Unite! SEIU Local 580 impacted by anti-worker decision

Last week’s elections may have seen a blue wave sweep through the nation, but workers still have a lot to expect from the liberal tide. Back in June, the Supreme Court handed down the long-expected Janus v. AFSCME decision. SCOTUS ruled that public sector unions could no longer collect union fees from non-member unions (sometimes known as “freeriders”) on the grounds that it infringes upon free speech. It does not change the function or responsibilities of the union; they still represent the whole bargaining unit, but now they’re expected to do it with funding. For a state like Rhode Island, this one has ripple effects that go directly into the heart of our own economy.

“It’s anti-worker legislation,” says Kathy McElroy, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 580. “It’s discouraging to me because my whole life has been the union — to protect workers and their rights.” Founded in 1968, Local 580 represents more than 700 social services workers, working in agencies and departments like DCYF and the Department of Health. That includes social workers, case work supervisors and workman’s comp fraud investigators like McElroy. It’s also one of the few unions in the state composed solely of public sector workers.

So how will the ruling in the Janus decision impact Local 580? The ruling overturns more than 40 years of precedent set in a case called Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. A group of public school teachers sued their own union, because it endorsed candidates they didn’t support. As a result, SCOTUS declared that public sector unions could only charge union and non-union members for agency fees that went directly toward the operation and function of the union — things like collective bargaining, pension and benefits management, and representation in grievance proceedings. Any political activity has to be demarcated and charged separately. Local 580 has operated this way for years. Dues taken from your paycheck are spent on collective bargaining and related activities. Their political activities are housed in a separate Committee on Political Education (C.O.P.E.).

Mark Janus, when he sued the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, took the free speech infringement one step further. Janus thought that all union activity was political and an infringement on his free speech. He wasn’t a union member, he was a freerider. So he was directly getting the benefits of collective bargaining, making him look like the Manchurian Candidate for labor. Mark Janus quit his public sector job less than a month after the ruling to take a job with the same conservative think tank that bankrolled his own union-busting case.

The effects locally have been direct and immediate. Certain far-right political groups have been sending mailers and posting on social media to encourage workers to “walk away” from their union. “They’re going to get to them,” says McElroy. “My goal is to get to them first.” Local 580 was preparing for the Janus decision for some time. Since March, McElroy has been sitting down one on one with her membership and talking to them about what their union membership means to them. What are the good parts, what are the bad things? McElroy has been asking her membership to recommit, and going over all their rights as union members. “Union membership is like car insurance.” she says. “We don’t have car insurance because we’re bad drivers, we have car insurance because we can’t control all the other cars on the road. You have your union members not because you think you’re going to be disciplined or fired, but because you can’t control your coworkers and you can’t control the management.”

Unions address issues as they’re presented; they don’t just broadly defend all bad workers — that’s a myth. There’s a proceeding the workers have a right to in their contract before they’re fired. Like collective bargaining for wage increase, representation is a protection not granted to any precarious worker in the private sector, in areas like food service or retail. “Whoever needs the representation gets the representation,” says McElroy. “Unions are for workers, and everybody works.” Everyone wants things like a fair job, a decent salary and healthcare. McElroy doesn’t view these issues as political party issues, but worker issues that apply to people of all stripes.

Union workers aren’t immune to political issues as they arise. McElroy cites the controversy over DCYF this election cycle. The political ads especially targeted Governor Gina Raimondo over her handling of the agency. Sometimes the workers get blamed. McElroy sees the DCYF issue differently. “It’s a retention issue,” she says. “The job is onerous and all my workers work hard.” She stresses how difficult it is to be a social worker, or to work in social services. Just because a job is a state job doesn’t mean it’s a cushy job for anyone.

As union president, McElroy has secured a new contract for her workers, along with a wage increase. She’d like to see a $15 minimum wage to benefit all workers, not just her union members, and supports the earned sick time laws and better pay equity. McElroy is running for president of her union again, and her election is later this month. And with the re-election of Governor Raimondo and a slate of state Democrats, Rhody unions can breathe easy for a little while. But like on the national level, it only takes one person and someone to bankroll them to change all that.