Sounds like someone’s mad about the Supreme Court taking away their ability to bilk people out of the money they earned.
Shortly after SCOTUS handed down a 5-4 decision that took away labor unions’ ability to collect “fair share” fees from state government employees that go to “support collective bargaining and other union activities,” Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Vice President Jesse Sharkey made comments that shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the source.
“Our movement is not going away. We’re going to continue to advocate for what’s just,” Sharkey whined to a crowd of parent groups on the sidewalk outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters, reports the Chicago Tribune. “The Supreme Court -- the Supreme Court be damned.”
The problem is that Sharkey can’t intimidate the Supreme Court in the same fashion his organization uses to basically extort money from people that don't want to be a part of a union in the first place.
Sharkey then went on to intimate that minorities and those not well-off can’t protect themselves legally without his union’s help, after coughing up chunks of their checks first, of course.
“It is very hard to see this decision as anything other than an attack on black people, on brown people, on working class people in the city of Chicago,” Sharkey said.
Sure. You might not be able to see SCOTUS’ decision any other way, if you classify people by their race before their humanity.
According to the Chicago Tribune:
Still, the decision was far from unexpected and the union has been preparing in recent weeks with a 'Re-Card and Resist' campaign in an effort to have members recommit to the union. Sharkey said there are 301 staffers who have not signed CTU union cards. The average yearly dues are about $1,000 per year, he said, so there are potential budget ramifications for the union.
But Sharkey said the issue is not about collecting fees, “it’s about unifying those people who do the work in our public schools.”
It's not shocking that Sharkey would publicly say that his displeasure with SCOTUS’ decision isn’t about collecting fees. But, it’s hard to stand by that statement when there are “301 staffers” not supplying your organization with $1,000 a year, each.
Looks like the days of shaking people down under the guise of protecting them is going to become less prevalent. If you were a union leader, you’d be shaking in your union-member, paid-for shoes, too.