Public sector workers in states that allow them to organize and exercise collective bargaining rights are now in an open shop situation, i.e. they are no longer bound to pay dues or fees to their unions. The Supreme Court decision also allows current members to drop out of the union. After the decision, public sector unions almost immediately stopped receiving fee payments as state, county and municipal governments instituted compliance with the Supreme Court ruling. It should be noted that unions are still obligated by the various state labor relations laws to represent all the workers in a bargaining regardless of whether they pay dues or not.

In response to the expected decision, some unions were able to lobby state legislatures to pass laws that would make signing up new members easier and the process of dropping out more difficult. An example is New York state, where such legislation was recently approved.

Right-wing billionaires have funded a host of state based organizations that have coordinated the assault on unions and workers. Examples are the Manhattan Institute in New York City, the Yankee Institute in Connecticut and the Mackinac Institute in Michigan. These organizations are now conducting campaigns aimed at current union members to convince them to drop out of their unions.

Websites with deceptive names, such as “My Pay, My Say,” have been set up to convince union members that unions are something other than workers coming together to advance their own interests. Members are being called, leafleted and door knocked by paid hirelings of these right-wing groups to convince workers “to give themselves a raise,” by dropping out of the union and stopping dues payments.

These efforts are designed to weaken unions and the power of workers. If union membership drops, there will be less funds available for political work and lobbying, thus making it easier for the ruling class to drive down wages and benefits of the working class. Unions will have less money to defend their members on the job and enforce their contracts, thus making them less credible in the eyes of the workers, who then might choose to stop paying dues.

Public sector unions that did a good job of communicating with their members and involved them in the day-to-day struggles on the job are well positioned to defend themselves against these anti-union campaigns. Unions that do not do this well will be harder hit, because their members may not understand the issues involved, nor understand what a weaker union will mean for them in terms of their rights on the job, wages, pensions and other benefits of union contract.

The labor movement’s response to the Janus decision should be more and better organizing, both with their current members and the unorganized working class. This moment has come about after years of retreat and concessions and insular strategies that ignored the working class as a whole. Workers will stay in unions that fight every day and that bring more and more workers into that fight.

#NewYorkNY #JanusVAFSCME

Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota Workers United organized an emergency response protest, June 27, when the U.S. Supreme Court announced their anti-union ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. It started with a rally at the Teamsters Trucker Strike Memorial and was followed by a march of hundreds of workers through downtown, ending at the U.S. Federal Courthouse.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding Janus vs AFSCME Council 31 in February and announced their 5-4 decision to rule against public sector unions on the court’s last day of the session. The court overturned the precedent from 1977, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, and ruled that public employees cannot be required to pay a fee to cover the union’s costs to negotiate a contract.

Cherrene Horazuk, the president of AFSCME 3800, helped organize the protest and explained, “The Supreme Court endorsed an attack on the rights of unions and workers by corporate interests. This will negatively impact working people and massively expand wealth inequality in this country. This risks taking Minnesota workers’ rights back 80 years, to a time when unions were practically criminalized. We will not be silent if they attack our right to organize together. Like the striking Teamsters from 1934, militant class struggle is how we will resist that happening regardless of the Supreme Court decision.”

Shane Clune, chief steward of AFSCME 2822, spoke passionately to the crowd, “Brothers and sisters, we were here to mark the passing of an era. The era of business unionism is over. Labor peace is dead. Today is our first day in a new world, and we must choose what that world looks like. Our unions have become shadows of their former selves. Though they were necessary and indispensable, they were insufficient to the task of advancing the status and worklife of working people. This is because we got complacent. Fair share fees paid for big organizations with lots of overhead.”

Clune continued, “We fell from solidarity, retired from fighting, and became just another fee-for-service organization, another business that wants workers money and spends that money lobbying Congress. We stopped helping each other fight, and delegated the fighting to others. Too often we told our members not to fight, to take a bad deal because fighting meant taking a risk. That is called labor peace, and we drank its wine to quiet our fighting spirit. Janus is our hangover. We cannot go back to the way things were. Good riddance.

“Instead we must look to how our brothers and sisters, past and present, have taken up the fight. We must look to the Pullman Strike, to Blair Mountain, to the Teamsters Strike that took place on this sacred ground. We must look to the teachers’ strikes, in West Virginia and across the nation. We must look to all of these to see how we must fight and win when the law does not recognize our rights. And like those brave workers, we must be ready to do what needs to be done,” Clune added.

Members from dozens of public and private sector unions in the Twin Cities came together for the protest. Activists pledged to continue the fight against corporate and government union-busting efforts and to strengthen the solidarity among workers by supporting each other’s fights.

#MinneapolisMN #JanusVAFSCME #MinnesotaWorkersUnited

Los Angeles, CA – Labor unions and supporters rallied at the steps of LA County USC Medical Center, Feb. 26, for workers’ rights. On Feb. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear the Janus v. AFSCME case. The case is a right-wing attack on labor unions.

Around 300 union members and supporters joined at the steps of the medical center. Large numbers of healthcare workers participated. Many county and state workers represented by SEIU, nurses with NNU, IATSE members as well as many other unions, came to action. City Councilman Jose Huizar and County Supervisor Hilda Solis also spoke in support of unions. Between speakers, the crowd chanted “When unions are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “We are the union! The Mighty mighty union!” The crowd was riled up, and speakers denounced corporate greed and ‘Right to Work’ legislation across the country.

Karla Griego, a special education teacher and UTLA member from Buchanan Street Elementary in Highland Park, said, “No matter what the Supreme Court justice decision is we will not be intimidated. History has shown that when unions like UTLA are building the movement it changes things for those who are unionized and not. We are leading a fight against billionaires like Eli Broad who push for a privatized form of education where they pick and choose their students.”

Speakers urged members to continue to stay involved and keep up the fight for workers’ rights.

#LosAngelesCA #PublicSectorUnions #JanusVAFSCME

More than 1500 people, mostly union workers, rallied at Daley Plaza and marched to the Thompson Center and down Michigan Avenue, as a part of the National Day of Action for Workers’ Rights.

#ChicagoIL #PublicSectorUnions #JanusVAFSCME

St. Paul, MN – Around 1000 union members and supporters held a rally at the state capitol building, Feb. 24, to defend union rights in the public sector, which are under attack from a right wing funded lawsuit intended to weaken the labor movement. The lawsuit is called Janus vs AFSCME. The goal of the lawsuit is to eliminate fair share fees in unionized public sector workplaces. Under current law, if the workers have organized, the union is required to spend resources representing every worker at that workplace even if they choose not to join the union. Because the union is required to spend members’ dues money representing those non-union workers, it has long been held that if a particular worker does not want to be part of the union they may choose not to, and instead of paying dues, that worker instead pays a fee for only the amount of money that the union spends representing them. This is called a “fair share” fee.

If the Supreme Court rules that fair share fees may no longer be collected, then the union will have to spend money on people who choose to be ‘free riders,’ but that person will not be required to pay for the services they receive from that union. The reason that right-wing organizations are funding this lawsuit is that they know that this will seriously hurt the budgets of unions, which they believe will make it harder for unions to effectively organize and represent workers. Ultimately their goal is to eliminate unions so that bosses are able to treat workers as poorly as they choose and pay them less in wages and benefits.

The workers who rallied at the capitol clearly understand that this is nothing but an attack on their rights and was intended to weaken them and take away their power. The protest was attended by many unions both from the public and private sectors. AFSCME, SEIU and Teamsters members were out in force, as well as teachers from across the state. Many other unions had crowds at the event as well.

#StPaulMN #PublicSectorUnions #JanusVAFSCME