Supreme Court Sides with Billionaires Over Working People

The U.S. Supreme Court today sided with powerful CEOs, billionaires and corporate special interests against public service workers and everyday working people in the case Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. Despite their unprecedented political attack to use the highest court in the land to do their bidding, their efforts won’t work because AFSCME members are more committed than ever before to stick together.  

“This is nothing new. My co-workers and I know who is behind this attack, because they’ve been attacking us for years – here in Illinois and around the country,” said Stephen Mittons, AFSCME Council 31 member and a child protection investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. “We’re not going to let some billionaire CEOs and corporate interest groups with a partisan agenda take away our freedom to come together and speak up for our communities. We’re going to stick together in our union.”

For decades, the powerful backers of this case have been hellbent on using their wealth and power to try and divide working people and rig the economy and our democracy in their favor. Their goal in Janus was to try to weaken the ability of hardworking public service workers to speak up in the workplace for better wages, protections, safety standards and training that makes our families and our communities safer and stronger.

“There’s no way I’m going to let some corporate-funded Supreme Court case undermine my ability to care for my patients and provide for my family,” said Jeana Campolo of Ohio, a member of AFSCME Local 11 (OCSEA), who takes care of the state’s most vulnerable residents. “The people bringing this case don’t care about my community the way I do, and I’m not going to let them take my freedoms away.”   

The CEOs and special interests behind this case know when working people like nurses, 911 operators and EMS workers join together in unions, we have the power in numbers we need to stop their power and greed. That’s why they engineered a political attack to try and silence us at the Supreme Court.

In an economy already rigged against working people, the Supreme Court should have sided with working people. The best way to unrig our economy and democracy is by sticking together, because unions are needed now more than ever.

Click here to read the post-Janus ruling statement issued by AFSCME and our partners, the American Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association.