For NY unions, Supreme Court ruling is merely a temporary reprieve from state attacks

Late last month, public-sector unions across the country breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in the absence of recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia, deadlocked 4-4 on a case that had posed a significant threat to organized labor. In the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the plaintiff had argued that mandatory payments to the union for teachers, regardless of whether or not they are union members, was a violation of her First Amendment rights.

The court’s split decision stops (for now) what would have likely been a mass exodus from unions across the country – in collective bargaining, unions represent members and nonmembers alike. Had the plaintiff won, individuals would decide whether to pay dues and fees on their own instead of having those fees deducted from their paychecks.

But while New York union leaders applauded the decision, they know it is not permanent. Indeed, the legal attack was only one of many salvos fired by right-to-work groups fighting to reduce the power of unions, which are still a powerful force in New York.

Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, a union umbrella group, said that while the Supreme Court decision did reassure many union leaders and members, it was also a clear sign of just how quickly union rights can evaporate.

“This is more of a temporary reprieve,” Cilento said. “It allows us to continue the work we’ve been doing, particularly in this state, to educate our members on what exactly is happening at the Supreme Court and what could possibly come down the pipe in the future.”

With the Friedrichs case still not settled, and dozens of other cases on both the state and federal level still pending, the danger for unions is far from over. In fact, labor organizations have been facing pushback for years from a network of loosely organized outfits working to erode union power.

Stephen Madarasz, a media relations specialist with CSEA, said that the Friedrichs case is just the latest attack by these groups.

“There’s a bigger picture here than simply the Friedrichs case itself,” Madarasz said. “It’s symptomatic of what is really a sustained and escalating attack on working people that has been going on for the last generation.”

New York state has the strongest union membership in the nation, with more than 2 million active members, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics – almost 25 percent of all workers in the state. That strength may keep libertarian right-to-work groups like the National Right to Work Committee and the Center for Individual Rights at bay, with weaker states making more appealing targets.

But Wayne Spence, the president of the Public Employees Federation, said that New York is a state where groups want to bring the fight. “New York is the Alamo,” he said, “the last bastion for the labor movement”

Still, those groups may wait for a more opportune time to launch a major offensive in the Empire State, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo having recently signed a minimum wage hike and a paid family leave bill, two key labor victories.

Josh Freeman, a professor of history a CUNY’s Queens College whose expertise centers on the labor movement, said that union opponents will likely wait for a change in state government before launching a full-fledged campaign here.

“I think in the short run it’s not likely we’ll see the kinds of efforts or controversies in New York we’ve seen elsewhere because of the political configuration of the state, with the governor and the Assembly so closely aligned with the labor movement,” Freeman said. “I think there would be very little traction for those kinds of efforts, and I don’t think people are even really trying very much.”

Still, if a Republican were to become governor, the dynamic could change quickly. In Wisconsin, for example, Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, has quickly reduced the influence of unions there.

What’s more, New York’s unions have experienced large-scale losses over the last several decades. At one point, almost half of New York workers were union members. And while the state has actually been able to add public-sector members – about 60,000 statewide last year – the drop in private-sector union membership since the early 1970s has been precipitous.

“Things can change quickly,” Freeman said. “I don’t think anyone five years before the events in Wisconsin would have predicted that. The labor movement in New York potentially could be vulnerable. The public sector is very strong here, but the private sector union movement in New York state, like everywhere else, has diminished and is still comparatively strong, but that’s not strong.”

While New York’s labor leaders remain confident in their ability to defend their home turf, they agree that the next big issue is right in front of them: electing another Democrat to the White House who will fill the Supreme Court vacancy, and likely several more, with a liberal justice.

Immediately after the deadlocked Friedrichs decision was handed down, Terence Pell, the president of the Center for Individual Rights, which represented the plaintiff that brought the suit, told The New York Times that he hoped the court would again hear the case once a new justice is in place.

“We believe this case is too significant to let a split decision stand,” he said.

Before Scalia’s sudden death, the Supreme Court seemed prepared to hand down a victory for the plaintiff. If a conservative justice is appointed to replace him, the court would be expected to side with the right-to-work groups.

“Unless we get a president who is going to appoint a liberal Supreme Court justice, it will become the law of the land,” Spence said.

Spence and other labor leaders have been preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. New York unions are moving back towards an engagement model, making efforts to train leadership to constantly seek out members for one-on-one discussions and encouraging communication any way possible.

Then, Spence said, if the worst-case scenario for his group were to occur and paying dues became optional, more of his members would understand the value of the union and would be less likely to walk away.

“If we can survive four to six months, I believe the union will be a stronger union,” Pence said. “I might not have the same capacity that I did before Friedrichs, but once you get a volunteer union membership, that union membership will be a stronger membership in the long run.”

While union leaders know they can’t rest easy after the Friedrichs decision, there are encouraging signs for the future of the labor movement. Union membership is growing statewide, Cilento said, and many of New York’s unions remain healthy.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said there are also positive signs in the populist rhetoric being employed by presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle.

The backlash, Mulgrew said, is in part the result of the labor movement’s campaign seeking to show that owners of corporations are trying to erode workers’ rights to enrich themselves.

“As this frustration continues to build, which you clearly see, people are starting to realize now more and more that the only protection they had was with the unions when they’re trying to get decent wages, living wages,” Mulgrew said. “You’re going to see more and more of that.”

And while there is no doubt that right-to-work groups will continue working to battle unions on the state and federal level, New York’s union leaders remain confident that they are ready for the fight, Cilento said.

“From the state AFL-CIO point of view, we are ready for anything,” Cilento said. “We don’t take anything for granted.”