Thread by @CAPAction

🚨🚨🚨 The Supreme Court just ruled against workers' rights in the Janus v. AFSCME case.

Neil Gorsuch—Trump's SCOTUS appointment—cast the deciding vote. Read about his history of ruling against workers and what this case means for collective bargaining ⬇️ 1/

Trump appointed Gorsuch to the Supreme Court despite his history of ruling against workers and organized labor while he was a lower court judge. 2/

⁉️As a circuit court judge, Gorsuch wrote an opinion claiming that a truck driver deserved to be fired.

The driver's fireable offense? He abandoned his trailer in sub-zero temperatures to avoid *freezing to death* while he waited for help.

cnn.com/2017/03/21/opi… 3/

The circuit court ruled in favor of the driver, deciding he was wrongfully terminated under the Surface Transportation Act. Gorsuch's dissenting opinion ignored the law & court precedent—and clearly aimed to wrongfully punish the worker.

afj.org/wp-content/upl… 4/

Gorsuch also joined the Hobby Lobby decision when it was in the Court of Appeals, holding that for-profit corporations can exercise a legal right based on religious beliefs to deny their employees access to contraceptive coverage.

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?c… 5/

Gorsuch overwhelmingly ruled for corporations over people and repeatedly tried to close the courthouse doors on workers, consumers, and others who filed lawsuits to vindicate their legal rights.

afj.org/wp-content/upl… 6/

Now, his deciding vote in Janus will undermine some unions’ ability to prevent free riding. The 5-4 decision will allow nonmembers to receive all the benefits of unions without
having to pay the cost of negotiating for those benefits. 7/

Gorsuch knows that his ruling will harm unions’ ability to negotiate salary increases & safer workplaces w/out sufficient funding.

But don't be surprised. This is Trump's SCOTUS pick doing exactly what he promised: siding w/ big business over the rights of the U.S. worker. 8/

Adding insult to injury, the #Janus decision comes on the heels of Gorsuch’s 5-4 opinion in Epic Systems, where he found that corporations can force employees to sign “arbitration agreements” that prohibit them from vindicating their class-action rights. 9/

These attacks should matter to all working people. In communities where unions are strong, all workers—REGARDLESS OF UNION STATUS—earn higher pay, low-income children have a better shot of climbing out of poverty as adults, & more people get out to vote. 10/

Despite these attacks, Americans continue to fight for a voice on the job.

Teachers across the country are fighting for better pay & better schools. Fast food workers are demanding $15 and a union, and nearly half of Americans say that they would join a union if they could. 11/

REMEMBER: The Senate GOP intentionally blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland (a pro-worker SCOTUS pick) so they could appoint a justice who would serve their own—and @realDonaldTrump's—corporate interests at the expense of the American workforce. 12/12