WHAT IS JANUS v. AFSCME?
The Janus v. AFSCME case in the Supreme Court is the latest attempt by big corporations and billionaires to divide workers and take away their right to join together in a union. It’s an attack on the good, union jobs our communities need. The Janus case targets public sector unions such as teachers, police, firefighters, and all government employees.
While the outcome of the case will affect millions of public-sector workers across the country, black women in particular could be hurt by Janus, as they are disproportionately represented in public sector jobs.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Everything. The threats that working families face in this moment are nothing like we’ve ever seen. This lawsuit is another attempt by billionaires to make it harder for working people to get ahead by:
- Making it harder for workers to pool resources and come together in a union;
- Attacking workers’ right to negotiate for fair wages, healthcare, and other benefits; and
- Threatening workers’ ability to provide for their families and retire securely.
WHY IS THE JANUS CASE HAPPENING?
Janus v. AFSCME is part of an $80 million campaign funded by groups like The National Right to Work Foundation and Freedom Foundation and other corporate billionaires in an effort to protect their massive fortunes at the expense of working people. By stripping workers of their rights and shipping jobs overseas, outsourcing, and pushing anti-union legislation and court cases, the rich and powerful are rigging our system in their favor and tearing our communities apart.
HOW ARE WORKING PEOPLE FIGHTING BACK?
Working people are making it clear that no court decision can hold us back. By sticking together with allies and supporters and fighting back, workers can continue to create a strong movement for justice and an economy that works for everyone by:
- Taking action like never before. In the streets, online, and at worksites, by showing their strength in numbers;
- Uniting with workers across sectors to demand more union jobs; and
- Holding elected officials accountable to ensure millions of workers have the right to stick together in a union.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Black women will be most affected by Janus
- Rightwing alliance plots assault to ‘defund and defang’ America’s unions
- Public-sector workers are paid less than their private-sector counterparts—and the penalty is larger in right-to-work states
- Union decline lowers wages of nonunion workers
- “Right-to-Work” States Still Have Lower Wages
- Building Middle-Class Wealth Through Unions
- Stronger Unions Needed to Sustain Recent Middle-Class Gains
- Unions, Norms, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality
- Organized Labor and Racial Wage Inequality in the United States
- Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality
- Unions Make Democracy Work for the Middle Class