Janus vs. AFSCME, U.S. Supreme Court Case

Janus vs. AFCME Council 31 will be argued before the U. Supreme Court on February 26, 2018. Mark Janus, a child support specialist working for the State of Illinois who does not want to pay agency fees (also known as fair share fees) to compensate the union for the cost of his representation. This case and a larger effort to dismantle public sector unions has has been advanced in a systematic manner by an interlocking group of right-wing funders and the groups they fund. Key players include the National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Individual Rights, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the State Policy Network (SPN), the Koch’s Americans for Prosperity group, the Koch Network of funders and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation among others.

Origins of Janus

The case did not originate with Mark Janus, but with billionaire venture capitalist and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

On the campaign trail, Rauner promised a Reaganesque showdown with the state’s public workers. Just weeks after being sworn-in in January 2015, Rauner blamed the state’s significant financial woes on public-sector unions, called for union membership to be voluntary, for the introduction of local level “right to work” ordinances, and for a repeal of prevailing wage laws that boost wages for construction workers. (Misnamed “right to work” laws allow workers in the private sector to free ride, leading to weaker unions and lower wages.)

Faced with a defiant Democratic legislature, Rauner acted unilaterally issuing an Executive Order blaming budget deficits on public workers and fair share fees and directing Illinois to stop withholding and passing on the fees to unions. (Later before a friendly crowd at the Hoover Institute Rauner would admit his proposal had “nothing to dow with the budget.”)

Rauner knew the unions would fight back in court, so he also filed a federal lawsuit, Rauner v. AFSCME, seeking to have his decision declared legal and hoping to move the issue rapidly to the friendly venue of the U.S. Supreme Court. Because the federal court found he did not have standing, a small group of effected workers were put forward as intervenors, including Mark Janus.

The panoply of ideas Rauner has thrown out there impacting unions did not originate in the Land of Lincoln. They can all be found in the library of union-busting bills housed at the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC was founded in 1973 to bring together politicians and corporate lobbyists to write and vote upon “model” state bills behind closed doors. The group is funded by Koch Industries as well as big tobacco, PhRMA and other fossil fuel companies. In 2010, ALEC bills, exploded out of state legislatures when Republicans were swept in to office, after the devastating 2008 financial crisis. In red state, ALEC along with it sister group the State Policy Network (SPN) and the Kochs’ astroturf operation Americans for Prosperity pursued ALEC “right to work” bills. In blue states, they pursued other tactics including anti-union lawsuits.

Janus Lawyers and Their Funding Sources, IPI Funding Scandal Exposed by Chicago Sun Times

Rauner’s original lawsuit was advanced by the Illinois Policy Institute’s Liberty Justice Center. IPI is a $7 million member of both ALEC and SPN. IPI has also been funded by the Donors Capital and Donors Trust the preferred investment vehicle of the Koch network of funders. It has also been funded by family foundations of billionaire Richard Uihlein, and Rebekah Mercer. Plus, Rauner himself gave IPI $500,000 and poached some of its top staff in the early days of his administration. Recently the Chicago Sun-Times called for a criminal investigation of the group for mixing for-profit and not-for-profit activities. Learn more on the Illinois Policy Institute Sourcewatch page.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation supplied the lawyers for most of the anti-union cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and they are now the lead attorney’s in the Janus case. The group was founded in 1968 and has a mission to "eliminate coercive union power.” The 501 C3 litigation group combined with its 501 C4 lobbying arm is a $15 million powerhouse, according to recently available IRS 990s. A member of the SPN network, it receives funding from the Koch-tied Donor’s Trust/Donors Capital investment vehicles and two of the biggest foundations working to privatize the public education system, the Bradley Foundation and the Walton Foundation. Learn more on the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Sourcewatch page.

Janus Amici Briefs, State Policy Network Anti-Union Campaigns and Toolkits

The vast majority of groups filing amici brief in this case are members of the State Policy Network, a network of 66 state-based “think tanks” and 87 associated right-wing groups. You can access the SPN members list here.

The Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of Sourcewatch, gave documents to the Guardian in 2016 which pulled back the curtain on SPN’s anti-union drive in 2016. The Guardian article entitled “Rightwing alliance plots assault to 'defund and defang' America's unions” can be accessed here.

State Policy Network fundraising letter for concentrated campaign to dismantle government unions can be accessed here.

State Policy Network tool kit for dismantling unions can be accessed here.

The SPN tool kit, entitled “State Workplace Freedom” “equips policymakers with the tools they need to turn the tide of undue union power in their states,” the toolkit says. SPN has done extensive polling and instructs legislators how to talk about the bills. Rule Number 1: “Be pro worker not anti-union…Don’t rant against unions.. using phrases like ‘union fat cats’ and ‘corrupt union bosses’ and other negative language reduces support for reform.”

The toolkit proposes four bills to dismantle unions in the states:

1. “Worker voting rights” -- a poison pill requirement from Wisconsin, which forced unions and only unions to have an annual vote to rectify under extremely different voting conditions. Unions must turn out 50 percent of their bargaining unit and get a vote for 50 plus one, a bar no politician has ever met for an election.
   1. Harris v. Quinn opt out campaigns --a door to door tactic emerging from Washington state’s “Freedom Foundation” to convince quasi-public sector home health care workers to drop their union. The toolkit highlights an $8 million reduction in union funds in Washington state.
      1. “Right to Work”—the cookie-cutter ALEC model bill that weakens unions by allowing free riders. ALEC also promotes a version of the bill for localities.
         1. “Worker Choice” –would weaken collective bargaining by allowing workers represent themselves individually before employers.

The SPN fundraising letter and tool kit make clear that SPN network has no little interest in the rights of workers but a great deal of interest in defunding unions and making them powerless to compete in campaigns and elections.

Funding for National Anti-Union Efforts

Key funding sources for the primary groups pursuing a national anti-union agenda include the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, the funding vehicles used by the Koch Network of funders to mask their identities. DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund Grant Recipients can be accessed here.

The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

The Bradley Foundation has given $133 million to SPN member groups since the 1980s the Center for Media and Democracy has estimated . Contributions of the Bradley Foundation can be accessed here.

CMD’s series on the Bradley Foundation’s details the Foundations attack on unions in three parts:

• [“Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions” https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-attacks-unions/] by Mary Bottari.

• [“Weaponized Philanthropy: Document Trove Details Bradley Foundation's Efforts to Build Nationwide Right-Wing Infrastructure” https://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/05/13238/weaponized-philanthropy-document-trove-details-bradley-foundations-efforts-build]

• [Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Front Groups of Discredited PR Spin Doctor Richard Berman https://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/05/13240/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-front-groups-richard-berman]

CMD has long tracked Richard Berman’s PR firm Berman & Company and the scores of front groups generated by the firm. Berman’s specializes in anti-union attacks through his front group Center for Union Facts.

Previously CMD obtained a tape of Berman’s anti-union tactics in a 2014 investigation “Rick Berman Exposed in New Audio; Hear His Tactics against Environmentalists and Workers Rights.”

Berman boasted about his obsession with unions and his attack on their efforts to raise the minimum wage for American workers: "I get up every morning and I try and figure out how to screw with the labor unions." Listen to this clip here.