Union members vow to fight right wing, corporate led effort to drive down wages and strip workers from having a voice in the workplace

Greg Kelley, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana Missouri & Kansas, released the following statement regarding today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME:

“The U.S. Supreme Court ‘s ruling today in favor of the plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCME comes as no surprise. The right-wing court is following lockstep with President Trump, Gov. Rauner, the super wealthy and anti-union groups like the Illinois Policy Institute who want to deprive workers a voice and drive as much profit as possible to the top 1 percent regardless of the impact on everyday Americans who depend on the services public workers provide.

“What the court and these groups don’t realize, however, is that workers will not be deterred by such rulings and will continue to organize and unite to win fair wages and benefits while also providing the care and services that taxpayers want and deserve.

“When these forces came against our members in Harris v. Quinn, we fought back and became even stronger. We’re continuing to win better wages and work conditions in order to deliver better services.

“This attempt to turn back the clock to a time when there were sweatshops, child labor, long hours and no worker benefits will not prevail. As we’ve seen in states like West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona, workers want a voice on the job.

“America needs unions today more than ever because organized workers stand in the way of this right-wing corporate agenda.”

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