The American Legislative Exchange Council is pushing a spate of anti-worker bills in states across the country—the latest in the group’s onslaught on collective bargaining rights.
For decades, union-busting bosses and Republican politicians have had a powerful ally in their war on organized labor: the United States Supreme Court.
Over decades, a boutique of consultants, industrial psychologists, and specialist lawyers--spending an estimated $340 million a year--has played a significant role in subduing the labor movement, and has helped keep U.S. unions pinned down to this day.
After the Supreme Court gutted rules to protect unions, the Freedom Foundation has been on a national mission to erode labor’s base of support.
The House bill, which has unified support from the state’s unions, would let unions charge non-members “reasonable costs” for representing them in a grievance or arbitration proceeding.
The rule is "a blatant political attack on a group of workers that are 90% women and majority people of color,” said April Verrett, president of SEIU Local 2015, which represents some 380,000 California home care and nursing home workers.
The drop continues a trend that except for a pause during the 2008 financial crisis, has been ongoing since the 1980s, when the share of organized labor was roughly double what it is today.
In Connecticut, the good news is that anti-labor Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision won’t break the unions, which uphold the middle class at a time when the share of income going to the top 1 percent has doubled in barely more than a generation.
Judge Kavanaugh would return workplace law to the 19th century. He would deny working people our most fundamental rights. And that’s exactly why he was nominated. He’s been vetted by the same people who’ve been pulling the strings since Bush v. Gore.
Unions must either demand a place at the table or be part of the meal
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