Kansas City Firefighter Union Leaders Argue Against Supreme Court

Perspective on local first responder rights and legal limits imposed from on high . . . Here are the basics and one of many complaints coming from fire stations . . . Check-it:

"Unions, in their legitimate desire to achieve the best contract for most of their members, would sometimes negotiate away the best interests of minority workers or those whose interests were not shared by the majority. The Kansas City firefighters’ contract is a clear example of the problem: The union members as a whole received a pay raise at the cost of limiting the rights of minority members and others whose constitutional rights may be violated

"So how is it that the firefighters’ union can now bargain away its members’ right to sue in court and force them to pursue their constitutional claims in arbitration? In a series of cases culminating in the 2009 case of 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, the Supreme Court’s then-newly appointed conservative majority cavalierly stripped union members of the right that all other Americans have: the right to have a state or federal court determine whether their rights under federal law have been violated and what remedy is warranted."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Kansas City firefighters' rights got trampled. And it's the US Supreme Court fault | Opinion

The conservative majority on the court forced Local 42 members to pursue their constitutional claims in arbitration. | Opinion