Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday voiced support for a
challenge to state laws that force non-union workers to pay fees to
public-sector unions in a case that could erode organized labor's clout.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy,
two key votes on the nine-member court, indicated during an 80-minute oral
argument in the case involving California teachers that they could side with
the three other conservative justices in delivering a ruling overturning a 1977
high court precedent.
U.S. conservatives have long sought to curb the influence of unions
representing public employees like police, firefighters and teachers that often
support the Democratic Party and liberal causes. The case before the justices
was spearheaded by a conservative group called the Center for Individual
Rights.
A ruling allowing non-union workers to stop paying
"agency fees" equivalent to union dues, currently mandatory under
state law, would deprive the public sector unions of millions of dollars,
reducing their income and political power.
Both Roberts and Kennedy appeared unsympathetic to the California
Teachers Association's argument that non-members would become “free-riders” if
not required to pay the fees to fund collective bargaining activities because
they would benefit from collective bargaining without having to pay for it.
Kennedy said that non-members currently are "compelled riders"
if they disagree with the union's stances on various issues. Roberts said the
issue of "free-riders" was "insignificant."
The 10 teachers that filed the lawsuit in 2013 are asking the justices
to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court ruling in the case Abood v. Detroit Board of
Education that allowed public sector unions to collect fees from workers who do
not want representation as long as the money is not spent on political
activities.
Non-members can opt out of paying the union's
political activities. But several of the justices hinted at the difficulties of
separating out political issues in a way that would not infringe upon the
free-speech rights of non-members who disagree with the union.
Roberts and Scalia both seemed skeptical at
the suggestion unions would collapse without the fees paid by non-union
employees, in part because such fees are already banned in the 25 states that
have what is known as "right-to-work" laws. Federal employee
unions also cannot collect such fees.
'HEAVY
BURDEN'
The court's liberal members defended the
current practice, noting that the justices usually think twice before
overturning such a long-standing precedent.
"You come here with a heavy
burden," Justice Elena Kagan told the teachers' lawyer, Michael Carvin.
The dispute pits non-union teachers and
the Christian Educators Association International against the California
Teachers Association, an influential union with 325,000 members. The lead
plaintiff is Rebecca Friedrichs, an elementary school teacher in Anaheim who
quit the union in 2012.
A ruling in favor of the non-union
teachers would be a blow to organized labor because unionized teachers and
other civil servants in states without right-to-work laws comprise its main
power base.
The teachers union noted that state law
requires the union to represent all workers during collective bargaining, the
process in which unions negotiate contracts with employers on behalf of
employees, regardless of whether they are members.
The non-union teachers appealed to the
Supreme Court after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the
union in November 2014.
Among public sector workers, 35.7 percent
belong to unions, compared to 6.6 percent in the private sector, according to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Roughly three-quarters of the estimated
7.2 million public sector union members are in states without
"right-to-work" laws.
A ruling in the case is due by the end of
June.
The case is Friedrichs et al, v. California
Teachers Association, et al, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-915.
No comments:
Post a Comment