Saturday, January 25, 2020

And We Know Who To Thank For This

Thank you, Mark Janus:
Government-union membership fell again in 2019, continuing a decade-long decline. Workers in public-sector unions now number 7.066 million, representing a drop of nearly 100,000 in one year and the smallest government-organized labor membership in 20 years. Since 2009, when the ranks of government-union members peaked at 7.896 million, public-labor groups have lost more than 10 percent of their membership. The percentage of government workers belonging to unions has dropped to 33.6, the smallest proportion of the government workforce since 1978. The most recent numbers illustrate how government unions continue to suffer from the hangover of the recession of 2008-2009, in part because of a slow rebound in government employment during the economic expansion that began in 2010. The numbers may also reflect some losses that unions have suffered in the wake of the 2018 Supreme Court Janus decision, which gave public-sector workers the right to opt out of joining a union or paying fees...

Even the most heavily unionized, labor-friendly states have seen sharp declines in unionization. Government-union membership in California fell by 164,000 between 2009 and 2018, though the state has as many public-sector jobs as it did before the crash. About half of all government workers in California now belong to a union, down from more than 57 percent. New York has lost 123,000 union members over the same time period. Government-union membership has shrunk by 45,000 in Illinois, by more than 42,000 in New Jersey, and by more than 13,000 in Connecticut. link
I was there, standing next to Rebecca Friedrichs:

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Conservative teacher fired for questioning appropriateness of teaching students that math is a white western construct. Thank you Janus.

Darren said...

U-bots are reduced to making up awkward fantasies.

Please let me know when that one comes true. I won't wait up.

Anonymous said...

Conservative professors working at universities without unions are fired for their beliefs all the time. Check out the FIRE and Reason websites.

Darren said...

What universities don't have unions?

Anonymous said...

Private universities and public universities in anti-union states. Reason and FIRE are conservative websites. You might also check out Citizen Ed. It is a liberal anti teachers union site. One of its big talking points is that unions protect conservative teachers.

Darren said...

There are no unions at public universities in anti-union states? Really?

I notice the goalpost keeps moving. First it was a conservative teacher (implying K-12). Now it's a university professor.

Unions exist. The Janus case didn't change that. So I ask, how, exactly, did the Janus case put conservative teachers or university professors at risk?

Anonymous said...

The weaker that unions are, the less that they can do to protect teachers. The liberal website Citizen Ed supports Janus precisely because they realize that weaker unions will lead to fewer workforce protections for conservative teachers. They are very open about this.

Darren said...

Any teacher who wants to can join a union. So again I ask, how, exactly, did the Janus case put conservative teachers or university professors at risk?

Steve USMA '85 said...

Interesting now that my son is a teacher. In Texas, he did not have to join the union and was treated fairly by his employer and never needed the union to represent him.

Now he is in Maryland and had to join just before the Janus decision. So far the union helped him get a large chuck of money he was owed and the administration would not give him until the union got involved. The union also got him the assistant he was supposed to have after his requests were ignored and even a parent suing about it didn't work. Although he could quit the union now that Janus is law, he feels that so far the union has earned the dues money he has paid (the "large chunk" alone was more than a year's worth of dues).

It indicates to me that how administration treats their employees is an indicator as to whether a union is really needed or not.

Darren said...

Your last statement is undeniably true.