DeLauro, Weingarten vow ongoing fight for unions
NEW HAVEN — U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, said Tuesday that the country’s labor movement must emerge stronger after last month’s Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which allows public sector employees not to pay fees to the unions that serve them.
DeLauro was joined by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and local and state union officials at the AFT Local 933 headquarters on Chapel Street to announce a need for stronger legislation to protect unions, taking the health of unions out of the hands of the courts.
The Janus decision “tips the balance against state and municipal workers,” DeLauro said. “It’s not just union workers or public sector workers who suffer. Every working person suffers.”
Supporters of the ruling, however, have said it’s a positive one for workers.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, for instance, the endorsed Republican candidate for governor, told Hearst Connecticut Media last week the ruling is a victory for people across Connecticut.
But Weingarten pointed to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court Monday as evidence that the judiciary is and will remain hostile toward working class people.
“This is the day after President Trump nominated a judge for justice who actually does not believe the president’s executive powers should be checked,” she said. “The rule of law is really at risk and the judge who is soon to be retired (Justice Anthony Kennedy) put us on that path.”
Weingarten said the Janus ruling overturns 41 years of precedent and attempts to strip working people of their voice. She said the First Amendment was “weaponized” against the rights granted to states in the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.
Several of the speakers at the press conference said the court case decision was backed by million-dollar campaigns from Continue reading, watch video: DeLauro, Weingarten vow ongoing fight for unions - New Haven Register