It was a very good week for working people. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court sided against the wealthy special interests behind the Friedrichs v California Teachers Association case, which threatened to effectively restrict the rights of teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses and other people who serve the public to band together in a union.
Why should you care? Because the power of unions is our strength in numbers. Individually, we don’t have much chance against managers or politicians who would take away our rights and reduce hard-won benefits. But together, here at Jackson and across the country, we stand up together and get much further than we could alone. Supreme Court decisions like this show why it really matters who gets into the White House.
More good news came out of California this week. Lawmakers and labor unions struck a tentative deal to raise the statewide minimum wage to $10.50 an hour next year and then gradually to $15, making California the first state to do so. This is the latest front in a national movement to raise the minimum wage and empower working people.
Members in the news: our members regularly get involved and speak out on a variety of issues. Sam Ruiz, RN, recently published an op-ed in the Sun-Sentinel on Hillary Clinton’s healthcare policies. Denise Glass, RN, penned an letter for the Miami Herald about why medical marijuana should be a health care decision, not a political one.