Unions strong despite high court decision

Ruling on dues mostly has not affected public employee membership

Despite fears that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling would trigger a mass exodus of members from government unions, most of San Jose’s public employee unions remain strong 18 months later.

The June 2018 Supreme Court decision — Janus vs. American Federation of State, County and

Municipal Employees — was expected to deal a major financial blow to unions representing government workers.

The ruling not only stated that public unions could no longer require nonunion member employees to pay dues to cover their share of collective bargaining costs, but also enabled government employees who quit their union to reap the benefits of union representation without having to pay for them.

Government union leaders across the country feared that their members would leave in droves at the temptation of an added bonus to their paycheck if they no longer had to pay union dues. But those concerns have mostly proved unwarranted.

Mirroring a trend nationwide, membership in unions representing San Jose government employees has mostly remained stagnant since the decision.

The local chapters of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Association of Engineers & Architects, and the City Association of Management Personnel maintain nearly the same number of members today as they did the month before the Janus decision, according to city data on employees who voluntarily pay dues out of their pay

“The (Police Officers Association) has had extraordinarily clear communication over the years, and for the members, I think it means a lot to know that someone has their voice.” — Tom Saggau, POA spokesman