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June 29, 2018
Supreme Court Tips Scale Against Workers with Janus Ruling
The Supreme Court Hurts Latino Workers and Sides with the One Percent
Washington, D.C.-- Sending yet another blow to the American people, the Supreme Court of the United States has sided with corporate interests over the working class in Janus v. AFSCME. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 45 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, recognizes the recent Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME as a direct attack on public sector workers and denounces the Court’s decision. This decision seeks to erode the power of working individuals across our country by making it that more difficult for workers to collectively bargain. Unions empower families and help them climb out of poverty. This decision robs millions of working families the opportunity to protect their jobs, receive key services, and secure an economic future.
“Public sector unions have been among the staunchest defenders and protectors of a path from working poor to the middle class, and many Latino families, including my own, have followed that path,” said Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA Chair and MALDEF President and General Counsel. “These unions have also been critical defenders of policies to support all working people, including working people of color; today's politicized Supreme Court misreading of the First Amendment is a travesty that NHLA must commit to working to minimize and ultimately to overturn.”
“The Supreme Court's Janus decision, reversing the Abood ruling on public employee unions under the flimsy claim of protecting First Amendment freedoms, is a blatantly political attack on workers' ability to create institutions to represent their interests. It occurs precisely because unions remain the most effective vehicle for working people to have a meaningful voice with their employers to achieve decent wages, safe working conditions, and respect in the workplace. The Court's use of its power to attack labor unions takes us back to the 19th century,” said Bruce Goldstein, Co-Chair of the NHLA Economic Empowerment and Labor Committee and President of Farmworker Justice.
“The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of big money, in favor of corporate interests. This is a ruling that will hurt every single American whose rights are constantly protected by Unions. American workers must be a priority; these anti-worker policies will only strengthen our commitment to organize, mobilize and resist,” said Hector Sanchez Barba, Executive Director Of the Labor Council For Latin American Advancement (LCLAA).
“Unionization is often the way out America’s tragic condition of the working poor. This decision reverses precedent and mirrors a larger effort to protect big money, corporations and misguided policies against workers. By weakening the union movement the country weakens our labor force where Latinos are directly and actively engaged. The NHLA must be ready to fight against it,” said Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
“The Supreme Court’s Janus decision will hurt the working class and limit their opportunity to earn a living wage and lift families out of poverty. My father walked 50 miles to meet with a union that brought living wages to a small factory in rural South Texas. All workers at that company and the entire town benefitted from unionization,” said Maria De Leon, President and CEO, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC).
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