Supreme Court case threatens worker freedoms

Across the country, Americans are working longer hours — and often multiple jobs — for less money and fewer benefits. Too many are finding it more and more difficult to get by and provide for their families, despite being more productive than ever. All the while, a handful of CEOs and those who are already rich have seen their salaries and wealth skyrocket.

The same wealthy and corporate elites who have rigged our economy and democracy against working people are now waging an assault on unions through a Supreme Court case known as Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.

A decision is expected this spring. If the court decides in favor of Mark Janus, an Illinois state social worker, public sector unions will be forced to represent workers who opt of paying their “fair share” fees. (These fees are a portion of the membership dues that unions can currently collect from non-members who have opted out of union membership but who still receive the full value of representation and collective bargaining on their behalf.)

Janus is the third so-called “Right To Work” case to come before the Supreme Court in five years. Antiunion groups like the National Right to Work Foundation claim that fair share fees violate the First Amendment rights of non-union workers. Don’t be fooled.

The current case has nothing to do with giving dissenting union members their freedom of speech. It’s an attack on the freedom of working people to come together through their union to bargain for fair pay, benefits and working conditions.

My 14 years as a state correctional employee has allowed me to appreciate the value of unions and the importance of preserving fair share fees. By negotiating decent wages, health care and retirement, the union has enabled my family to join Connecticut’s middle class.

But union membership means more to me than wages and benefits.

Working in the state prison system is a dangerous beat. The union has given front-line prison employees a voice to advocate for the safety and security of inmates, staff and the communities that surround us. Many years before the #MeToo movement, our union successfully fought to stop sexual harassment of female employees by DOC management under former Gov. Rowland.

In the late 1970s, Connecticut correctional officers went on a three-day strike to protest unacceptable economic and working conditions. They took a stand that matters to this day, just like the West Virginia teachers who just settled their strike.

For many of us, public service jobs are some of the few good jobs left — the kind where you have the freedom to speak up about dangerous working conditions, take your kids to the doctor when they get sick, pay your bills and, God willing, retire with dignity someday.

Statistics show that wages and benefits for all workers — not just union members — are lower than in states that have passed “Right To Work” laws. I don’t want to see Connecticut go backward.

I hope the Supreme Court does the right thing and rules against the deep pockets behind Janus. But if it doesn’t, I can promise we will keep fighting to protect our workplace freedom, because our country’s economic rules must benefit everyone, not just the wealthy and powerful.