Podcast appearances and mentions of Harris V Quinn

Labor unions traditionally have been the voice of workers seeking better pay, benefits, and jobs and have been a critical means for working people to improve their working conditions, incomes, and social standing. The right to form and join a labor union is enshrined in the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But in the United States, union membership and the commitment to unions is not as strong. Union membership has fallen from a high of 34.8 percent of wage and salary workers in 1954 to 11.1 percent in 2014. Recently, a number of states and the courts have taken actions that weaken labor unions. Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin have joined 22 other mostly southern and western states and adopted “right to work” laws that undermine labor union membership. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled against the home care worker union in the Harris v. Quinn case. The future of workers' voice in shaping their jobs today and tomorrow is at a crossroads. Are traditional labor unions able to successfully represent workers today — especially those in fast-growing, low-wage service sector jobs — or have they been too weakened? What are the new models and organizations that have started to emerge over the last two decades? And fundamentally, how can the nation hear from workers themselves and understand their experience of work today if there is no organized voice that brings their perspective to public and private discussions about jobs and work? A number of both traditional unions and new types of organizations are taking on this challenge of finding new ways to represent the experience of working people in today's economy. This panel discussion explores issues affecting the future of worker voice and new ways of organizing workers to collectively shape and improve their jobs and careers. This event features Sarita Gupta (Executive Director, Jobs With Justice), Ruth Milkman (Professor of Sociology and Research Director, CUNY's Murphy Labor Institute), David Rolf (President, SEIU 775; Founder and Co-Chair, The Workers Lab), Judge Laura Safer Espinoza (Executive Director, Fair Food Standards Council), Cruz Salucio (Watermelon harvester and Spokesperson, Coalition of Immokalee Workers), and moderator Harold Meyerson (Editor-at-Large, The American Prospect; Columnist, The Washington Post) This event is part of the Working in America series, an ongoing discussion series hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program that highlights an array of critical issues affecting low- and moderate-income workers in the United States and ideas for improving and expanding economic opportunities for working people. For more information, visit as.pn/workinginamerica. The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. We recognize that race, gender, and place intersect with and intensify the challenge of economic inequality and we address these dynamics by advancing an inclusive vision of economic justice. For over 25 years, EOP has focused on expanding individuals' opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and build economic stability that provides the freedom to pursue opportunity. Learn more at as.pn/eop.

What does Harris v. Quinn mean for home care workers, for other public sector workers, and for any of us who care about labor? Belabored asks Harvard Law professor Benjamin Sachs and Minnesota care worker Sumer Spika. Plus: strikes in California and Greece, labor struggles at the opera, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #56: The Post–Harris v. Quinn Future appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Harris v. Quinn, a case that could break public-sector unions around the country. Sarah and Michelle talk to Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein, the authors of Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State, about the case, the formation of home care workers' unions, and the potential ramifications for all public sector workers. The post Belabored Podcast #38: Caring for America, with Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Harris v. Quinn | 01/21/14 | Docket #: 11-681

A case in which the Court held that the the First Amendment prohibits the collection of union dues from home health care providers who do not wish to join a union.