In a closely watched case brought by 10 California teachers, the court’s conservative majority seemed ready to say forcing public workers to support unions they have declined to join violates the First Amendment. He said it looked like Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing voter, “appeared to grow increasingly angry with the unions as the argument proceeded”.
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During Monday’s arguments, Friedrichs’ lawyer, Michael A. Carvin, said that if the fees are upheld, “the state of California could say every public employee contributes 1 percent to the governor’s reelection campaign unless they affirmatively opt out of doing so”.
If Friedrichs wins, more than 300,000 government workers represented by OH labor unions could leave their unions without being required to pay a monthly service fee (called “fair share”) that is now required by the state’s collective-bargaining law.
The California Teachers Union urges the court not to overturn its earlier ruling, which held that a state’s interests in an orderly workplace outweigh the modest interference with employee expression involved in paying a portion of union dues. The state argues that negotiations such as for leave from work or the condition of faculty lounges are in no way political and that there is no method to draw a distinction between work conditions and matters of public policy during bargaining negotiations.
The California law includes a provision that allows those employees to opt out of fees relating to the union’s political activities by requesting a rebate.
The court is not expected to issue a decision until the end of its session in June.
Unions say the fees help cover the cost of non-political activities from which all workers benefit.
What did the Justices have to say? “Those cases start with Abood”, she said.
U.S. conservatives have long sought to curb the influence of public sector unions, which tend to back the Democratic Party and liberal causes. But in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, SCOTUS heard only one argument for 80 minutes Monday.
Massachusetts, along with 24 other states and the District of Columbia, authorize “agency fee” requirements at the public sector unions that represent government employees including police, firefighters, teachers and health-care workers.
Half the states now have right-to-work laws that ban compulsory fees, but states such as NY and California, where most public-employee unions are concentrated, do not.
Justice Antonin Scalia in the past has expressed sympathy for the view that the unions needed to collect the fees to prevent “free riders” – those who benefit from the agreements unions reach with government employers but do not pay for the union’s costs. He said the fees for collective bargaining typically apply to non-political issues such as mileage reimbursement, working hours and other mundane issues.
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Unions are concerned that a ruling throwing out the fees would give workers less incentive to join even if they generally agree with a union’s political stances because they would get all the benefits of collective bargaining without having to pay for it. If you are a teacher and you happen to dislike teachers unions for some political reason, you are not required to be a member of the union; if you do not want to be a member of the union, you can not be required to pay fees to cover strictly political activities that the union undertakes, like lobbying or political donations to favored candidates.
