Supreme Court to Hear Anti-Union Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 Case

AAUP
September 28, 2017

On September 28, the US Supreme Court announced that it will hear a case, called Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which anti-union forces have pushed in an attempt to have fair-share fees ruled unconstitutional for public sector employees.

Currently, unions can charge fair share fees (also called "agency fees") to non-union members for the cost of the union negotiating and enforcing a collective bargaining agreement covering those individuals.  Fair share fees have been deemed constitutional since the Supreme Court's 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education.  Over the last forty years, the courts have repeatedly found that the fair share fee system adequately balances the interests of the employees and the state in an efficient labor relations system and the First Amendment interests of union members and nonmembers.  However, in a 2014 decision, Harris v. Quinn, Justice Samuel Alito questioned whether Abood was good law and virtually invited challenges to the constitutionality of fair share fees.  In this opinion, Alito claimed that all fair share fee agreements in the public sector could violate the First Amendment as they compel nonmembers to pay for activities that may address matters of public concern and are therefore "political."  Anti-union groups took up Justice Alito's invitation and have pushed a number of cases through the courts.

Read the full article at the AAUP website here.