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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Supreme Court Case That Could Decimate American Public Sector Unionism
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17595/friedrichs_v_california_teachers_associationLast week, an appeal was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for a case that could prove to be the most damaging case to labor in decades.
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association aims to overturn a nearly 40-year precedent which allows the use of fair share fees for public sector unions, wherein all union members must pay for the costs associated with collective bargaining and contract administration. Since all workers in unionized workplaces share the benefits of unionizationand since unions are legally compelled to represent all of those workers, which requires use of unions financial resourcesunions say that workers who choose not to become members of unions must at least pay these fees in order to not become free riders, gaining benefits from union representation without paying for them.
From its beginnings, the case has been specially crafted for the Supreme Court, and if successful would affect tens of thousands of union contracts and would force millions of public employees into a right-to-work model.
Justice Alito has been inviting a case like Friedrichs for several years, and anti-union groups have been paying attention. In the 2012 Knox v. SEIU decision, which changed the way in which public sector unions assess optional fees (those not associated with collective bargaining, such as political and public relations activities and other matters not related to collective bargaining) from an opt-out to an opt-in procedure, Justice Alito, writing for the Court, said that acceptance of the free-rider argument as a justification for compelling nonmembers to pay a portion of union dues represents something of an anomaly.
Is this designed to be the last nail in the coffin of Public Unionism?
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)Of COURSE the public workforce is in their sites.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)until someone else weighs in.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)0rganism
(24,007 posts)in between the nasty conservative-dominated SCOTUS and the excesses of the GOP-led congress for the last 20 years, it will take 50+ years to repair the damage done to society if it can be repaired at all. the neo-cons have left their mark upon this country, no mistake.
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