Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 28 June 2018

Top court: Unions can't force government workers to pay fees

By MARK SHERMAN so by weaponizing the First
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amendment, in a way that
The Supreme Court ruled unleashes judges, now and
Wednesday that govern- in the future, to intervene in
ment workers can't be economic and regulatory
forced to contribute to la- policy."
bor unions that represent The court's three other liber-
them in collective bargain- al justices joined the dissent.
ing, dealing a serious finan- In one sense, Wednesday's
cial blow to Democratic- result was no surprise and
leaning organized labor. merely delayed by the un-
The court's conservative expected death of Justice
majority, re-empowered Antonin Scalia in 2016. The
by Justice Neil Gorsuch, court split 4-4, after Scalia's
scrapped a 41-year-old death, when it considered
decision that had allowed the same issue in 2016.
states to require that public When Trump was elected,
employees pay some fees opponents of the fees hur-
to unions that represent ried a case back to the
them, even if the workers court. And fearing what
choose not to join. would happen, unions
The 5-4 decision not only will strongly opposed Gorsuch's
free non-union members nomination to the high
in nearly two dozen states court.
from any financial ties to The unions say the out-
unions, but also could en- Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner gives a thumbs up outside the Supreme Court, Wednesday, June 27, come could affect more
courage members to stop 2018 in Washington. than 5 million government
paying dues for services Associated Press workers in about two dozen
the court said Wednesday states and the District of
they can get for free. "They are going after our tract agency fees from in the tweet. Columbia.
Union leaders said in reac- members." nonconsenting employ- In dissent, Justice Elena Ka- The case decided Wednes-
tion to the ruling that they But American Federation ees," Justice Samuel Alito gan wrote of the big impact day involved Illinois state
expect to suffer some loss of Teachers President Ran- said in his majority opinion of the decision. "There is no government worker Mark
of revenue and also pre- di Weingarten said unions in the latest case in which sugarcoating today's opin- Janus, who argued that
dicted that the same anti- would not be dissuaded: Gorsuch, an appointee of ion. The majority overthrows everything unions do, in-
union forces that pushed to "Don't count us out." President Donald Trump, a decision entrenched in cluding bargaining with
get rid of the so-called fair The labor leaders spoke af- provided a key fifth vote for this Nation's law — and its the state, is political and
shares that nonmembers ter the court ruled that the a conservative outcome. economic life — for over employees should not be
had to pay will try to per- laws requiring fair share fees Trump himself tweeted his 40 years. As a result, it pre- forced to pay for it.
suade members to cut their violate the First Amend- approval of the decision vents the American peo- The unions argued that fair
ties. ment by compelling work- while Alito still was reading ple, acting through their share fees pay for collec-
"There are already plans," ers to support unions they a summary of it from the state and local officials, tive bargaining and other
said Lily Eskelsen García, may disagree with. bench. from making important work the union does on be-
president of the National "States and public-sector "Big loss for the coffers of choices about workplace half of all employees, not
Education Association. unions may no longer ex- the Democrats!" Trump said governance. And it does just its members. q

Puerto Rico introduces bill to become U.S. state

By LUIS ALONSO LUGO the passage of the bill are elections and have only
Associated Press not clear. one congressional repre-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Puer- The bill calls for the creation sentative with limited vot-
to Rico's non-voting rep- of a bipartisan, nine-mem- ing powers.
resentative in Congress is ber task force that would Gov. Ricardo Rossello said
introducing a bill that seeks submit a report to Con- the island's unequal status
to make the U.S. territory a gress and to the president is the cause for 5.4 million
state by 2021. identifying laws that would Puerto Ricans to currently
Resident Commissioner need to be amended or reside in the continental
Jenniffer Gonzalez said repealed so Puerto Rico U.S., a trend exacerbated
Wednesday that 14 Demo- could become a state. by the damage inflicted
crats and 20 Republicans Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, Jenniffer González- The panel would also be in September by Hurricane
currently sponsor the bill Colón, speaks during a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, instructed to recommend Maria.
among the 435 members Wednesday, June 27, 2018, to present the Puerto Rico Admission temporary economic mea- "In the past this issue has
Act of 2018, a bill to chart Puerto Rico's transition from a territory
in the House of Representa- to a State of the Union. She is joined by Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo sures to help the island Rico been very hard to move
tives. Rosselló, left, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., right, and others. in the transition to state- forward," Rossello said.
"This is the first step to open Associated Press hood. "No longer do we want
a serious discussion regard- Puerto Rico has been a U.S. ambiguity. We want clar-
ing the ultimate status for House Natural Resources sular affairs subcommittee, territory since 1898. Its in- ity. Either here in Congress
the island," Gonzalez said. Committee, Rep. Rob Bish- Rep. Doug Lamalfa of Cali- habitants are U.S. citizens, you are with us or you are
The Republican sponsors in- op of Utah, and the chair- fornia. though they are barred against the people of Puer-
clude the chairman of the man of the Indian and in- However, the chances for from voting in presidential to Rico."q