Issued June 01, 2023
Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement today following the Supreme Court’s decision in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters:
“We are pleased that today’s decision by the US Supreme Court in Glacier Northwest doesn’t change labor law and leaves the right to strike intact. The right to strike is fundamental to our freedom as working people. Through striking and collective action, working people become more powerful than any boss or corporation. We win better wages and benefits and we make it impossible to ignore our demands to be respected, protected and paid.
We appreciate Justice Jackson’s powerful dissent with regard to the specific facts of this case, which now should continue to work its way through the National Labor Relations Board.
We shouldn’t forget why this case landed in front of the Supreme Court in the first place: because corporations are trying to shut down our right to strike. Corporations know that strikes and collective action give working people the power to rewrite the rules and make our voices heard. This case is just another page out of the corporate playbook of trying to rig the rules to benefit themselves and make it hard for workers to join together in a union.
SEIU’s 2 million members and millions more in the movement for Unions for All are as fired up as ever in our fight to rewrite the rules and win Unions for All to put the power in the hands of workers, rebalance the scales of our economy and advance racial and economic justice. We will continue to organize, strike, march in the streets and directly confront corporations and lawmakers with our demand for Unions for All until we build a future where everyone, no matter their race or background, can thrive.”