A new threat to public-sector unions is headed to the Supreme Court

SOMEWHERE among the thousands of petitions the justices will wade through when they return to work in September is a case that could transform the labour movement in America: Janus v American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Supreme Court refuses to hear about 99.4% of appeals at this time of year'a rejection rate even stingier than its usual 89.9%. But Janus is very likely to attract the four votes it needs to make it onto the court's docket for the upcoming term that begins October 2nd.The dispute revisits a question the Supreme Court answered 40 years ago in Abood v City of Detroit Board of Education: whether public-sector unions may charge a fee to non-members for the cost of negotiating their contracts. The unanimous court in Abood began with the premise that many states require all workers in a particular sector to be represented by a union and that members and non-members alike benefit from their work. Given this arrangement, the court reasoned, so-called...Continue reading
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