WASHINGTON - [On June 27], the Supreme Court ruled against working people in unions in Janus v. AFSCME by declaring that the fair-share fees unions charge to nonmembers for the services provided in negotiating and servicing the collective bargaining agreement violate freedom of speech. Pride at Work Executive Director Jerame Davis reacted strongly:

'After spending billions of dollars to steal a Supreme Court seat, corporate CEOs and billionaires got what they paid for today. The partisan majority on this court has decided that the corporate interests that put them [there] have greater rights than the American people. The right to organize is a fundamental freedom that must not be abridged. This decision is a major setback for working people all across the nation, regardless of whether they are part of a union. Just as they authorized the Muslim ban yesterday, this Supreme Court has proven that it will stop at nothing to divide and weaken us.

'Corporate CEOs and billionaires have funded this case as a means to destroy the unions that working people have built in order undermine the basic freedoms of working people. Unions are the best way to stand up to corporate greed and unrig our economy and political system.

'LGBTQ working people lose greatly in this decision as well. In more than half the country, it is legal to fire an LGBTQ person solely based on their identity. A union contract is the only protection LGBTQ workers can attain against such discrimination, and this ruling puts even those protections in jeopardy.

'But working people built unions out of struggle, and in worse environments than this. There are unions that are thriving in right-to-work states - just ask the Culinary Workers Union that almost shut down Las Vegas earlier this month. Working people can and are fighting back. This decision issues a very clear message to all working people: get organized and fight.'

Pride at Work organizes mutual support between the organized labor movement and the LGBTQ community for social and economic justice. It seeks full equality for LGBTQ workers in our workplaces and unions, and it organizes in the spirit of the union movement's historic motto, 'An Injury to One Is an Injury to All.' Learn more at www.prideatwork.org.

Courtesy of Pride at Work

 Share on Facebook

Share on MySpace!

    Share on Delicious

Share on StumbleUpon!