The conventional wisdom is that Justice Scalia is the swing vote in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, but he gave no indication at this morning’s argument that he was anywhere but on the plaintiffs’ side. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy – other potential defectors from the pro-workers, anti-compelled-speech side – were similarly solid. With Justice Alito having written the two recent labor-related opinions, the most likely fifth vote for the unions (supported by California and the United States) becomes Justice Thomas, but only because he said nothing, as is his wont.
Not surprisingly, the biggest issue for the more conservative justices was the matter of compulsion: why should non-unionmembers in the public sector be forced to pay “agency fees” for so-called collective bargaining when (a) all issues that are collectively bargained by public-sector unions are matters of public policy (not simply wages and conditions of labor as in the private sector), and (b) those workers disagree with the supposed “benefits” that the unions want them to pay for (e.g., tenure protections versus merit pay). “Is it even okay to force someone to contribute to a cause you do believe in?”, asked Justice Scalia. “We’re not talking about free riders, but compelled riders,” posited Justice Kennedy.
“Since public employment contracts are submitted for public comment, that suggests this is different than private-sector collective bargaining,” explained Chief Justice Roberts, who was silent during the plaintiffs’ half of the argument and an active questioner of the union and governments (typically a sign of agreement with the former and disagreement with the latter).
http://www.cato.org/blog/supreme-court-poised-free-public-sector-workers-compelled-union-fees
Not surprisingly, the biggest issue for the more conservative justices was the matter of compulsion: why should non-unionmembers in the public sector be forced to pay “agency fees” for so-called collective bargaining when (a) all issues that are collectively bargained by public-sector unions are matters of public policy (not simply wages and conditions of labor as in the private sector), and (b) those workers disagree with the supposed “benefits” that the unions want them to pay for (e.g., tenure protections versus merit pay). “Is it even okay to force someone to contribute to a cause you do believe in?”, asked Justice Scalia. “We’re not talking about free riders, but compelled riders,” posited Justice Kennedy.
“Since public employment contracts are submitted for public comment, that suggests this is different than private-sector collective bargaining,” explained Chief Justice Roberts, who was silent during the plaintiffs’ half of the argument and an active questioner of the union and governments (typically a sign of agreement with the former and disagreement with the latter).
http://www.cato.org/blog/supreme-court-poised-free-public-sector-workers-compelled-union-fees
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