Media clips
-
The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank producing research on worker rights, wages and employment, has relied on the four biggest public-sector unions for about 10 to 15 percent of its roughly $6 million in annual revenue in recent years. “We aren’t seeing it as an existential threat,” said Thea Lee, the institute’s president, “but we have been trying to be conservative in what projects we pursue.”
The New York Times July 2, 2018 -
Black women make up the highest share of public sector workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and close to one in five black adults work in some type of government job. Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP, warns this decision could impact black public sector workers disproportionately. In a statement, he said, “protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens is extremely important. Civil Rights and Workers Rights are inextricably linked. Today’s decision could dismantle unions as we know them, which has paved the way for African Americans and other marginalized groups to break economic barriers, reach into the middle class, and establish financial security for their family.”
Marketplace July 2, 2018 -
It’s likely that this outcome is exactly what those bankrolling Janus wanted. Plaintiff Mark Janus was represented by the Liberty Justice Center; The New York Times reported in February that the organization’s key financial supporter was Republican mega-donor Richard Uihlein. Meanwhile, the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute published a paper in February linking a string of court cases challenging unions to a hub of wealthy conservative donors, including Uihlein and the Koch brothers.
Time July 2, 2018 -
Obviously, if unions were erased from America, the income of unionized workers would fall. But according to research from left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI), declines in unionization are linked to a drop in the pay of nonunion workers, too. And the implications of organized labor’s total collapse go way beyond paychecks. Without unions, racism and tribalism might get worse, cities could look physically different, rent would likely be even harder to keep up with, and weekends might become a thing of the past. More than anything else, what emerged from conversations with economists, labor experts, sociologists and futurists is that a society without unions would look a lot like the increasingly gilded-age reality we live in now—just worse. And it’s not nearly as implausible as you might think. “We don’t have to sort of wonder and fictionalize it,” Celine McNicholas, director of labor law and policy at EPI, told me. “History gives us an indication—before we had meaningful labor representation and unions—of what our economy looked like.” (Celine quoted throughout)
Vice News June 29, 2018 -
Progressive economists say that Americans should expect to see economic inequality increase as public-sector unions adjust to a post-Janus world. According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, “[a]s union membership has fallen over the last few decades, the share of income going to the top 10 percent has steadily increased.” When union membership peaked at 33.4 percent in 1945, the share of income going to the top 10 percent was 32.6 percent. By 2011, when union membership was down to 11.1 percent, the share of income going to the top 10 percent reached 48 percent. The gap is even more stark when it comes to wealth: In 2017, the top 1 percent of American households owned 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, a higher share than at any point since 1962. The top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. EPI attributes these trends to the lack of bargaining power that non-union workers have to negotiate their wages, among other factors that have made wealth distribution more unequal.
The Intercept June 29, 2018 -
Nearly half of union workers are public sector employees, and many of them are women. “Black women in particular could be hurt by Janus, as they are disproportionately represented in public sector jobs,” says the Economic Policy Institute. “[They] have traditionally faced a double pay gap — a gender pay gap and a racial wage gap. However, unions help reduce these pay gaps. Working black women in unions are paid 94.9% of what their black male counterparts make, while nonunion black women are paid just 91% of their counterparts.” (chart included)
Refinery29 June 29, 2018 -
But the left-of-center Economic Policy Institute said “billionaire-backed organizations finally got their decision.” “It will have profound implications, not just for the 6.8 million state and local government workers” represented by unions but “all 17.3 million state and local government workers and indeed for every working person throughout the country,” the Institute said.
Agence France Press (AFP) June 29, 2018 -
Heidi Shierholz is a former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. She said it’s already illegal for fair-share fees to be used for political activities. She said giving workers a choice about paying their share of costs associated with negotiating higher wages and benefits and filing workplace grievances is likely to produce what she calls a “free ride” effect. “Even if they value it highly, they may be unwilling to pay the dues, and that will starve the union of resources and will hurt the ability of the union to provide crucial services,” Shierholz said. “The real goal is to actually starve the unions to reduce their effectiveness.” Shierholz said she believes Wednesday’s decision is the result of a 40-year effort to weaken public-sector unions through the courts. In February, a report by the Economic Policy Institute identified a core group of wealthy foundations with ties to powerful corporate lobbies that bankrolled a long line of fair-share fee cases, including Janus.
Public News Service June 29, 2018 -
Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, points out it’s already illegal for fair share fees to be used for political activities. And she says giving workers a choice about paying their share of costs associated with negotiating higher wages, benefits and filing workplace grievances is likely to produce what she calls a “free ride” effect. “Even if they value it highly, they may be unwilling to pay the dues, and that will starve the union of resources and will hurt the ability of the union to provide crucial services,” she states. “The real goal is to actually starve the unions to reduce their effectiveness.”
Public News Service June 29, 2018 -
But Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the concerns go beyond union finances. “Worker wages and benefits are what will be hurt if unions don’t have enough resources to do their work effectively,” she said. Legal precedent allowing for agency fees was established in the 1977 Supreme Court case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. Wednesday’s decision overturns that opinion.
Route Fifty June 29, 2018