NYS Unions Worry About Supreme Court Case Over Union Dues

Unions in MA aren’t used to losing.

Protesters chanted, “We will win”, while holding signs that said, “Our Unions, Our Rights, Our Protests”.

It’s time for the U.S. Supreme Court to restore government workers’ First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association.

On the other side, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has voted against unions in past related cases, scoffed at labor’s argument that there is a difference between collective bargaining over government employees’ pay and benefits, and unions’ political activities, which nonmembers do not have to support.

Liberal Justice Elana Kagan stressed how disruptive a ruling against the unions would be, leading to thousands of labor contracts being renegotiated, striking down laws in various states and affecting “the livelihoods of millions of individuals”.

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“You’re basically arguing, do away with unions”, Justice Sonia Sotomayor told William Messenger, a lawyer with the National Right to Work Legal Foundation.

The Supreme Court has taken the Janus case under advisement, and will make a ruling at a later date. “That’s what this is all about”.

Kagan asked Franklin to elaborate on how ruling against Abood would affect unions, noting that Messenger and Francisco suggested the sky wouldn’t fall. Janus argues that it is unconstitutional to force a worker to contribute to a union based on principals they disagree with. “We believe in the unions for the good that it does for our working families all across the country”. “I have this because people who I worked with joined a union and stood together and were willing to go on strike and go without for other people like them”.

But Giardin says there’s also an opportunity for unions to provide better services to the members who do stay, in the hopes of attracting more members.

Union-backed protesters held signs saying “America needs union jobs“, while those supporting the challengers had signs saying “stand with Mark”, a reference to the plaintiff in the case, IL state worker Mark Janus.

A defeat for the public-sector unions would undercut their financing, weaken their political clout and perhaps trigger a sharp drop in their membership.

The plaintiff, an IL state workers named Mark Janus, argues that he has a First Amendment right to opt out of paying a union that bargains on his behalf.

The plaintiff Mark Janus has painted his complaint as a free speech issue. Union leaders say the ultimate goal of those pressing the case is to undermine the clout of the labor movement.

“The union voice is not my voice”.

In a 2016 Chicago Tribune opinion piece, Janus wrote, “The union voice is not my voice”. “Everything has to go through the union”. I had fair pay.

Akash Chougule, director of policy at Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group founded by David Koch, expressed optimism that the Supreme Court will ultimately side with Janus.

“. By its nature, everything a government related union does is political”.

Pennsylvania is one of 22 states in which public sector unions bargain for both the members and non-members. “It was far from a politicized lobbying effort”.

The facts of the case are near-identical to those in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, on which the high court deadlocked in 2016, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Although Gorsuch was at the arguments, he and Justice Clarence Thomas – who generally asks no questions at oral argument – were the only two silent justices for the hourlong arguments that had four different lawyers making their case for or against the agency fees.