Posted on 07/01/2018 4:40:00 PM PDT by mdittmar
WASHINGTON - June 27, 2018 -
The following statement was issued by leaders and members of NEA, AFSCME, SEIU and AFT following the decision by the U.S. 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.
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:
“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
“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, American Federation of State County Municipal Employees (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
“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, Service Employees International Union (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, public health emergency preparedness specialist, SEIU Local 503 in Salem, Oregon.
“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. And 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.
"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, American Federation of Teachers (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. There are 84 teachers in our school district, and all but one 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
Follow the conversation on social media at #UNION
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About the National Education Association
The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Learn more at www.nea.org.
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
AFSCME’s 1.6 million members provide the vital services that make America happen. With members in hundreds of different occupations — from nurses to corrections officers, child care providers to sanitation workers — AFSCME advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services and prosperity and opportunity for all working families. More information is available online at www.afscme.org.
Service Employees International Union
SEIU unites 2 million diverse members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. SEIU members working in the healthcare industry, public sector and property services believe in the power of joining together on the job to win higher wages and benefits and to create better communities while fighting for a more just society and an economy that works for all of us, not just corporations and the wealthy. Learn more at www.seiu.org.
American Federation of Teachers
The AFT represents 1.7 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators. Go to www.aft.org for more information.
CONTACT:
Staci Maiers, NEA Communications, 202-270-5333 cell, smaiers@nea.org
Marianne von Nordeck, AFSCME Communications, 202-812-0091 cell, MVon_Nordeck@afscme.org
Sara Lonardo, SEIU Communications, 202-412-2153 cell, sara.lonardo@seiu.org
Andrew Crook, AFT Communications, 607-262-9431 cell, acrook@aft.org
Yes! Delicious!
Screw unions
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa. Is that enough?
That’ll show em! Lol!
Geez, it reads like a Doctor Brommer’s soap bottle...
They should have included the net worth of everyone quoted. That would have made their real agenda known.
Party’s over just like in Wisconsin https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2016/11/27/for-unions-in-wisconsin-fast-and-hard-fall-since-act-10.html
What a farce. As if the NEA were somehow protecting its members (teachers) from being exploited by ‘corporate billionaires.’ Makes it sound like they’re representing the overworked guys at the steel mill from the likes of Carnegie. Sucking money from the public trough into union coffers to fund a leftist agenda isn’t exactly the same thing.
If you think they were going down without a fight you are greatly mistaken! The NEA is one of the most vicious group connected to the union’s hip!!
As a soon to be former member of AFSCME, I’m very excited to say the DNC has gotten the last nickel from my paycheck that it will ever get.
If unions are good for their members, as they generally are, they will always attract members. Without forced dues payments for Marxist lobbying and politics.
Judging by the Wisconsin experience after they passed right to work, a large percentage of workers will decide that they would rather keep their dues money.
This will be important going into 2018, as union money and personnel are important to the Democrats.
The NEA believes students are a necessary evil to their plan....
That is rich, the president of the SEIU telling us that the decision is extremist. She and her union are the embodiment of extremism.
I will be sitting in a collective bargaining meeting with members of the SEIU on Tuesday. I want to ask them if they plan on supporting Hillary in 2020.
I will add that the SEIU had people on the ground in the 2016 election and repeated told the Clinton campaign that Trump was going to win Iowa by a margin of at least five points. They loaded the buses with their people and headed to Michigan where their people on the ground said it was going to be close. The Clinton campaign staff ordered the buses turned around and they went back to Iowa.
NOTE: the order to turn the buses around came from Clinton’s people NOT THE RUSSIANS!!
+1,000,000,000,000,000
The NEA and every state education association have been ripping taxpayers off for decades.
“”””””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.”””””
The decision did nothing to stop unions from starting or recruiting anyone. Apparently unions don’t like their members to have a choice. Weird, right?
“...Supreme Court sides with corporate billionaires...”
Says the leader of a group who’s members each get paid more than $100,000 a year, are impossible to fire, get bloated pensions, gold plated healthcare benefits, etc.
And we are supposed to feel sympathy for them because they care about the children, don’t you know.
So called educators. The ruling only affected public sector unions. So it has nothing to do with “billionaires” asshats.
Samuel Gompers sort of the original American union organizer (IWWW - the “Wobblies” I think!) once, “any union that tries to force membership on workers is not a union worth having”.
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