When Dreamers demand to be able to exercise their full potential, or seniors pack town hall meetings to protest Congressional attempts to shred Medicaid, or women and men fill the streets to rally for respect and equality, especially in the workplace — they are not alone. Wherever Americans fight for justice, shine a light on oppression, or challenge the institutions and leaders that divide us, working people are there — standing together as members of their unions.
Yet last week, the Supreme Court heard a case that poses a serious threat to the rights of working Americans. Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. And basically, it’s a case about fairness.
Let’s say you’re a firefighter. And you belong to a firefighters’ union. Your union has a duty to negotiate with management on your behalf — to get you better hours, better wages, better benefits and better working conditions. And that union may also engage in political activity such as funding and campaigning for candidates. If a union is required to represent all employees in negotiating for a better workplace, every employee who stands to benefit from those negotiations should share the costs of that representation. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair.
So, for 40 years, the Supreme Court has essentially said there should be two kinds of union fees. You can’t force anyone to pay to support political activity — and union members only do so if they opt in. But you can require workers to fund their union’s collective bargaining efforts that improve workplace conditions for workers. They’re called “fair share fees.” And I successfully defended this practice from a constitutional challenge in 2016 when I was California attorney general.
Now — with the backing of wealthy corporations — the exact same issue is in front of the Supreme Court again. And with a conservative majority on the court, it’s likely they’ll deliver a blow to working people and their families by weakening the membership and bargaining power of unions.
The interests behind the case know that with workers divided, they can drive down wages and working conditions for all Americans. Over and over, working people have shown that when they have power and organize, our society changes for the better. That’s why every American should support strengthening unions and making them available to every single worker.
But let’s be clear: Dividing workers is only the first step in their explicit plan for undermine progressive movements. They see weakening unions as a means to weaken other rights, from civil rights to women’s rights to LGBTQ equality.
As California attorney general, I took on Wall Street to recover $25 billion for California homeowners. I know the lengths powerful interests will go to rig the economy against working people and their families. And I know their job will be easier if workers don’t have a seat at the table. That’s why we cannot give up the fight.
In this case, workers’ right to band together to fight for the wages and benefits they’ve earned is under attack. We must all stand with them in this fight.
This is about basic fairness. It’s about economic justice. And it’s about fighting for a better deal for all Americans.
Kamala D. Harris represents California in the United States Senate.
