The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-to-4 Wednesday that state government employees who decline to join a union can no longer be made to pay a share of the union’s cost of negotiating contracts.
The decision reverses one from 1977 --Abood v. Detroit Board of Eduction--which said, while unions can’t charge non-members dues, they can levy “agency fees” because union-negotiated contracts benefit non-union workers, too.
President Donald Trump hailed the ruling for reducing a source of money for Democratic campaigns, who are often supported by unions.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown sees it from the other side.
“I think it’s an effort by a right wing, anti-labor Supreme Court, anti-worker Supreme Court, to try to put the labor movement out of business.”
Browns says the non-profit, non-partisan llinois Economic Policy Institute issued a report before the decision that projected the unions losing more than 700 thousand members nationwide if the Supreme Court ruled against them.