The fact that Starbucks took the case of the Memphis 7 all the way to the Supreme Court, months after bargaining began, exposes its absolute hypocrisy.
Rarely do capitalists sincerely want a “positive, productive relationship” with a union fighting to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for the workers they exploit. When the workers get more, it cuts into the profits of the bosses.
It is actually fairly uncommon for the NLRB to order workers to be reinstated before their cases are resolved in a drawn-out court process. With the latest SCOTUS ruling, the Board will be even less likely to issue a pro-union injunction.
It should come as no surprise that this viciously right-wing court took the side of Starbucks. Nor should anyone be shocked that two of the three “liberal” justices sided with the “conservative” majority. The court was established by Congress in 1789, with justices appointed for life, when enslavement was legal. Its purpose was never to uphold the rights of the exploited.
In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on June 15, SBWU co-founder Jaz Brisack wrote: “The outcome is predictable: the most conservative Supreme Court in decades eroded another legal protection of workers’ right to organize. In response, the labor movement must re-evaluate the source of our power; the law will not save us.”
It will take independent, militant action by the working class to defend the basic right to organize unions.
This case’s existence is one indicator that the U.S. is much closer to a decaying empire than a fascist state. In a fascist state your union leaders wouldn’t argue a case before the Supreme Court – your union leaders would be shot. The U.S. will still do all the horrors of fascism abroad, but that’s “just” imperialism. At home, there are still many of the elements of bourgeois democracy.
Probably after they start with work-to-rule, slowdowns, sabotage, etc.