GREENFIELD — When Sheila Gilmour started to get heavily involved with her local union at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, it came under the pretense of a foreboding future for organized labor.
She described joining the union for the University Staff Association at UMass a few years ago and the conversations had already been shifting toward making sure members knew the value of their union, beyond just going to bat for them for a contract. The idea was to instill an appreciation to the dues-paying member.
“For me, I came into it with this on the horizon,” said Gilmour, a Greenfield City Councilor and the vice president of her local union.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United States came down with a 5-to-4 decision ruling that is viewed as weakening unions. Employees at jobs in the public sector who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining. Unions say these “fair-share” fees pay for collective bargaining the union does on behalf of all employees and not just members.
“This doesn’t really come as a surprise,” Gilmour said. “We knew this was coming.”
While the decision did not come until Wednesday — on a day that also included a ruling narrowly weighing in the favor of the travel ban and against crisis pregnancy centers having to provide abortion information — it’s been something union representatives like Gilmour have been planning for some time now.
“Most people who have come up to me, they’re just surprised I still have a smile on my face, but I’ve been dealing with this for awhile,” Gilmour said.
In February, when the court began hearing the arguments, Gilmour and others at UMass gathered to rally for more union jobs. Wednesday, in a way, was just another day for many.
“Were we surprised? No, not in this climate,” Donna Stern, local union leader for the nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center. “There has been a concerted and organized attack against labor for 40 going on 50 years.”
While Stern does not represent workers in the public sector, the Massachusetts Nurses Association has members who are in that part of the field.
In the past year, as the MNA has been prepping for this decision, she said, and in the past year Stern has become a strong voice in Franklin County and across the valley in support of unions. She led one of the most vocal and visible contract negotiation battles in recent months, connecting her with several union workers in the public sector and emboldening her passion for organized labor.
“We’re in a very dark time,” Stern said. “As difficult as this is going to be, this is an opportunity for unions to get back to their roots, get back to grassroots organizing.”
Stern lashed out at what the decision says about the respect unions have in the country.
“The right and conservative democrats have done a masterful job of wiping out any labor history out of our school,” Stern said. “We have a generation that doesn’t even know what labor unions and workers have done.”
Peter McIver, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts in Greenfield, said he is confident this decision will not mean much to his colleagues, but knows it could elsewhere in the country.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” he said. “I think unions will prevail. I don’t think it’s going to be a nail in the coffin.
What this all means for unions and the strength of them in the county is still a question mark, but local union representatives were expecting the fight and continue to move forward with their organizing plans.
“Sixty years from now you’ll look at some of these supreme court rulings and you’ll just shake your head,” Stern said. “Generations to come will just shake their head and say what was going on at that time.”
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
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