One year ago (on June 27, 2018), the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Janus v. AFSCME which recognized that government employees throughout the United States should not be forced to pay union dues or fees as a precondition of employment.
Mark Janus, pictured below with RGF president Paul Gessing, visited New Mexico earlier this year.
The issue of worker freedom remains extremely important (and controversial in some quarters). The Rio Grande Foundation worked with a coalition here in New Mexico to get 10 of New Mexico’s 33 counties to adopt legislation based on the principles of Janus for private sector workers before those laws were overturned by the liberal New Mexico Legislature.
And, in Congress, H.R. 1154, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act was introduced just recently. That bill would repeal Janus rights for public safety workers. Other legislation in Congress would allow government employees in ALL US states to unionize regardless of state laws on that matter.
The issue of worker freedom remains salient in New Mexico and across the nation. While New Mexico’s elected officials remain firmly in the camp of organized labor, the Janus decision remains a huge victory for thousands of New Mexico workers and millions of others across the nation.
