Public Unions and the Janus Reckoning

City Journal Audio

Manhattan Institute

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.7 • 657 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2018

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Daniel DiSalvo joins Brian Anderson to discuss public-sector unions, freedom of speech, and the upcoming Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Janus next week. If the justices rule for the plaintiffs, employees of state and local governments across the country will be able to opt out of paying union fees. Public unions are often powerful political players, and a sharp drop in funding or membership could deal a heavy blow to their influence.

"The general result of public-sector unions' outsize influence in politics over the last 30 years, especially at the state and local levels, is ever-larger and more expensive government," writes DiSalvo in his City Journal article, "Judgment Day for Public Unions."

Daniel DiSalvo is an associate professor of political science at the City College of New York, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and author of Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm City Journal editor Brian Anderson.
0:11.2	Thanks for joining us for the Ten Blocks podcast featuring urban policy and cultural commentary with City Journal editors, contributors, and special guests.
0:23.1	When the Supreme Court returns to session this week, the justices will hear what will
0:28.5	likely be the most consequential case for government labor relations in U.S. history, Janus
0:34.1	versus the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
0:39.3	Mark Janice is a child support specialist for the state of Illinois.
0:43.3	His suit charges that state law violated his rights by requiring him to pay fees to a union.
0:50.7	In this case, AFSCME, one of the nation's largest labor organizations. A ruling in favor of
0:57.8	Mr. Janice would likely allow government workers across the country to opt out of union fees,
1:03.6	and the ramifications for many states and cities would be enormous. Joining us on the show today
1:09.9	is Dan DeSalvo.
1:11.9	Dan is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute,
1:14.3	an associate professor of political science
1:16.5	at the City College of New York,
1:18.3	and the author of Government Against Itself,
1:21.0	Public Union Power and its Consequences.
1:24.2	His latest essay for City Journal,
1:26.4	Judgment Day for Public Unions, appears in our winter 2018
1:30.8	issue. Dan, welcome to 10 blocks.
1:33.7	My pleasure to be with you, Brian.
1:35.3	We gave our listeners a brief overview of Mark Janice's case against his local union in Illinois.
1:41.4	Can you tell us how this case came together and how it's different from
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Manhattan Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Manhattan Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.