Posts tagged fair share fees
Tesla: UAW seeks to unionize car maker, battle expected with CEO Elon Musk
December 6, 2023 //
Janus had a large impact on union membership, five years later
November 22, 2023 //
U.S. Supreme Court will consider taking up Alaska union dues case no sooner than December
November 8, 2023 // Politically conservative organizations, including the Buckeye Institute, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, and the Goldwater Institute, have submitted documents in support of the state’s case. Those organizations, plus the state of Kansas (which also submitted documents in support of Alaska) are hoping that the Supreme Court will reinterpret its 2018 case and effectively put new restrictions on public employee unions. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that unions could not automatically collect so-called “fair share” fees from workers who benefited from union contracts but declined to formally join a union.
Opinion: FACT CHECK: Does Unionization Have Positive Spillover Economic Effects?
September 21, 2023 // Most notably, a 2021 Harvard University report found that right-to-work states boasted more positive spillover effects. Compared to unionized areas, right-to-work (RTW) states boast 1.6% higher employment, 1.4% higher labor participation, and 0.34% lower disability receipts. The study also found RTW laws are “associated with lower childhood poverty rates and greater upward mobility”—with “children at the 25th percentile of the parental income distribution during childhood have a 1.7 percentage point higher probability of reaching the top income quintile during adulthood if they grew up in a RTW location.” Greater upward mobility is also observed in states that give workers latitude over joining a union or not. Moreover, right-to-work laws are shown to improve the well-being of both non-unionized and unionized workers.
Biden Flip-Flops On Decision To Send Officials To Meet With Striking Auto Workers
September 20, 2023 // President Joe Biden announced last week that his administration would be sending White House senior advisor Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to Detroit to help resolve the UAW strike. The trip was canceled after the White House and the UAW decided it was best for the parties to speak virtually using the video-call platform Zoom, the White House told NBC News on Tuesday. Though the officials will not travel to Detroit this week, the White House is still exploring possible options to send Sperling and Su at a following date, though no plans have officially been made, NBC News reported.
The Supreme Court’s Janus v. Afscme Sequel?
August 25, 2023 // Alaska’s courts have blocked Mr. Dunleavy’s plan from taking effect. In a May ruling, the state Supreme Court said that “neither Janus nor the First Amendment required the State to alter the union member dues deduction practices set out in the collective bargaining agreement.” This is a crabbed view of free speech and free association. Although Janus involved a union nonmember, Alaska tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its petition that “the decision applies to all involuntary fees and has clear application to members and nonmembers alike.” Consider the devious policies that make canceling a paycheck deduction into a “byzantine process,” Alaska says. In California, “certain public employees cannot stop their dues unless the union receives a signed revocation letter ‘postmarked’ precisely ‘between 75 days and 45 days before’ the employee’s ‘annual renewal date.’” The point is to trap workers and keep that dues money coming. The authorization form for the Alaska State Employees Association was even stricter, making union dues irrevocable except during a magical 10-day window each year, though the petition says the union eventually promised not to enforce it after the state sued.
Biden tells union members that Republicans are coming for their jobs
June 27, 2023 // He warned union members that House Republican efforts to roll back his investments in domestic manufacturing to support the clean energy transition would cost labor jobs. “They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future and the future belonging to your kids and grandkids,” Mr. Biden said. The president hopes that argument will counter the brand of economic populism that buoyed Mr. Trump with some rank-and-file union members during his first two presidential campaigns.
Teachers, why are you still union members when you don’t have to be?
June 23, 2023 // One of the best alternatives is the Association of American Educators (AAE). AAE is the United States’ largest nonunion organization of teachers. AAE is a nonpartisan group that works directly on behalf of teachers and, most importantly, the interests of their students. Moreover, AAE membership provides superior benefits to those of teachers’ unions at a fraction of the cost of union dues.
Oregon teachers quit union, Kansas teachers need legislative relief
December 13, 2022 // Oregon school districts added about 2,100 teachers in the last school year, but union membership in the Oregon Education Association (OEA) dropped by almost 500. Jason Dudash, Freedom Foundation Oregon Director in Oregon, says the membership decline disclosed in internal documents obtained by his organization indicates unions have overstepped their authority in the classroom. “Teachers are realizing their unions support policies that are actively harming the students and profession they love. In Oregon and across the country, thousands of teachers are telling their union, ’We’re sick of this, and we’re done with you.’ That may seem like a crisis for the unions, but it’s great news for the rest of us.
Teachers Win Eight-Year Battle with PSEA: Judge Says Pa. ‘Fair Share’ Law Unconstitutional
May 27, 2022 // Explaining the ruling’s significance, Nathan McGrath, president and general counsel for the Fairness Center, commented: “The judge unequivocally stated that Pennsylvania’s ‘fair share’ fee law is unconstitutional under Janus. To my knowledge, this is the first time a state court has issued such a ruling.”