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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2018)
PAGE 2 | March 2, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ... Decision in Janus v AFSCME is expected by end of June From Page 1 (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh Office manager: Cheri Rice Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. 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LET THEM KNOW YOU APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT! Low Prices! Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6 140 Amendment free speech rights. The group is asking the Court to overturn its unanimous 1977 Abood decision, which ruled that union-represented employ- ees who don’t want to join the union can’t be required to pay for union political speech, but can be required to pay a “fair share” or “agency” fee covering the costs of negotiating con- tracts and representing workers in grievances. National Right to Work Legal Foundation attorney William Messenger argued that the Abood decision was in error be- cause everything a public sector union does is political speech — since government is the em- ployer. Therefore, union-repre- sented employees who object to the union shouldn’t have to pay for any of it, even grievance handling or contract negotiation. “You’re basically arguing, ‘do away with unions,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor told Messen- ger. During the hour-long hearing, several Democratic-appointed justices made points about the potential consequences of undo- ing 40 years of precedent. “Twenty-three states, the Dis- Outside the U.S. Supreme Court, about 500 union supporters rallied Feb. 26 with signs that said, “Unrig the System.” They greatly outnumbered about 100 union opponents carrying signs saying, “Stand with Mark.” Mark Janus is the union-represented Illinois public worker in the case Janus v AFSCME. trict of Columbia, Puerto Rico, all would have their statutes de- clared unconstitutional at once,” said Justice Elena Kagan. Trump’s U.S. solicitor gen- eral Noel Francisco, arguing in favor of Janus, suggested that a win for Janus won’t be as dis- ruptive as some unions have said: In the federal sector, no workers are required to make payments to the union, and yet about 80 percent of union-repre- sented federal employees pay union dues voluntarily, Fran- cisco said. At the Postal Service it’s even higher — about 94 per- cent voluntarily pay union dues. Meanwhile, lawyers for AF- SCME and for Illinois Attorney General’s office argued that the fair share fee requirement actu- ally benefits public employers. “We have an interest at the end of the day in being able to work with a stable, responsible, independent counter-party that’s well-resourced enough that it can be a partner with us in the process,” said Illinois Solicitor General David L. Franklin. “There are plenty of studies that show that when unions are de- prived of agency fees, they tend to become more militant, more confrontational. They go out in search of short-term gains that they can bring back to their members and say ‘stick with us.’” Illinois and 20 other states have asked the Court to respect states’ rights to decide how to manage their own employment relations. AFSCME attorney David C. Frederick suggested that over- turning Abood could lead to more public employee strikes: “The key thing that has been bargained for in this contract for agency fees is a limitation on striking. And that is true in many collective bargaining agree- ments. The fees are the tradeoff. Union security is the tradeoff for no strikes. And so if you were to overrule Abood, you can raise an untold specter of labor unrest throughout the country.” The hearing came after sev- eral days of protest rallies around the nation by unions and their allies. The court is expected to rule on the issue by the end of June.
