UE Political Action Updates

UE General Counsel Irene Thomas attended the February 26 arguments of Janus v. AFSCME at the U.S. Supreme Court.

On February 26, 2018, the long-awaited face-off between the American Labor Movement and the national right-to-work committee took place at the United States Supreme Court. The case: Janus v. AFSCME. At issue is whether public employee unions can collect “fair share” or “agency shop” fees from objecting non-members to defray the cost of collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance adjustment.  Regardless of whether the issue is one of free speech or freedom of association, a principled application of Supreme Court precedent means that plaintiff Mark Janus should pay up for the benefits he takes home on the backs of his dues-paying co-workers.

UE General President Peter Knowlton sent the following letter today to the president of the Mexican Senate, Ernesto Cordero, asking him to withdraw a bill that would make it harder for Mexican workers to organize independent trade unions. Improving wages and labor standards of Mexican workers is crucial to a North American Free Trade Agreement that improves the lives of working people in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The UE News spoke this week with Professor Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center about rising inequality in America, shortly before he joined Senator Bernie Sanders, filmmaker Michael Moore and Senator Elizabeth Warren for a National Town Hall Meeting on Monday, March 19th. Watch the video on Facebook here.

Members of UE Locals 203 and 255 joined Vermonters from around the state on January 25 to tell the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

UE members and others told the senators that legislation that would boost the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour over several years will improve their lives, and the lives of their co-workers, neighbors, families, and communities.