I was invited by Senators Whitehouse and Stabenow and the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee to open a hearing entitled “After Janus v. AFSCME: Why Teachers and Workers are Fighting Back Against the Secret Money Campaign to Take Away Their Rights.”
Because of this latest 5-4 decision, teachers, home health workers, firefighters and other public-sector workers are likely to see their living standards and collective power plummet in the coming years. But as alarming is the larger threat to democracy that has won big from this Koch-backed litigation.
My testimony is rather grim (starts about 3 mins in.) but the union women on the panel were really inspiring about what can be done, including Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT, Arizona’s Teacher of the Year who is also a leader in the Red for Ed movement, and an SEIU Chicago home health care worker.
The hearing was also broadcast on Facebook live, where it’s gotten 33K views. If you’re on FB and want to share it, send me a friend request to get access. Or try use this Facebook link.
I would not bother you with more such info if I did not believe the challenge we are facing is colossal and quickly accelerating, such that we need to alert as many Americans as possible to what is happening, how those moving this agenda aim to make it permanent and irreversible, and what can be done by good people of all affiliations to stop it—including Republicans who are perplexed by what’s happened to their party.
