Supreme Court Rules Against Labor Unions Forced 'Fair Share' Fees

Nick Kangadis | June 27, 2018
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The Supreme Court laid the smack down on labor unions Wednesday — but just barely.

With a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court declared that labor unions can no longer extort state government workers for the Socialistically-termed “fair share” fees that go to “support collective bargaining and other union activities.

According to Fox News:

While the current case applies only to public-sector employees, the political and financial stakes are potentially huge for the broader American labor union movement, which had been sounding the alarm about the legal fight.

At issue in the high-stakes case was whether states can compel government workers -- whether they are in a union or not -- to pay fees to support union activities. The case centered on the complaints of an Illinois state employee who sued, saying he was being asked to support the union's political message.

Justice Anthony Kennedy absolutely wasn’t buying the labor unions argument because of how constantly political unions tend to be.

“We're talking here about compelled justification and compelled subsidization of a private party that expresses political views constantly," Kennedy said of the labor unions' argument. "It seems to me your argument doesn't have much weight.”

Do unions arguments really ever hold much weight?

Of course, the state of Illinois — which is controlled by Democrat-heavy Chicagoland area — have capitulated to unions for years.

Fox News also reported:

The plaintiff in the case, Mark Janus, has worked for years as an Illinois state employee and pays about $550 annually to the powerful public-sector union known as AFSCME.

While not a member of the union, he is required under state law to hand over a weekly portion of his paycheck, which he says is a violation of his constitutional rights.

Labor leaders oppose so-called "free riding" by workers like Janus, however, and claim they have a legal duty to advocate for all employees.

But, what if that employee doesn’t want the union to represent them? That’s why this decision by the Supreme Court is a victory for freedom.

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