Anti-Janus Outrage: Allegations of Racism, Authoritarianism Alleged by Desperate Unions
On June 27th of this year the United State Supreme Court settled the Janus v. AFSCME case, holding that “No public sector employee, having refused membership in a trade union, may be compelled to pay union dues.”
Put simply: If you like your union, you can keep your union… but if you don’t want a membership, you’re no longer forced to pay in.
This landmark (and seemingly obvious) decision comes as a relief to workers nationwide. However, if you listen to the main stream media or union supported outlets, it would seem the sky is falling as their members take to the streets to protest.
But why is there such outrage, and what are the roots of the stiff #resistance to a decision that seems so obvious?
The answer is one which has become sadly pervasive in our modern political climate: fake news.
Headlines like “Janus v. Democracy” from Dissent Magazine, and “The Racism of the Supreme Court’s ‘Janus’ Decision” from truthout.org bolster the idea that the Supreme Court transmorphed into a group of bigoted authoritarians over the summer.
As the highly-paid executives of major unions like AFSCME claim their members need “unions now more than ever as [the] supreme court sides with corporate billionaires rigging economy against workers,” it suddenly makes sense why many workers are genuinely upset.
However, it’s important to remember why labor executives are so vested in stoking the fires of public terror and distress.
Fear grants power, and power is in the crosshairs of big unions as they scramble to keep their finances up after being deprived the ability to steal money from workers who don’t care to join.
Over the next few years, we’re bound to see major shifts in the power and purpose of unions— and they know it. During the 2016 elections, the NEA (our nation’s biggest teachers’ union) was the 11th largest contributor, giving almost $30 million to liberal candidates. This type of large scale political activism is going to be more difficult now that teachers, clerks, engineers and countless other types of working Americans have the choice not to fund government unions.
If all goes well, the Janus ruling will bring about a union renaissance, directing the focus of collective bargaining away from Washington, D.C. and back to workers. In the meantime, sit back and watch the fake news fly as unions scramble, attempting to spook members into not leaving.
Kyle Hooten is a sophomore at St. Olaf College and an intern for Center of the American Experiment.