Attack on unions threatens vulnerable Ohioans
The Mount Vernon Development Center, where I’ve been a direct-care worker for 15 years, is home to some of Ohio’s most vulnerable citizens. The women and men I serve suffer from mental or physical disabilities so severe they can’t live on their own.
For many, their families either can’t provide them the care they need or, in some cases, they simply don’t have family in the first place.
My co-workers and I are their family. We care for them as such, providing them everything a loved one would — most of all, a sense of compassion and human dignity.
One crucial factor in our ability to care for our residents is our union. As members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, my co-workers and I bargain for better staffing levels and better conditions for our patients, as well as salary and benefits that enable us to perform a job we love and earn a sustainable wage.
However, that level of care is under threat. A Supreme Court case now being heard, Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, might deal a devastating blow to public-service workers across the country.
Teachers, sanitation workers, law-enforcement officers and many others could soon be severely hobbled in how they do their jobs. They could be robbed of their freedom to join together in strong unions and negotiate on behalf of themselves and their communities.
At issue is whether public employees who are represented by unions but aren't union members can be required to pay "agency fees" to support the union's collective-bargaining efforts. A ruling against agency fees would hurt unions financially.
In attacking public-sector unions, special interests made up of powerful CEOs, billionaires and the politicians who do their bidding want to further rig the rules in their favor while making it harder for Ohioans like me to serve our communities.
If they win this fight, the impact on Ohio’s communities will be destructive. For the residents of the Mount Vernon Development Center, a weakened union would lead to greater turnover and fewer highly trained workers.
Because the needs of the patients at Mount Vernon are so severe, and so varied, robbing them of the caregivers who, in many cases, are their only link to the outside world would be incredibly cruel. What’s more, by weakening our ability to negotiate for better wages and benefits, qualified people will be discouraged from pursuing public service.
These billionaires and CEOs don’t believe we should have the same rights and freedoms they enjoy to make their voices heard and negotiate a fair return on their work.
Corporations and the wealthy know the right to stand together and build power in numbers is the only chance working people have to get a fair shake in a system they have rigged against us.
That’s why they’re funding this legal challenge They won’t stop until they’ve taken away the freedom of all working people to have a say in our families' future.
Every day, along with millions of others devoted to public service, I go out to care for the most vulnerable Ohioans. We work hard, and in return we ask for the right to stand together and negotiate not just on our behalf, but our neighbors'.
The Janus case is an attack on that fundamental right, and all working people should be concerned. This attack on unions goes far beyond political power. By chipping away at our ability to do our jobs, these powerful interests are threatening the well-being of the people we serve. They’re threatening their dignity.