Janus v. AFSCME
What every person needs to know!
Funded by the National Right to Work Foundation, an anti-collective bargaining anti-worker rights’ organization, Mark Janus is challenging the right of unions to collect fair share fees from employees who receive the protections and rights we the AFA and unions like us bring to its members and non-members such as seniority and grievance protections, the right to challenge frivolous termination of employment, and the right to negotiate a fair wage.
This case representing the culmination of numerous attacks against labor unions by extremist political organizations, who want to fund their federal, state, county, and local budgets on the backs of those who are employed by these governmental entities. If successful, their efforts will result in eroding workers’ protections and rights to a degree we have not seen since the first half of the twentieth century. They call it your Right to Work, we call it your Right to Work for Less. In addition to significantly reducing your ability to negotiate fair compensation for what you do, you will be left at the mercy of every fly by night politician who wishes to further their own political agendas at your expense.
Our resources page unmasks what is really going to happen to workers and will give you a crystal clear picture of what to expect. In addition to lifting the curtain on what Right to Work really is, you will hear from colleagues who currently work in states governed by such laws. Their sad reality in terms of compensation and job protection, will become our reality if we fail to stand united.
We who live in New York State will soon feel the financial brunt of the recently passed federal tax reform bill that takes money out of our pockets and reduces the values of our homes while lining the pockets of the wealthy class and those living in states that make up the power base for the politicians whose only motivation is to stay in power at all costs. The next nail in our collective financial coffin will be a favorable Supreme Court ruling for those who are bringing the Janus case.
We must resist those whose income and wealth has grown by leaps and bounds – they continue to want even more over the past thirty years while we the middle class struggle to survive.
When we stand alone we have no chance...when we stand united, we can accomplish anything. There is little that we or anyone can do as it relates to the decision that the Supreme Court will render. However, collectively we can do a great deal. We must stand united and exclaim. “Enough is enough!” Those of us who are already members of the AFA, should retain that membership proudly and those who have not yet joined need to become members to stand with the rest of us in solidarity against the powerful forces who are working to destroy our unions and ultimately each one of us. These forces are well aware that once they break down the unions, there will be no one left to fight for the individuals and all will be lost. Like never before in our history, it is time to rally around one another and let the powerful, elite forces understand that the collective will of our members will overpower whatever is hurled against us.
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.
Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote.” —Martin Luther King, speaking about right-to-work laws in 1961