A statement from UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills:

“The Voting Rights Act ended Jim Crow. Gutting it is shameless power grab. Our message for the would-be authoritarians in Congress, the White House, and the Court is simple: We are never going back.

“Every day, our members, the overwhelming majority of whom are Black and Brown, build their unions against staggering odds imposed on them by Federal Labor Law and bosses who break it anyway. They try to divide us by race and background, but when we stand together across difference, we beat it back. Working-class Americans of all races know how to fight and win in their workplaces when the deck is stacked against us. Today’s ruling stacks it a little higher but does not alter our path to victory. It reinforces the fundamental injustices that underpin our politics, law, and economy.

“Whatever obstacles the Court or White House tries to throw at us, we will not be distracted. Make no mistake, our members in Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana may be disenfranchised in the short term because of this ruling. But we head into the midterms with conviction that voters will make their outrage clear, and a commitment to work harder, more creatively, and on a larger scale to surmount today’s setback. Our movement has overcome rigged elections and systems in our workplaces time and time again. So too, will we prevail in the national fight for political and economic democracy.”

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UNITE HERE is a labor union that represents 300,000 working people across Canada and the United States. UNITE HERE members work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries.