This Labor Day, at least five million public sector workers across the country can celebrate having the freedom to choose whether or not a part of their paycheck goes toward supporting a labor union as a condition of their employment.
That right is protected by the First Amendment — yet until this June, it was denied to government employees in at least 25 states where they could be fired simply for refusing to financially support a union they oppose.
In the Janus v. AFSCME decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to force government employees to pay union dues or fees to get or keep a job. Agreeing with the National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney who argued on behalf of Illinois state employee Mark Janus, the high court finally recognized that forcing workers to subsidize any union speech directed at the government violates the First Amendment.
The ruling also stated that workers cannot be charged union dues or fees without their affirmative consent. This blocks union officials’ “opt-out” schemes, in which employees are required to annually navigate a complicated union-created procedure simply to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Every public school teacher, police officer, firefighter, and civil servant in the nation now has the freedom to decide as an individual whether or not union officials deserve their financial support. This means government employees can withhold financial support from union officials that are corrupt or hold institutional interests that conflict with the individual’s personal views.
For instance, no one would blame Debora Nearman for wishing to withdraw support from the union officials that led a massive smear campaign against her husband when he was a candidate for public office.
Debora, an Oregon state employee, was required for years to financially support and associate with the SEIU in order to keep her job. In addition to actively promoting political stances that contradicted Debora’s convictions, the SEIU local union she was forced to fund spent more than $53,000 running an aggressive campaign against her husband when he ran for state office.
Foundation staff attorneys helped Debora file a complaint protesting her forced association with the union as a violation of her constitutional rights. After the Janus victory, SEIU officials were quick to settle with Debora, refunding to her more than two years’ worth of forced fees. And, as the Janus precedent assures, union officials cannot take any money from Debora again unless she gives affirmative consent and clearly waives her First Amendment rights.
Most importantly, Debora can no longer be forced to forego her First Amendment right for fear of being fired.
Debora is the first public sector worker to receive a refund of forced dues as a result of the Janus precedent, and she will not be the last. In the two months since the landmark Janus victory, workers are making their voices heard by exercising their power against union officials’ forced-dues privileges.
Further, with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, tens of thousands of the victims of union officials’ unconstitutional forced-dues demands are seeking well over $100 million in refunds of the fees taken in violation of their First Amendment rights. They want the justice Deborah Nearman already won, but, with so much money at stake, expect union lawyers to attempt to keep their ill-gotten gains.
Even as workers stand up for their rights and are receiving refunds of illegally-seized union fees, union officials are seeking to undermine workers’ Janus rights. At union officials’ behest, legislators in multiple states have passed or are moving to pass laws designed specifically to attempt to limit workers’ ability to exercise their newly-recognized First Amendment rights.
So even in the public sector, there is still much work to do before workers are fully protected from forced unionism. Further, millions of private sector employees in the 23 states without Right to Work laws are still trapped by union officials’ forced-fees privileges.
This Labor Day, even as we celebrate with workers like Debora who enjoy the protections of the Janus decision, we should also remember the countless remaining private-sector employees who still must pay a union boss just to get or keep a job.
Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Committee and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
