Th U.S. Supreme Court released a decision today intended to cripple public sector unions by reducing their resources and members. Non-members who receive benefits negotiated by unions will no longer be required to pay agency fees. The decision benefits the Republican Party, since unions are part of the Democratic Party base.
Public sector unions respond here:
Contact:
Andrew Crook
o: 202-393-8637 | c: 607-280-6603
acrook@aft.org
Marianne von Nordeck
AFSCME
202-812-0091
Sara Lonardo
SEIU
202.730.7332
Staci Maiers
NEA
202-270-5333
WASHINGTON– The following statement was issued by leaders and members of AFSCME, AFT, NEA and SEIU following the decision by the United States Supreme Court to rule against working people and in favor of billionaire CEOs and corporate interests in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, holding that requiring fair-share fees in the public sector violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.
MEDIA AVAILABILITY at Noon Eastern with public service union presidents and members to discuss the decision. RSVP to andrew@feldmanstrategies.com (link sends e-mail) for dial in information. Follow #UNION today.
As millions of American workers recommit to their unions and launch new organizing drives and as support for labor unions has risen to its highest level in years, it is shameful that the billionaire CEOs and corporate special interests behind this case have succeeded in manipulating the highest court in the land to do their bidding. This case was nothing more than a blatant political attack to further rig our economy and democracy against everyday Americans in favor of the wealthy and powerful.
Public service workers—teachers, social workers, firefighters, 911 operators—are more determined than ever to stick together in their unions. Unions remain the most effective vehicle for the power in numbers working people need to secure their rights and freedoms, and provide a pathway to the middle class. We will remain a strong and vibrant force for working people, and will continue fighting to sustain our families, improve our workplaces and to make our communities stronger regardless of the court’s ruling.
Today’s decision sends our economy in the wrong direction. But it is also a rallying point. We call on elected leaders and candidates to do everything in their power to make it easier to unite in unions and build more power for all working people.
Union leader and member responses:
“Unions will always be the most effective force and vehicle to propel working people into the middle class. Despite this unprecedented and nefarious political attack – designed to further rig the rules against working people — nothing changes the fact that America needs unions now more than ever. We are more resolved than ever to fight like hell to win for our members and the communities they care so much about. AFSCME members don’t do this work to get rich. They do it because it’s a calling — and for that service, they deserve respect. They deserve the same freedoms as the CEOs and billionaires who continue to rig the rules against everyone else. The American labor movement lives on, and we’re going to be there every day, fighting hard for all working people, our freedoms and for our country.” – Lee Saunders, President, AFSCME
“No court case, win or lose, could ever change how important my work and service is to me and the community I care about. My union gives me the strength, freedom and the tools I need to help people and to provide for my family. That’s why I’ll always stick with my coworkers, no matter what. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing: organizing and talking to coworkers and community members, building power for working people.” – Stephen Mittons, AFSCME Council 31 member, Child Protection Investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
“Don’t count us out. While today the thirst for power trumped the aspirations and needs of communities and the people who serve them, workers are sticking with the union because unions are still the best vehicle working people have to get ahead.
“Strong unions create strong communities. We will continue fighting, caring, showing up and voting, to make possible what is impossible for individuals acting alone. The teacher walkouts this spring, with educators fighting for the funding children need, were an example of how we will continue to make that case—in the halls of statehouses and the court of public opinion, in our workplaces and communities, and at the ballot box in November—through organizing, activism and members recommitting to their union.
“This is a dark day in U.S. jurisprudence. Swung by a Trump-appointed justice with a long history of ruling for the wealthy and corporations over regular people, the Supreme Court overturned a 40-year unanimously decided precedent that has given teachers and firefighters, nurses and cops, a path to a better life for themselves and their communities.
“More than forty years ago, the court recognized that collective bargaining for teachers and other public sector workers benefits those workers, their employers and their communities. Union representation, if chosen by a majority, is the glue that holds us together. That wisdom has now been abandoned by the slimmest majority.
“The dissenting justices saw this case for what it really was—a warping and weaponizing of the First Amendment, absent any evidence or reason, to hurt working people. Not only was Abood well within the mainstream of First Amendment law, it has been affirmed six times and applied to other cases upholding bar fees for lawyers and student activity fees at public colleges.” -Randi Weingarten, President, AFT
“Regardless of the Supreme Court ruling, the teachers in our district will stick together to make sure we have a say in the future of our kids. We are a small union in a rural and conservative part of Ohio. But nearly all of the teachers in our district are full dues-paying members—because we know that teachers’ ability to create a safe learning environment for kids and make teaching a viable profession comes directly from being part of a strong union.” – Holly Kimpon, a high school biology and anatomy teacher, AFT member and president of the Genoa Area Education Association in Ohio
“Today’s radical decision by the Supreme Court is a blatant slap in the face for educators, nurses, firefighters, police officers and all public servants who make our communities strong and safe. We are living in a system that is rigged to benefit special interests and billionaires, all at the expense of working people. Those behind this case know that unions amplify workers’ voices and transform their words into powerful and collective action. Even though the Supreme Court sided with corporate CEOs and billionaires over working Americans, unions will continue to be the best vehicle on the path to the middle class.” – Lily Eskelsen García, President, National Education Association (NEA)
“Fine arts programs were being cut from my school and students were missing out on subjects like arts and music. My union negotiated with the district to bring back music so our students could have a well-rounded curriculum. When some school principals tried to renege on the agreement, as a union, we stepped up. Educators came together through our union and spoke out for what our kids need. Strong unions build strong schools and strong communities. We need unions now more than ever.” – Alex Price, band director and instrumental music teacher, Belmont High School and Wright Brothers Middle School in Dayton, Ohio
“This decision is yet another example of how billionaires rig the system against working people, but SEIU members won’t let the extremists behind this case divide us. We will stay united, help workers who are fighting to form unions, and call on our elected leaders to do everything in their power to make it easier for working people to join together in unions.” – Mary Kay Henry, President, SEIU
“My coworkers and I are not going to let this court decision stop us from sticking together in our union. We know that we are stronger together, and that matters when we are working to ensure our community is resilient when faced with disasters like earthquakes or floods. We won’t let any court case, billionaire, or propaganda campaign divide us.” – Sara Campos, Department of Human Services, SEIU Local 503 in Salem, Oregon
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Non-union members who get the same benefits as dues-paying union members are parasites. The Regressives always called people who needed welfare “freeloaders”. Now these non-contributing workers are the real freeloaders. Americans’ woeful ignorance of how unions have been so important to workers is shameful.
The Roberts Court is like the courts in Hitler’s Germany, enabling anti-social, anti-democratic laws to be upheld or passed. Mitch McConnell will go down in history as one of the people who helped destroy the U.S. by his refusal to allow a vote on Obama’s SCOTUS nominee, giving us Neil Gorsuch, the corporate tool, whom McConnell celebrated by putting a photo of Gorsuch & McConnell shaking hands on Twitter.
These people are EVIL. There is no other word for them.
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Freeloaders. It cannot be about the $45 Janus allegedly paid per paycheck, can it? Who was behind his suit? In my opinion, freeloaders now will reap benefits they don’t even help pay for. Or, will this be the end of unions? This educator is very concerned.
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I have mixed emotions. I am a retired member of the UFT in NYC. I found the union to be fairly unresponsive to members with problems in their schools. It seemed that the union was doing the bidding of the billionaire-boys-club rather than fighting for what is right for teachers and students. Example: Michael Mulgrew stated that he will “punch in the face” anyone who opposed the common core program. When the support for common core evaporated he claimed it as a victory for the union. A personal example: I filed a grievance against a principal who tried to eliminate my job as programmer to close the office and hire a part-time individual who never taught nor programmed a school which was a disaster as students were without programs into mid October. When I spoke to the union rep he routinely cut me off when trying to explain the issue and spoke to me in an angry manner as if I was doing something wrong and hung up. Ultimately however the union agreed to defend me in arbitration which I won. When I spoke to the union recently before the Janus decision was determined (but expected) the union reps fell all over themselves to be helpful, even cracking jokes several times.
This decision may weaken unions initially but may actually lead to stronger unions in the future. Witness the successful teacher strikes that were initially opposed by the unions, in right-to-work states no less.
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Michael, since I never was tenured, I never got the full benefit of union representation. I had both good and bad experiences, but the union could do little for me individually as basically an at will employee. I did notice, though, that the larger the union, the less responsive they tended to be. They become a fiefdom of their own the larger they are and sometimes seem to follow their own agenda that has little to do with their supposed constituents. Still, knowing the historic effects they have had on wages, work rules and working conditions, I find it hard to understand why any thinking worker would want to go it on their own.
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That’s why I have mixed emotions. I hope that unions will become much more responsive to their members in order to survive. Members will pay dues if they perceive real value. Not sure of the exact date but it was around 1968 that the Taylor Law was amended that included automatic dues deduction from worker’s paychecks. That amendment was a sop to the unions in return for not striking. When unions agreed to avoid strikes they eliminated the strongest bargaining tactic that could be used not only for the benefit of the members but also to protect the working environment from self enrichment charter scammers etc.
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Just as a curious layman, MB & speduktr, how does this work? I am familiar w/the issues we discuss here re: the tendency of natl teachers’ unions to cave to pressure from DOEd or DNC. But my only personal familiarity is as a taxpayer/ parent of pubsch K12 graduates, where the union reps are district teachers. (We are not a huge district – 6000 K12 students). They negotiate salaries and benefits with the locally-elected Bd of ed. So it’s “small”, yet it’s a branch of the huge NJ NEA. I had one other peephole during the decade my sis was the head rep for her midsch in a small upstate-NY town. She often spoke of going to bat for colleagues in indiv situations. So when you say there are problems when the union is too big – do you mean when the district &/or school is too big?
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Unions in states with automatic dues deductions are guaranteed survival hence union management is beholden to the politicians that guarantee their survival rather than to its members. Dues are collected whether or not a worker joins the union so if you are a teacher in NYC which has the UFT union and you refuse to join it you will still pay the dues. The union needs not please its members in order to survive hence the lack strong support for the rank & file.
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News alert just popped up that Justice Kennedy is retiring from the Supreme Court.. Can anyone else verify this?
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Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced today that he will retire from the Supreme Court, providing President Trump the opportunity to solidify the high court’s conservative majority with an additional nomination.
Kennedy’s retirement, effective July 31, will set up a high stakes political battle over his replacement’s nomination.
Kennedy, 81, established himself as as a sought after swing vote for the court’s liberal justices, casting the deciding vote on issues ranging from abortion and affirmative action to capital punishment and gay rights. He announced his retirement in a letter to President Trump.
Wow – great news for conservative justices and Trump –
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You are embrarrassing and so is your idol, the Orange Imbecile. I hope he outsources your job to North Korea or Russia.
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Multiple reports on the Internet. Trump will get another pick.
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Oh no!
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Yikes!
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Here’s the ed reform statement, from DeVos’ lobbying shop:
“Today is a win for families and educators across the country. We’re glad to see that educators will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Janus case. Educators shouldn’t be forced to give their pay to union leaders whose self-serving political agenda opposes giving parents the right to choose the best school for their children. As the American Federation for Children fights to give families options for every child’s K-12 education, we believe this Janus decision will empower educators with political choice and will allow for more student-centered reforms, like educational choice, in our K-12 education system.”
Nothing about public schools. As usual.
When they get through celebrating their big win maybe some of these politicians could see their way to clear to making an actual positive contribution to any public school, anywhere? Doing some actual work on behalf of public school students?
After the DC party celebrating the union busting of course. After the champagne and the speeches and the awards.
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DeVos’s lobbying group is spouting a bag of hogwash. How happy will educators be when they don’t have to pay union dues [unions will increasingly have no power], never can bargain to get a pay increase and won’t be able to fight for better conditions for children.
Choice among worthless choices will not help education.
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Here’s President Trump joining with ed reformers to celebrate gutting labor unions:
“Supreme Court rules in favor of non-union workers who are now, as an example, able to support a candidate of his or her choice without having those who control the Union deciding for them. Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!”
On the same page with the Trump Administration. as usual.
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I hope the unions take this decision as a sign they must have more resolve to fight for the membership that pays their bills and stop taking them for granted. It is more important to fight for working families and justice than having a “seat at the table” where members are on the menu to be consumed by corporations and billionaires.
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Amen.
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It is more important to fight for working families and justice than having a “seat at the table” where members are on the menu to be consumed by corporations and billionaires. Nicely said!
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I hope Janus will lead to reinvention of the AFT and the overthrow and radical replacement of Randi Weingarten, one of the worst and most treasonous union leaders in modern American history.
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Totally agree with you. I am a retired UFT member which RW headed before appointing her lackey Mulgrew as UFT president while she heads the parent AFT.
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Here is a comment sent out by Joe Kennedy:
Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, giving Donald Trump the chance to appoint another far-right voice to the court.
In the last two weeks, we’ve seen the consequences of Trump’s last appointment, Neil Gorsuch:
Voting rights denied.
Muslim Ban upheld.
Bigoted baker affirmed.
Workers rights gutted
Women’s health care undermined.
This was always Mitch McConnell’s goal when he stole the Supreme Court seat from President Obama. He wanted a younger bench that would help push an ultra-conservative agenda for decades to come. With Trump in the White House, the deal was sealed.
Another Trump appointment will skew the court even further away from the values you and I share – and will threaten legal protections for the environment, for marriage equality, for a woman’s right to choose, and countless other rights we depend on.
If there was ever an indication of how much our efforts and our activism matter, this is it.
From now til November – and beyond – we have to fight harder and tougher than ever before.
It’s all on the line.
Joe
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