Top court: Unions can’t force government workers to pay fees
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers can’t be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining, dealing a serious financial blow to Democratic-leaning organized labor.
The court’s conservative majority, re-empowered by Justice Neil Gorsuch, scrapped a 41-yearold decision that had allowed states to require that public employees pay some fees to unions that represent them, even if the workers choose not to join.
The 5-4 decision not only will free non-union members in nearly two dozen states from any financial ties to unions, but also could encourage members to stop paying dues for services the court said Wednesday they can get for free.
Union leaders said in reaction to the ruling they expect to suffer some loss of revenue and also predicted the same antiunion forces that pushed to get rid of the so-called fair shares that nonmembers had to pay will try to persuade members to cut their ties.
“There are already plans,” said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association. “They are going after our members.”
The high court ruling Wednesday essentially outlawed unions from collecting mandatory fees from members and non-members alike in the 23 states that have allowed such fees.
Tennessee and Georgia do not allow such fees so the court decision will not affect most government employees in this area.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said unions would not be dissuaded: “Don’t count us out.”
The labor leaders spoke after the court ruled that the laws requiring fair share fees violate the First Amendment by compelling workers to support unions they may disagree with.
“States and publicsector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees,” Justice Samuel Alito said in his majority opinion in the latest case in which Gorsuch, an appointee of President Donald Trump, provided a key fifth vote for a conservative outcome.
Trump himself tweeted his approval of the decision while Alito still was reading a summary of it from the bench.
“Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!” Trump said in the tweet.
In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote of the big impact of the decision. “There is no sugarcoating today’s opinion. The majority overthrows a decision entrenched in this Nation’s law — and its economic life — for over 40 years. As a result, it prevents the American people, acting through their state and local officials, from making important choices about workplace governance. And it does so by weaponizing the First Amendment, in a way that unleashes judges, now and in the future, to intervene in economic and regulatory policy.”