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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 2015)
13A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015 Justices take up dispute over union fees Teachers claim fees violate their free- speech rights By SAM HANANEL Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will consider limiting the power of govern- ment employee unions to col- lect fees from non-members in a case that labor of¿cials say could threaten member- ship and further weaken union clout. The justices said Tues- day they will hear an appeal from a group of California teachers who say it violates their First Amendment rights to have to pay any fees if they disagree with a union’s positions and don’t want to join it. The teachers want the court to overturn a 38-year-old legal precedent that said unions can require non-members to pay for bargaining costs as long as the fees don’t go toward polit- ical purposes. Public workers in half the states currently are required to pay “fair share” fees if they are represented by a union, even if they are not members. But the high court has raised doubts about the vi- ability of that regime in two cases over the past four years. The court has stopped short of overturning the 1977 case — Abood v. Detroit Board of Education — but in a 5-4 opinion last year, Justice Samuel Alito called Abood “questionable on sev- eral grounds.” Alito said a “bedrock prin- ciple” of the First Amendment is that “no person in this coun- try may be compelled to sub- sidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support.” The lead plaintiff in the case is Rebecca Friedrichs, a public school teacher in Or- ange County, California, who says she resigned from the California Teachers Associa- tion because it takes positions that “are not in the best inter- ests of me or my community.” She says she is still required to pay the union about $650 a year to cover bargaining costs. The union says the fees are necessary because it has a le- gal duty to represent all teach- ers at the bargaining table, even those who are not part of the union. A federal district court ruled against her and the other challengers, saying the out- come was clear under Abood. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals af¿rmed. Leaders of some of the nation’s largest public sector unions issued a joint state- ment calling the lawsuit an effort to weaken labor rights. “The Supreme Court is revisiting decisions that have made it possible for people to stick together for a voice at work and in their commu- nities — decisions that have stood for more than 35 years,” said the statement from the National Education Associa- tion, American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, American Fed- eration of State, County and Municipal Employees and Service Employees Interna- tional Union. The Center for Individual Rights, a conservative group working with the plaintiffs, argues that even basic union goals such as negotiating pay raises and boosting school budgets can clash with the po- litical and educational beliefs of many teachers. “We are seeking the end of compulsory union dues across the nation on the basis of the free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment,” said Terry Pell, the group’s president. The Supreme Court’s ra- tionale in 1977 for allowing the fees was to help promote labor peace and prevent non-members from “free riding,” since the union has a legal duty to represent all workers. A ruling in favor of the teachers challenging the fees could sap ¿nances at all unions representing teachers, ¿re¿ghters and other govern- ment workers, labor leaders and other experts say. “When unions are required to provide representation, if people don’t have to pay for that, a lot of them are going to opt for that free option and that’s going to cause enor- mous problems for the viabil- ity of unions,” said Benjamin Sachs, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in labor law. As private sector union membership has steadily de- clined over the past four de- cades, unions representing government workers have emerged as a powerful force in organized labor. But they have come under increasing attack as of¿cials in Wiscon- sin and other states blame them for generous pension and bene¿t packages that cash-strapped governments no longer can afford. Public-sector workers have a union membership rate of 35.7 percent, more than ¿ve times higher than that of private-sector workers at 6.6 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The case, Friedrichs v. Cal- ifornia Teachers Association, 14-915, will be argued when the Supreme Court begins its new term this fall. In this 2011 file photo, Karen Wallace, right, and Meryleigh Brain- erd, left, both teachers in Calaveras County, join in a candlelight vigil in front of the state Capitol to ex- press sympathy with union members in Wisconsin in Sacra- mento, Calif. AP Photo Robert Durell SAVINGS AWARD Valid 6/30/15 thru 7/7/15 10 OFF $ 50 or more $ * Save on your next grocery purchase of $50 or more * with your Safeway Club Card and this Savings Award. * Use this Savings Award on any shopping trip you choose at any Oregon Safeway store (except Milton-Freewater) and S.W. Washington stores serving Clark, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Skamania and Klickitat counties by 7/7/15. 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