Tester Slams Supreme Court Decision that Weakens Workers’ Rights

Senator: This is a Punch in the Gut to Working Families

(U.S. Senate)—U.S. Senator Jon Tester issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public sector unions may no longer collect fair share fees from nonmembers, even though the law requires them to bargain for fair pay and safe working conditions on nonmembers’ behalf, weakening the collective bargaining rights of working families:

“This bad decision is a punch in the gut to Montana working families. It paves the way for Montanans to work more and make less money, it invites the deterioration of workplace protections, and it rolls back much of what Montanans have been fighting for over the past 100 years. I will relentlessly defend Montana workers against this threat to our livelihoods and to our way of life.”

Tester was the only member of Montana’s Senate delegation to oppose the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was the deciding vote on today’s decision to weaken Montana’s public employees’ right to collectively bargain.

This is the U.S. Supreme Court’s second major decision in the past week that threatens Montana. In another unpopular decision decided by Gorsuch, the Court decided last week to force Montanans to collect and remit sales taxes to help shore up the finances of other states.