Page 10 - Work Force November 2018

Danny Donohue, Statewide President
Attacks on the labor movement have made us stronger than ever
Mary E. Sullivan,
Statewide Executive Vice President
By staying union and staying strong – and sticking together – we will win
Our 108th Annual Delegates Meeting comes at an historic time for labor.
This past June, the Supreme Court caved
to greedy corporate CEOs and ruled that unions can no longer collect fair share fees from nonmembers. Instead of supporting the rights of hardworking Americans, the court overturned its own 1977 decision and ruled that it is ok to be a free rider. Allowing people to get something for nothing may be the law of the land now, but we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch.
While wealthy CEOs may have won the Supreme Court battle, they will not win the war. Every day, we are fighting to preserve what the labor movement has fought so hard for, and make no mistake, we will win. We will win because workers
in New York, the most unionized state in the country, know the value strong unions provide workers, families and communities.
Without the labor movement, Americans would not have time off to spend with
loved ones. Without the labor movement, Americans would not have paid sick leave, employer-sponsored health benefits, or the Family and Medical Leave Act. Without
the labor movement, Americans would not have Workers’ Compensation, pensions and Social Security. Without the labor movement, Americans would not have overtime pay, paid vacation and workplace safety standards.
While some may take these union victories for granted, these hard-won rights and protections are being threatened. Not just for union members, but for all workers.
America needs unions now more than ever.
Anti-union groups across the country and in New York are determined to destroy unions. Their thinly veiled schemes to “educate” our members about the “choice” they have is
10 The Work Force
simply a ploy to silence the voice of working people by taking away our power. These corporate-funded groups know there is strength in numbers and are trying to pick us off one-by-one to weaken us. I can tell you right now that it is not going to work. Our members will not be fooled into giving up everything unions have fought so hard for just to save a few bucks. Public employees have always had the choice whether to join a union, and every day our members show us that they are sticking with our union.
We knew this war was coming and have been preparing for it. Over the last few years, we have reached out to thousands of members and have had one-on-one conversations about the value of our union. We have talked to
ACSEA brothers and sisters,
s we all know by now, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided Janus v. AFSCME
Council 31 in favor of billionaires and CEOs. The decision was no surprise to us; wealthy corporate interests have been working for years to destroy the labor movement and silence workers.
We were ready for them. We will Stay Union and Stay Strong! We have been reaching out to the members at their worksites and homes, having one-on-one conversations, listening to their concerns and urging them to join us in building a stronger union. It is more important than ever to engage the members and urge them to stick
together and stay union.
When the labor movement was in its early days, workers were at the mercy of wealthy employers, such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, who built their fortunes on the backs of working people. In those days, there were few, if any, laws to protect worker wages, safety or rights. For women and people of color, it was even worse.
Like working people today, these workers wanted fairness and a voice at work. These were the people who formed
— and strengthened — the American labor movement. Many of these workers were among those who fought for — and died for — the right of working people to have
“The more we listen to our members, the more we know what they need from us.”
members at their workplaces and in their homes. We have listened to their concerns and answered their questions. We have even gained a few pounds enjoying the hospitality of our members over cookies and
coffee. But more than anything else, we have sent a clear message. It is better to be union.
I am very proud of CSEA and you should be too. Instead of the Janus decision striking a fatal blow to unions as many predicted, we are stronger than ever. More members are joining CSEA than leaving. That is a tribute to all the hard work we have all been doing together for years. Our members see the value in sticking with our union, and as we quickly learned after the decision, so do many nonmembers. After the decision, when fair share fees stopped being deducted from paychecks, several agency fee payers called immediately to join our union because they did not realize they were not members. They knew the value unions provide and wanted to make sure they were protected.
President, continued on page 15
Since Janus, anti-labor
groups have been reaching
out to union members to
try to trick us into giving up
our rights and protections.
They are going to continue
these attacks on working
people. However, they are not going to succeed, as the members have made it clear — we are sticking with our union! In fact, Janus has created a whole new fighting force in our union and the entire labor movement. This does not mean the road ahead of us will be easy; we are in the fight of our lives. Our opponents want to steal our rights and our freedoms, but we are not going to let them win! We have an opportunity to revive our union spirit in the way that many workers who came before us in the movement have done.
We did not always have agency fee
payers; our union existed for 67 years before the Abood case was decided in 1977. We
were strong then and we are strong now! By sticking together, by fighting for what we have achieved so far, we can and will be stronger and a more powerful force than ever.
“We must continue to reach to every one of the members and truly listen to their concerns and ideas, and involve them in building our union.”
fair wages, health care, safe workplaces, retirement security and worker rights. Through unions, many people were lifted out
of poverty and into the middle class. Unions have truly built our country, and we can’t ever afford
to forget this. The best way to honor those who formed the labor movement is to stick together and never let our opponents take away what we have earned!
More than a century later, the employers’ names have changed — we now contend with billionaires such as the Koch Brothers
— but they are very much the same as their predecessors, attacking working people. They would love nothing more than a return to that Gilded Age at the turn of the 20th century, when the robber barons had all the wealth
and workers had nothing. Today, their deep pockets help fund anti-union groups and anti- union elected leaders who have helped them get their way. There is one thing that spoils their chances of achieving that goal: strong, powerful unions that will not let them win. As
Executive Vice President, continued on page 16
November 2018
2018 Annual Delegates