SACRAMENTO, Calif. - La directiva de la Federación de Maestros de California (California Federation of Teachers) dice no sentirse optimista sobre el caso que se presenta esta semana en la Suprema Corte de los Estados Unidos, advirtiendo que la mayoría conservadora podría legislar contra los sindicatos porque éstos frecuentemente apoyan a los líderes políticos demócratas.

La Suprema Corte de los Estados Unidos evalúa el caso, que podría significar un gran golpe financiero para los sindicatos del sector público, para las causas y los políticos que apoyan. Las discusiones comenzaron el lunes con el caso llamado Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Janus contra la Federación Americana de empleados del Estado, del Condado y Municipales).

La corte podría resolver que los estados no tienen derecho de permitir a los sindicatos de empleados cobrar cuotas proporcionales a quienes no son miembros porque se benefician de los contratos sindicales aunque de hecho no sean sindicalizados.

Joshua Pechthalt, presidente de la California Federation of Teachers (Federación de Maestros de California), dice que es un paso claro de los conservadores para perjudicar a las uniones, cuya tendencia es apoyar a los legisladores demócratas – y que esto tendrá efectos tanto a corto como a largo plazo.

“En el el corto plazo es afectar a los sindicatos del sector público. Y en el largo, la posibilidad de que la gente trabajadora luche por mejores sueldos y luche por un cuidado de la salud y un retiro decentes. Eso es lo que realmente está en la agenda a largo plazo.”

Los grupos conservadores arguyen que nadie debería ser obligado a contribuir a un sindicato de empleados públicos que toma posturas políticas con las que la persona no comulga. De todos modos las cuotas, normalmente del 50 al 70 por ciento de ingreso, por ley no pueden ser usadas para pagar gestiones políticas ni elecciones sindicales.

Quienes apoyan a los sindicatos arguyen que aún quienes no están en un sindicato se benefician de los acuerdos que éste negocia, así que es justo que contribuyan. Pechthalt dice que las cuotas de quienes no son miembros representan como un diez por ciento de los ingresos de los sindicatos. Pero agrega que trabaja por una campaña fondeada por mega-donadores conservadores, para barrer con la fortaleza de las uniones.

“Entendemos que los Hermanos Koch están listos para gastar cientos de millones de dólares para lograr que los miembros de los sindicatos renuncien a ellos.”

Las cuotas justas de agencia para las uniones del sector público fueron legalizadas en los años 70, en el caso Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (Abood contra la Junta de Educación de Detroit). El año pasado ese caso fue desafiado y la corte votó un empate 4 a 4 luego de la muerte del Juez Antonin Scalia, dejando las cuotas igual. Ahora todas las miradas estarán en el juez conservador Neil Gorsuch, quien fuera nominado por el Presidente Trump.

Se espera un veredicto final en junio.


get more stories like this via email

Alabama has long been at the forefront of voting rights issues in the United States and despite some progress, advocates said residents continue to face barriers at the ballot box.

In a recent discussion held in Montgomery, the Center for American Progress brought together voting rights experts to shed light on the ongoing struggle against voter suppression in the state.

Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters-Alabama, was on the panel and highlighted ongoing efforts hindering equitable access.

"Just this past year, we've had Wes Allen, and his office has eliminated the phone app for voter registration and being able to check your polling places," Jones pointed out. "Which is a real hardship for people who rely on their phones to be able to do the business that they need to do if they need to register to vote."

The latest way Jones noted ballot access is being blocked is the recent passage of a law criminalizing assistance with absentee ballot applications. Supporters said they believe the measure will prevent ballot harvesting.

She added other ways of restricting access to the ballot box include regulating early voting, voting by mail, voter registration and voter-list maintenance. Other laws bar thousands of persons who have served felony convictions from regaining the right to vote.

JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said in response to the challenges, federal laws being proposed would bolster voting rights across the country. One of them is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

"The John Lewis Voting Rights Act would essentially allow us a level of equitability across the board from, as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, making voting a holiday, ensuring early voting," Bosby Gilchrist emphasized. "Alabama is one of three states without early voting, including Mississippi and New Hampshire."

The Freedom to Vote Act would help expand voter registration, limit removing voter from voter rolls and even outlines criteria to prevent gerrymandering. Advocates also see engaging young voters and increasing overall voter turnout as ways to combat measures hindering access.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Pennsylvania is among the states where massive protests and tent encampments opposing the war in Gaza are growing.

Elez Beresin-Scher, a sociology student at Bryn Mawr College, is at the Free Gaza encampment on campus. She explained there are about 44 tents full of students who have been sleeping there since Saturday night.

She spoke to Sonali Kolhatkar on the TV and radio show Yes! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali.

"We are here because our college has $5 million of its endowment invested in Israeli technology," Beresin-Scher pointed out. "We know that this money is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians; over 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered by the State of Israel."

Beresin-Scher added they are calling on the college and the university president's office to divest Israeli holdings and endorse a cease-fire resolution passed by 89% of the student body about a month ago. She added they will be at the encampment indefinitely until their two demands are met.

Pro-Israel groups argued the war is justified given the massacre perpetrated by Hamas, which kicked off the most recent violence. Beresin-Scher noted they are taking a significant risk but they believe genocide is occurring in Palestine and they want to see it end.

"We're recognizing that Palestinian students have been murdered, or are not able to continue their education because every university in Gaza has been bombed, has been destroyed," Beresin-Scher emphasized. "That's the perspective that we're coming from."

Beresin-Scher has been a member of Jewish Voice for Peace since her freshman year, and said it is upsetting to hear the encampments are being portrayed as anti-Semitic. She noted it is something she has never encountered as someone who has organized with Students for Justice in Palestine.

This story was produced based on original reporting by Sonali Kolhatkar for Yes! Media.

Massive protests and tent encampments opposing the war in Gaza are growing at universities across California, with classes canceled at the University of California-Los Angeles Wednesday, after tensions boiled over into violence there.

Police arrested 25 students at California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt Tuesday.

An organizer named Rithik from the Students for Gaza encampment at San Francisco State University recently spoke to Sonali Kolhatkar for her TV and radio show Yes! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali.

"Students everywhere are appalled at the current genocide occurring in Gaza that is being perpetrated by Israel and backed by the United States," Rithik stated. "We understand that our taxpayer money is not going towards our own education, but rather to fund this genocide and wars of aggression across the world."

At San Francisco State, students are demanding the California State University System divest any holdings in companies selling arms to Israel, assurances the student protesters will not be sanctioned by the school, and for the university president to make a statement opposing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and declaring the war a genocide.

Pro-Israel groups argued the war is justified given the massacre perpetrated by Hamas, which kicked off the most recent violence. They also worry Jewish students will feel intimidated on campus. However, a Jewish student named Jacob at San Francisco State said it has not been his experience.

"I don't think we've ever felt that any of the actions being taken in the name of anti-Zionism and anti-colonialism are antisemitic," Jacob asserted. "Never felt unsafe, never felt unwelcome in these spaces. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism."

San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney has emphasized the university's support for peaceful protest and said the university has already taken steps to divest.

This story was produced based on original reporting by Sonali Kolhatkar for Yes! Media.


get more stories like this via email