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For IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Supreme Court To Public Employees:'Your Conscience or Your Job'
WASHINGTON — Gerald W. McEntee, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement today in reaction to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling limiting the free-speech rights of public employees: "This decision gives constitutional sanction to those who would fire a public worker for stepping forward to preserve the integrity of our public institutions as a government whistleblower. "Government employees should not be asked to sacrifice their First Amendment rights to work in the public sector. If we are serious as a society about achieving accountability and openness in government, we must hold public officials responsible for their actions. That means we ought to protect rank-and-file public employees who are courageous enough to risk their own careers to speak out about possible violations of the law or ethical breaches. "Instead, the Supreme Court has sent a chilling warning to potential government whistleblowers that their anxiety about potential retaliation is well-founded. The Court has said to public employees, in effect: 'Your conscience or your job. You can't have both.'" AFSCME is the largest union for workers in the public service with 1.4 million members nationwide. AFSCME represents a diverse group of service and health care workers in the public and private sectors including nurses, corrections officers, EMTs, and child care providers.
### American Federation of State, County |
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