State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware) today commented on the United States Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME :

“Today’s US Supreme Court decision in Janus vs. AFSCME is a sad and disheartening blow to the middle class,” Leach said. “At a time of the greatest wealth and income disparity in 100 years, the Court has attacked the fundamental, driving engine of the middle class. Unions are the reason we have 40-hour work weeks, weekends off, employer-paid healthcare, grievance procedures and so much more. Union workers earn 25 percent more than non-union workers in similar jobs. This decision is designed to eviscerate the effectiveness and even the existence of public-sector unions. Millions of hard-working Americans will see their paychecks shrink and their benefits disappear. Conservatives routinely decry ‘judicial activism’ and ‘legislating from the bench,’ but today the Court disregarded decades of precedent to fulfill the fondest wish of the Koch brothers. This is a tragedy for American workers.”