Yet again, we are hit with another blow to the working class as the right-wing groups push to destroy public-sector unions.   The ruling came in on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, and immediately makes null the fair-share provisions overturning a 1977 case, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, where Detroit public-school teachers opposed paying fees to the union.  In the Abood decision, economists argued union members have an incentive to pay fair-share or risk becoming “free-riders”, benefiting from the collective but not paying for it.  In the Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Mark Janus, an employee of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, argued that paying union dues was a violation of his free speech and therefore violates the First Amendment.  Justice Elena Kagen wrote in a sharp dissent that the majority was “weaponizing the First Amendment, in a way that unleashes judges, now and in the future, to intervene in economic and regulatory policy.”

As an active member and e-board representative of my union, UPTE-CWA local 9119, I am completely devastated, but not surprised.  Before the decision was out, we have been buckling down trying to get in new memberships and renewals.  It’s not easy.  I have a coworker who does not believe in the work we do because he feels it does not directly affect him.  I have a feeling he will not be renewing his membership, and will be one of those “free-riders”, as he has not yet given me the renewal form.  I don’t know if he really gets what the union is. It’s as good as we make it. It’s not some magical entity that you can selfishly go to to fix a problem at work. It’s made of workers. If people could only realize that we, the workers, are the union. A lot of the work that’s put into it is voluntary. If people don’t make an effort to contribute then it makes it harder for everyone else. The union is only as strong as the people. It should be every worker’s duty to be informed and attend union meetings just as it is every citizen’s duty to vote and participate in the polis.

I know firsthand what the union does to help worker’s protect their rights because as a legislative representative, I have been on the floor lobbying at Sacramento for the AB 848, banning the outsourcing of state university jobs.  I am thankful it passed. Unions are important, and I believe people will start waking up to this with the rise of income inequality and the disintegration of our civil liberties.

This news comes just days after Trump’s travel ban is upheld by the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court has given Trump the formula for executing his power to control borders as long as he says it is detrimental to the interest of the United States.  Trump will now use the travel ban to turn back migrants at the border.  He already has ignorant people thinking that seeking asylum is a crime, which it isn’t.  Immigrant children are being ripped away from their families.  These are dangerous times we are living in.

With the Republicans working with Trump, they have managed to control the White House, Senate, and now the Supreme Court.  There goes our checks and balances which is fundamental for a working Democracy.  We are living in a world where people are protesting in the streets.  How is it that this Tyrant president is still in office?  It seems like all the wrong people are winning, and the sky is falling down.  How are we going to learn to live with it?