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Urgent Messages from President Danny Donohue on CSEA Commitment to Never Quit!
On behalf of CSEA members across New York, I offer my condolences to the family of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
With Justice Scalia’s passing, I know that some will be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief on the Friedrichs case and think we can go back to business as usual.
That would be a huge mistake.
In CSEA, We Never Quit!
The pundits and legal experts are suggesting that we are now unlikely to see a decision that strikes down agency/fair share fees this term. While this is good news, what it really means is that we have a bit more time to change our union and prepare for the battles ahead. This case is far from over. It will either be a “no decision” or pushed into the next term of the Supreme Court. From the beginning, we have said that our efforts to engage CSEA members more deeply in the union is not about any one Supreme Court case. We are facing a consistent, sustained and escalating attack on wages, benefits and rights of working people. The forces that are attacking workers and unions have been at this for decades. They will not stop.
We need to use this time we have to redouble our efforts to build a union that will withstand their attacks, engage members in re-imagining our union, defend the wages, benefits and rights we have achieved together, build the strength to raise standards for working families, and elect a president who will stand with us in the face of the attacks to come.
Now is not the time to rest. Now is the time to own your union and raise your voice for fairness and justice for yourselves, and your families, friends and neighbors. I urge all CSEA members to get involved in the union, join an outreach team in your Local or Unit, become a Steward, become an Advocate by talking with your co-workers about the challenges we still face. CSEA will never quit in our fight for fairness in our workplaces and our communities.
All of us have a responsibility to act. Now is the time to fight on.
In Solidarity,
Danny Donohue
America’s communities never rest and neither do we!
We’re there before they wake up in the morning. And, after their kids have gone to bed.
Our work never stops, so we never quit.
There’s no quitting on the people who depend on you.
And, when you’re part of CSEA, we never quit on each other!
The eight current members of the Supreme Court, appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and seated for life, hold the future of hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in their hands.
After 40 years of a sustained and escalating attack on workers by corporate interests, a case has reached the highest court that may severely limit our ability to bargain for higher wages, eliminate or diminish benefits and even put our pensions at risk.
The sudden and unexpected passing of Justice Antonin Scalia means that we are unlikely to see a decision shortly but this case is far from over and neither is the risk in front of us. Engaging members more fully in our union is about more that any one Supreme Court case. We are facing a consistent, sustained and escalating attack on wages, benefits and rights of working people. The forces that are attacking workers and unions have been at this for decades. They will not stop.
We need to use this time to redouble our efforts to build a union that will withstand their attacks, engage members in re-imagining our union, defend the wages, benefits and rights we have achieved together, build the strength to raise standards for working families, and elect a president who will stand with us in the face of the attacks to come.