Washington DC – Working people remain resilient and strong despite “relentless, dishonest attacks from 
wealthy special interests,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in response to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that last year’s union-membership rate was unchanged from 2016.
The report shows how working people “continue to come together for a voice on the job and a seat at the table,” Saunders said in a statement.
“It’s no surprise that they value unions – as the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual report shows, union workers earn considerably more on average than their non-union peers,” Saunders said. “Women and communities of color, for whom unions have historically been a pathway to the middle class, enjoy an even greater pay advantage when they join unions.”
Yet, corporate CEOs and billionaires are teaming up to “use the courts to rig the system even more in their favor, chipping away further at the rights of working people,” Saunders warned.
Janus v. AFSCME, a case the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this year, “threatens the freedom of public service workers to negotiate a fair return for the value they add to their communities,” Saunders said.
“No matter what happens,” he added, “public service workers and all working people will continue to build power in numbers and stick together in strong unions.
