Supreme Court decision effectively makes U.S. public sector ‘right to work’

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 Wednesday to rule that public-sector workers who are represented by unions can’t be required to pay union dues.

The decision could effectively gut public-sector unions, as millions of employees will have the choice to no longer pay dues to unions who bargain on their behalf.

Eighth District Democratic Congressman Don Beyer blasted the “terrible ruling” as a continuation of “decades of Republican attacks on workers’ right to organize.”

“The thousands of civil servants, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public-sector employees I represent will see their collective bargaining power significantly weakened by this decision,” Beyer said. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s majority has spent the month of June concentrating power in the hands of entrenched interests at the expense of American laborers, unions, immigrants, refugees, and the disenfranchised. This is exactly the kind of anti-worker outcome we knew to expect when a Trump-appointed judge was confirmed to a stolen Supreme Court seat.”

Congressman Beyer represents the largest number of federal employees of any Member of the House of Representatives.