The Supreme Court took a big swing at public worker unions in its Janus decision, which allows workers to demand the benefits of unions without contributing to the costs, essentially forcing their coworkers who are union members to subsidize them. But many unions are rising to the challenge.
In Connecticut at least, defections amount to a tiny trickle — just a fraction of 1 percent in most cases. [...]
AFSCME Council 4 and other state employee unions are rapidly cutting into the ranks of non-members, restoring dues payments that were cut off from a total of about 7,100 people, depending on the month.
In Illinois, the Peoria Federation of Teachers is training teachers to be organizers, talking to other teachers about union issues:
We offer extremely good services for our members, but we realized if we don’t shift to an organizing model, we might get decimated,” said Jeff Adkins-Dutro, a Peoria English teacher who also serves as the local union president. “In my opinion, this is really going to strengthen our union.”
The transition requires a change in thinking and a lot of legwork. That’s why teachers like Innis and Grace gave up some of their summer break, taking part in an internship program organized by unions and a community group. They sat through seminars run at their local union hall across from the Illinois River, then hit the pavement to speak with teachers about school funding and whatever else they had on their minds.
Organize, organize, organize.
● The Washington, D.C., city council voted to overturn the single minimum wage for untipped and tipped workers passed by voters only months ago.
● Teachers strike wave, by the numbers:
Five percent of all U.S. workers in K-12 public education walked out on strike this spring. It’s by far the biggest spike in teacher strikes in a quarter-century.
The strikers included educators from North Carolina (123,000), Arizona (81,000), Colorado (63,000), Oklahoma (45,000), West Virginia (35,000), Kentucky (26,000), and Jersey City (3,600).
● Both houses of Congress have now approved an FAA reauthorization bill requiring that flight attendants get 10 hours of rest, minimum.
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● California just banned for-profit charter schools. Why?
● Speaking of which, this Arizona lawmaker stands to make millions on his own charter schools, thanks to his votes on education policy laws.
● Workers at Marriott hotels in Boston are on strike … and the Yankees crossed the picket line.
