President Obama used a ceremony designating a section of Chicago as a national monument to teach new Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner a lesson.

The president was in the Windy City to give the Pullman Historic District special National Park Service recognition.

“This site is at the heart of what would become America’s labor movement and as a consequence at the heart of what would become America’s middle class,” Obama said at the event, according to NBC Chicago.

Barack Obama
Courtesy: weaselzippers.us

“As Americans we believe workers rights are civil rights.”

The president praised unions and collective bargaining at the event, while offering his not-so-veiled input on Gov. Rauner’s moves to rein in out-of-control state spending by reforming union laws.

The Sun Times reports “President Barack Obama’s praise for labor unions at the Pullman national monument dedication Thursday was intended as a thwack at Gov. Bruce Rauner’s efforts to limit union power in Illinois.”

Rauner was not invited to share the stage with the president, while Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez did.

At the conclusion of Obama’s remarks, the governor was “was blocked by a rope line from making his way on stage,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

Rauner recently issued an executive order preventing unions from collecting dues from state employees who don’t wish to be members. He’s called for pension reform, as well as collective bargaining reform.

He would also like to see union contributions banned to politicians who vote on collective bargaining agreements with public employees.

When the Tribune tried to ask Rauner about the obvious snub, the governor “smiled and walked away without an answer.”