FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 27, 2018

CONTACT: JOHN DE LOS ANGELES
JDELOSANGELES@AFSCME3299.ORG
P: 650-438-1961

Statement: After SCOTUS Ruling
Outcry, UC Workers Call on
Napolitano to Take Stand
(OAKLAND, CA) – In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned 40
years of legal precedent, the labor laws of 23 states, and thousands of employment
contracts in the case of Janus vs. AFSCME Council 31. The decision, which recent
research says will not improve public finances but will reduce wages by as much as
$2,000 per year and shrink the national economy as much as $33 billion,
eliminates laws that require workers represented by unions to pay for the cost of
bargaining for their wages, benefits and working conditions.
In response to the ruling, Kathryn Lybarger, President of AFSCME Local 3299, the
University of California’s largest employee union, issued the following statement.
“Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 is an attack by wealthy elites on more than 5
million teachers, firefighters, and other public-sector workers who represent
the last of America’s middle-class. The court’s ruling is an extreme case of
judicial activism that will normalize wage theft, income inequality,
discrimination, and workplace violence, and other labor abuses by
effectively forcing the only private organizations that exist to correct these
injustices to deliver their services for free.
“Even worse, today’s decision comes as the University of California—our
state’s second largest public employer—has already imposed harsh terms to
worsen income, racial, and gender disparities for its lowest wage workers.
They’ve even refused to acknowledge that these well-documented problems
exist.
“Last month, AFSCME 3299 and other union members—totaling more than
53,000 workers at UC—waged a 3-day strike over these issues. Despite
today’s decision, UC workers will continue to stand together because we
understand the power and value in unions.
“The real question is whether UC President Janet Napolitano will stand with
Donald Trump’s war on California workers or whether she will finally honor

 the principles of equality, fairness, and social mobility that UC claims to
profess.”
AFSCME Local 3299 is the University of California’s largest employee union,
representing more than 25,000 Service and Patient Care Technical workers at
UC’s 10 campuses, 5 medical centers, numerous clinics, research laboratories, and
UC Hastings College of Law. Service worker titles include Security Guards,
Groundskeeper, Cook, Custodian, Truck Driver, and more. Patient Care Technical
worker titles include Nurse Aids, Respiratory Therapists, Radiology Technologists,
Patient Transporters, and more.
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