High Court Ruling Nullifies Agency Fees; Unions Scramble to Minimize Dues Loss

The U.S. Supreme Court struck a damaging blow to public-employee unions throughout the nation June 27 by ruling that their collection of agency fees from nonmembers—which had been upheld by the high court 41 years earlier—violated the First Amendment rights of employees who don’t share the political views of their unions.

The unions had defended state laws governing agency-fee payments against such claims, noting that the prior Supreme Court decision hinged on nonmembers having the portion of their dues refunded that would have gone to political activities. The plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCME, as had those in an earlier case involving Teachers in California that went unresolved two years ago following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, objected even to having agency-fee money paid toward union expenses for contract negotiations.