Chicago Tribune- Rebecca Friedrichs is a longtime public school teacher in California who would never have predicted she would be at the center of a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case.
But she decided to fight a requirement in California law that she pay what are called “fair share” fees to the California Teachers Association. The third-grade teacher is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by several teachers that could have a significant impact on public employee unions and First Amendment protections. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last Monday. A ruling is expected this summer.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that workers could not be compelled to pay for a union’s direct political activities, but could be required to contribute to the costs of collective bargaining.
Union supporters argue that mandatory fair share fees are justified because the employees who pay them gain the benefits of collectively bargained contracts. Remove the fee requirement, they say, and the employees reap benefits while leaving others to pay the cost of gaining those benefits.
“The unions call me a free rider,” Friedrichs said during a recent visit with the Tribune Editorial Board. “But the benefits they negotiate for me are not worth the moral costs. The defined benefit program and the expense to my community and my nation, and using my money to protect teachers who are ineffective and sometimes abusive in class — this is a liberty issue for me.”
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I hope the court rules in her favor.
I would just as soon lose my union. They haven’t done a damned thing for me lately. We’ve been without a contract for almost five years now, and the members of my union can’t strike because of New York State’s Taylor Law.
Question: if we can’t get a collectively bargained contract, and we can’t strike, then WTF good is a union? I would just as soon take the $500+ annually that I pay in dues and use it to prepay my apartment loan.
John Roberts will declare that Union fees are a tax and uphold the law.
You’re supporting a lot – a LOT – of greasy parasites!
You should be proud!
Even the dumbest, laziest sluggard amongst you can’t be fired!
They need jobs, too!
Unions are the bulwarks of the lazy, the incompetent, and the corrupt.
Let’s see where we currently stand. The government can set your wage, mandate you buy health insurance, mandate you participate
in a Union and pay dues, mandate (men only) that you can be drafted, mandate we pay all costs of illegal immigrants, etc and so forth. The land of the free!