Trump’s most enduring legacy may prove to be his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court - at least insofar as the US labour movement is concerned.
The Court is expected to rule Monday against the mandatory dues check-off - the mechanism by which workers pay dues to the union in exchange for its representation, whether they formally opt to join it or not. Before Gorsuch’s appointment, the court divided 4-4 on a similar case.
The Economist rightly regards Monday’s hearing on Janus v. AFSCME as an “existential threat” to an already barely breathing trade union movement. Without the mandatory check-off, unions wither and die, which is why public and private employers have long sought to eliminate this protection. Since Wisconsin Republican governor Scott Walker ended the check-off after a highly publicized battle with the state’s public sector workers and their supporters in 2011, union membership in the state has plummeted.
The case is another illustration of why trade unionists and social movement activists typically support the Democrats and shun third parties to their left with whom they may have ideologically more in common.
The Democrats and other left-centre parties may disappoint legislatively when in government, but the mass organizations have welcomed their power of appointment to the courts, regulatory agencies, and state bureaucracy as a necessary defence against assaults from their implacable enemies on the right.
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