The U.S. Supreme Court on June 19 overturned a California law that prevented employers who get state funds from launching anti-union campaigns with those funds. In Chamber of Commerce vs. Brown, the Court ruled 7-2 that the law conflicted with federal labor law, which permitted employer “free speech.”
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The Court’s ruling is another government-dealt blow to the union movement. It gives publicly funded corporations the green light to bust unions using taxpayer dollars.
Art Pulaski, secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, told the Los Angeles Times, “Our unions don’t use state funds to help workers gain a voice at work, so employers shouldn’t use them to prevent workers from organizing for improved wages, benefits and working conditions.”
The Supreme Court has never made a significant pro-labor ruling. It has never been an “objective” or “impartial” check on the legislative and executive branches of the government, or over state laws. The Court was created to serve as the main tribunal for protecting capitalist interests. Since the mid-1930s, when comprehensive labor laws were passed in the United States, the union protections enshrined in those laws have been steadily eroded by courts and the executive branch.
In this case, Justice John Paul Stevens said labor law has maintained a level playing field for unions and bosses. The court ruled that labor laws favor “uninhibited, robust and wide-open debate” between unions and bosses and “create a zone free from all regulations” by the government.
By treating the million- or billion-dollar corporations and labor unions with false parity, the recent decision helps the capitalists in their general assault on organized labor.
There is no such thing as “open debate” between workers and bosses. There is no such thing as “free speech” for workers. Corporations own and control workers’ ability to work—they can hire and fire most workers at will. The so-called debate is decided by corporate dictate. On nearly every issue, only corporations really have the right to “free speech” at the workplace.
Corporations can use any and all resources at their disposal to break up worker organization—they can spend millions in vicious anti-union campaigns of lies; hold on-the-job meetings telling workers how “bad” the union is; subcontract work to non-union employers; relocate plants to rural areas or out of the country; and much more.
But unions are severely limited by law in what actions they can take to organize workplaces. Striking for higher wages is considered illegal. Sit-down strikes are illegal. Walkouts over benefit cuts are illegal. Solidarity strikes are illegal. This does not mean unions have not and should not use these actions; it simply means that the law often functions as a straightjacket for union militancy.
Legal and legislative struggles, like working to pass AB 1899 or other laws that help unions, can help pave a clearer path to organizing unions. But all such gains are temporary under capitalism. Fighting within the confines of the legal system is never enough. The legal struggle can only be one part of an overall militant strategy for victory because the bourgeois legal system always will ultimately favor the capitalists and their interests.
The best way to win better wages and benefits is by concerted, organized action and mass mobilization of the workers. Workers have shown time and again that they are not afraid to fight capitalist greed. A fight back strategy is needed.
