BURLINGAME – CTA President Eric C. Heins issued the following statement regarding today’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME, which aims to take away the freedom of – and opportunity for – working people to join together in strong unions to speak up for themselves, their families, their students and their communities:

“Today the Supreme Court heard strong, compelling reasons for rejecting the spurious anti-working family arguments of the plaintiffs in Janus v. AFSCME, seeking to further rig the economy against working people, limit the freedom of workers to join strong unions, give more power to corporate special interests and CEOs, further increase income inequality in our communities, and hurt educators’ ability to make schools better for our students. Like Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which the Court rejected two years ago, Janus is an attempt to make it harder for educators to come together and advocate for things like smaller class sizes, safer schools, parent involvement, and better communities.

“The handful of greedy CEOs and special interests behind this case don’t want educators to have a seat at the table to advocate for better schools and the resources their students need to succeed. The arguments presented today against their scheme made it absolutely clear that the current system is fair and constitutional, allowing the 40-year-old jurisprudence to stand for the sake of the students and working families in our communities.

“This case is part of a multi-year, multi-million effort to rig the economy in their benefit—at the expense of the middle class and our communities. When unions are strong, our communities are strong. They provide a path to the middle class and economic security, especially for women and people of color. Unions have helped build great public schools for students and together, we continue to lead the way here in California to ensure our students’ needs are being met. Through collective bargaining, educators can continue to advocate for resources, small class sizes, guaranteed recess, modern textbooks, and the technology that students need to succeed.

“We hope the Court will reflect on the needs of our students and working families in deliberations, but regardless of their decision, CTA members have a long and proud history of advocating for students, educators, and communities, and our voice will not be silenced by the outcome of one court case.”

For more information on the case visit www.cta.org/Janus.

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The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3 million-member National Education Association.