Posts tagged Janus
ALASKA CASE GIVES SCOTUS A CHANCE TO REINFORCE JANUS
October 3, 2023 // Unfortunately, lower courts — including the Alaska Supreme Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — have been reluctant to hold either states or unions to that standard. If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it will effectively be asked to specifically apply to public employers the majority opinion issued just five years ago in Janus. If the court rejects the petition, the Alaska Supreme Court’s decision will stand. But even if the court takes up the case, a decision isn’t likely before winter. Most likely, months or years of written and oral arguments could be forthcoming. “Unless you agree to enforce it, even a landmark ruling like Janus is just a piece of paper,” Stahlfeld said. “Because unions and activist judges have been allowed to act as if Janus never happened, states like Alaska that want to comply with the ruling have been obliged to adopt legislation reinforcing what should have happened all along.”
Commentary: The Sly Economics of Government Union Activism
September 13, 2023 // When presented with the option to relinquish this exclusive representation, thereby freeing themselves from the obligation to represent nonmembers, unions invariably refuse. This reveals a glaring contradiction in their position. On one hand, they lament the “free riders” who benefit from union representation without paying dues. On the other, they zealously guard their monopoly over the public workplace, wanting to represent everyone in a bargaining unit, whether a member or not. The issue transcends mere percentages and numbers; it’s a matter of trust, transparency, and financial autonomy. Unions must reevaluate their approach to membership and adapt to the new legal landscape. The question: Will unions serve their members and charge them accordingly, or maintain their own political agendas by overcharging?
Elisabeth Messenger: Where Do Your Union Dues Go?
September 1, 2023 // I think when a union can stay very independent and hyper-local, it can be what it was meant to be, and that is a force to speak for all, to help all, to protect all, to raise all at the same time. But again, it’s only when it’s independent it’s not tied to a national, bloated corporate union. And it’s only when it’s at the local level.
Five Years after Janus, Government Unions Are Weaker — and More Desperate
July 5, 2023 // When SEIU HCII, which operates across four states, is removed from the picture, the overall public-sector-union membership in Illinois has decreased by over 10 percent. These declines are not isolated to a single entity but spread across all public employers, with teachers’ unions such as the Illinois Education Association and Illinois Federation of Teachers losing a combined 9.4 percent of their members or fee-payers. AFSCME Council 31 — the union that represented Janus — has seen an 18.5 percent drop. A significant decrease in union membership is a sign that workers are exercising their Janus freedoms. It also means that $25 million didn’t flow into government-union coffers in 2022. This is a financial blow to a movement that’s accustomed to having huge cash reserves to fund the politicking that gets the union bosses exactly what they want. Such a dramatic shift illustrates how many government workers feel underrepresented by their unions, pushing them to distance themselves from groups now charging more and delivering less. Which points up another consequence of Janus: Government unions are in a fight for their lives. Desperation has made them even more polarizing, extreme, and political — and greedy.
Five years ago, U.S. Supreme Court strikes down forced public union dues
July 5, 2023 // Following the Supreme Court ruling, Janus left his job with the state of Illinois to join the Illinois Policy Institute, a free market think tank. The ruling affected union participation around the country. According to the Freedom Foundation, over a quarter of a million workers have left the four largest public unions since the Janus decision, which is a decline of about 10 percent. After the ruling, AFSCME Council 31, the union Janus sued, saw nearly a 20% drop in membership.
Commentary: When Wokeness Implodes: An Irony-Steeped Showdown in Florida, Echoes of Janus v. AFSCME, and a Fresh Start for Florida’s Public Employees
July 3, 2023 // In an environment of “wokeness,” the NEA—one of the largest teachers’ unions in the country—is tasting a bitter concoction of its own brewing, served up by its ideological kin, the Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE). The SPFE has declared a boycott of the NEA’s 2023 Representative Assembly in Orlando, Fla., in response to the NAACP’s travel advisory warning of Florida’s purported hostility toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This irony-steeped drama unfolds alongside the fifth anniversary of Janus v. AFSCME, a landmark ruling that strengthened public employees’ rights by allowing them the freedom to choose whether to join and pay dues to a union. Federal reports show a drop in the NEA’s membership of more than 200,000 workers (7.6 percent) since the Janus decision. The Freedom Foundation, in that same period, has assisted more than 143,000 government employees in opting out of their unions. This legacy of empowerment starkly contrasts with the NEA’s current predicament, where ideology appears to overshadow dialogue and mutual respect.
Federal court hands down a major conviction of corrupt union bosses
July 2, 2023 // "LEEBA inflicted severe damage on its members over the years, to the point that it created division, disgust and disdain," said Bruce Mateer, a former member of the union. "Thanks to LEEBA, we have one of the worst-paid police departments in the entire state of New York and we lack proper retirement benefits. LEEBA is supposed to serve their members, but both contracts that LEEBA signed did not meet their members’ needs." Labor unions are supposed to have one simple function: represent their workers during negotiations with management and try to get the best deal possible. Kenneth Wynder and his cronies are unfortunately just the latest in a long tradition of union bosses who decided to make enriching themselves their No. 1 priority.
Five Years Later, Janus Is Decimating Government Unions
June 30, 2023 // Government unions never should have exercised so much control over so many people for so many years. The Supreme Court righted this wrong in 2018, and five years later, more than a million public sector workers have exercised their freedom, keeping at least $720 million of their hard-earned money every year. These numbers are all but certain to grow over the next five years. Perhaps by the 10th anniversary of the Janus decision, government unions will admit how much they’re hurting and change to a less partisan and more effective model of member persuasion.
Frank Ricci: Five Years After Janus
June 30, 2023 // Following the decision and decreased national interest, laws meant to obscure union members’ rights have been adopted. As a result, public sector union management across the country has hesitated to inform employees of their rights, fearing they will receive charges from local labor boards. At the state level, unions have used their political clout to ban captive audience meetings where the employer shares their position on a topic and to bar management even from attending union orientation sessions. This allows the unions to utilize so-called “dark patterns” — techniques that lock members into deliberately deceptive contracts designed to deprive them of their rights.
CELEBRATING THE HISTORIC JANUS DECISION FIVE YEARS LATER
June 27, 2023 //