Public Employee Unions Take a Hit in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared poised to overturn a 1977 ruling that prounion advocates say will damage the bargaining power of public-sector employee unions nationwide. The justices heard arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, led by plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs, a teacher in Anaheim, California. Friedrichs and her allies argue that being required to pay union fees to a union whose views she disagrees with as a nonmember is a violation of her free speech rights.
The so-called agency fees are assessed to cover the cost of union negotiations and contract enforcement, which lawyers representing the union say is fair given that nonmembers benefit from the negotiations even without participating. California teacher-union dues cost up to $1,000, according to attorneys for Friedrichs.
Friedrichs and the nine teachers who joined her in the suit say that because the work of unions is “inherently political,” being compelled to contribute raises constitutional violations. Justice Antonin Scalia, considered a key swing vote in the case, appeared to side with this interpretation.
“The problem is that everything that is collectively bargained with the government is within the political sphere, almost by definition,” Scalia said during the arguments.
If a majority of the justices side with the teachers, public-sector unions would lose funding from state government workers, hindering their ability to bargain for both members and nonmembers. These fees are currently collected by unions in 23 states. Nonmembers are allowed to seek refunds for any payments spent on political activities such as lobbying or promoting prounion candidates, according to the California Teachers Association, but few do because the process is arduous.
“It’s clearly part of a larger effort to undermine public-sector unions, which is really where the strength of the labor movement stands today,” Jeff Grabelsky of Cornell University’s The Worker Institute told NBC News.
The Obama administration and the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris have filed briefs urging the court to preserve the 1977 ruling in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which ruled it was constitutional to require nonmembers to contribute.
“Mandatory agency fees ensure that all employees in a particular bargaining unit pay a fair share of the cost of the representation,” wrote Harris in her brief. “They prevent the unfairness and conflict that could arise were only part of the work force to support representation activities that, by law, must advance and protect the interests of every employee.”
Related stories on TakePart:
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• Activists’ Latest Push for Police Accountability Aims for Union Reform
Original article from TakePart
