities for students than create competition for public schools.