US Sen. Bob Casey speaking in front of union members are retired teachers at the Pennsylvania State Education Association offices in Harrisburg on April 25, 2024 (Photo: Sean Kitchen)
US Sen. Bob Casey is warning Pennsylvania voters that the US Supreme Court is coming for the right to organize.
Corporate greed and workers’ rights will likely play a central role in November’s Senate election between US Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, with Casey sounding the alarm this week about a right-wing US Supreme Court making it harder for workers to earn a fair paycheck.
“It is a union where folks come together to bargain collectively for wages and benefits all across the state,” Casey said while accepting the endorsement from the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) in Harrisburg on Thursday.
“Those union rights that we have enjoyed since 1935 as a nation … are at risk because there is a powerful corporate-funded movement in the United States of America that wants to take away the right to organize, and now they have a Supreme Court that would take away that.”
The PSEA is Pennsylvania’s largest public sector union that represents over 177,000 public school teachers and staff members, and unions like the PSEA and other public sector unions are the targets of right-wing organizations following the US Supreme Court’s Janus decision.
PSEA President Aaron Chapin thanked Casey for his dedication fighting for public education. Casey’s stop in Harrisburg was part of his campaign’s road trip across Pennsylvania that kicked off in Lancaster last Sunday.
“Sen. Casey is a proven leader, a respected member of the Senate, and a tireless advocate for public education in Pennsylvania,” Chapin said. “He knows our state, understands the challenges we face in our public schools, and knows how to solve them by getting things done in Washington, D.C.”
Janus vs. AFSCME allows public sector workers who are not union members to skip paying their fair share fees while benefiting from contracts bargained by unions. It essentially creates a free-rider system that hinders a union’s ability to bargain for better contracts.
The court is set to hear a case brought by Starbucks, one of the country’s largest coffee suppliers, that asks the court to set stricter guidelines for when courts or the government can protect workers who were fired for organizing a union, according to USA Today.
Casey linked a worker’s right to organize to a woman’s right to an abortion as two rights Americans have enjoyed for decades but have seen come under attack.
“Last time I checked this right-wing Supreme Court took away a 49 year right,” Casey said. “What do you think would stop them from taking away a right that was built and created enshrined in our law in the 1930s? They’re coming for the right to organize.”
“Mark my words. That’s where they’re headed. That’s the next right, that the far right in this country, the corporate right, is after.”
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