Supreme Court decision may weaken labor unions
A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling could deal a financial blow to public-sector unions and public pensions, hobbling a bastion for labor groups. A counteroffensive by the unions, however, could bolster them.
A landmark Supreme Court decision Wednesday could deal a financial blow to public-sector unions and public pensions, hobbling a last remaining bastion for the worker organizations in in the U.S. But a counteroffensive by the groups could bolster them.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that unions can’t collect fees from nonmembers to defray the costs of collective bargaining.
Twenty-two states – including populous ones such as California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania – have allowed unions to assess the fees on nonunion members, who benefit from collective-bargaining agreements anyway. About 5 million workers in those states could be affected.
The other 28 states are right-to-work states where the fees can’t be collected or they’re states that don’t permit collective bargaining anyway.
Union officials will now lose the contributions of the nonunion members, though the vast majority of workers in government agencies that collectively bargain are union members, says Paul Clark, director of the school of labor and employment relations at Penn State University.
The bigger concern, he says, is that a significant portion of public sector union members could leave the worker organizations.
“This is just another step in a longtime effort to weaken the labor movement in the U.S.,” Clark says.
Union membership has fallen from 35 percent of the workforce in World War II to 10.7 percent today, according to the Labor Department. While the ranks of private-sector union workers have steadily declined and make up just 6.5 percent of the labor force, public unions have grown and comprise 34.4 percent of all government employees. They’re now threatened.
Clark says unions already have mobilized in anticipation of the ruling and are likely to market themselves more aggressively at a time when support for unions is growing.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said recent teachers walkouts in multiple states suggest that unions are gaining steam.
“The Court’s decision ... cannot stop this momentum,” Saunders said in an emailed statement in response to USA TODAY questions. “If anything, it will accelerate it, triggering a backlash that further emboldens union members to stick together.”
Gary Jones, recently elected president of the United Auto Workers union, which represents some government employees, said in a statement the ruling was “just another barrier and another attack on working men and women.”
“It cannot, however, take away the powerful voice that UAW members and other unions deliver when they sit across the table and collectively bargain for their families, their safety and their communities,” Jones said.
At the same time, Clark says proponents of corporate interests, including the Koch brothers, have also signaled they’ll mount a multimillion-dollar campaign to convince union workers to drop out and reap the same benefits without paying the fees. They’re likely to significantly outgun the unions.
Union members typically pay 1 to 2 percent of wages in collective-bargaining fees.
Clark figures that with unions mobilizing, they’re likely to lose just 10 to 15 percent of members and financing – losses they could offset by shifting responsibilities. But he said the corporate lobbying campaigns could result in a loss of 25 to 30 percent of members and financing. That would have a serious negative impact on resources and could spur existing union members to defect, creating a vicious cycle that decimates public unions.