From Workers’ Rights to Corporate Power: The Fallout of Janus v. AFSCME

In 2018, the Supreme Court made a big decision that most people have never heard of—but it’s been quietly changing the country ever since.

The case was called Janus v. AFSCME, and it had to do with unions for government workers—like teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. Before the decision, even if you didn’t want to join your workplace’s union, you still had to pay a small fee to help cover the cost of negotiations and protections the union fought for. After all, you still got the benefits.

But the Court ruled 5–4 that this fee violated free speech rights. In short, they said no one should be forced to pay money to an organization they don’t agree with. That might sound fair on the surface—but it had serious ripple effects.

A Blow to Workers’ Rights

This ruling made the entire public sector “right-to-work,” meaning no government employee can be required to support a union in any way—not even through small fees.

What happened next? Thousands of public workers stopped paying. That meant unions suddenly had less money—less money to support members, less money to negotiate for better pay or working conditions, and less money to push for laws that protect workers.

Unions are one of the few tools working people have to push back against powerful employers. Without them, workers are often left to fight for fair treatment alone.

Who Benefits? (Hint: Not You)

Let’s be honest—this decision wasn’t really about protecting free speech. It was about weakening unions.

Big corporations and wealthy donors have been trying to break unions for decades. Why? Because unions give regular people a voice at the table. And when unions are strong, workers win better wages, safer workplaces, and more say in decisions that affect their lives.

The Janus decision tilted the scales even more in favor of corporate power and public officials who want fewer checks on their authority. It made it easier for companies and politicians to ignore workers—and harder for working people to stand together and demand better.

Harming Civil Rights in Disguise

Public-sector unions have also played a big role in advancing civil rights. They’ve helped protect workers of color, advocate for women in the workplace, and push back against discrimination. When unions lose power, these fights get harder.

So while Janus may have sounded like a technical court case about fees, its impact goes much deeper. It weakens the groups that fight for fairness—not just in the workplace, but across society.

Tilting Elections, Fueling Division

There’s another layer to this: politics.

Public unions tend to support candidates who fight for working people—often Democrats. So when those unions lose money and members, they also lose political influence. Meanwhile, corporate interests (which usually back Republicans) grow stronger.

This shifts the playing field even more, giving big money more control over our elections. It’s one reason politics in America feels so skewed—and so divisive. When one side is funded by billionaires and the other is defunded by court rulings, the playing field isn’t just uneven. It’s broken.

Why It Matters Now

Janus v. AFSCME didn’t just change a law—it changed the balance of power in America.

It weakened workers, strengthened corporations, hurt civil rights, and made our political divisions worse. And it’s still affecting millions of people today.

If we want a country where working people have a voice, where elections are fair, and where civil rights matter, we need to understand what happened—and what we can do to fix it.