After the Supreme Court Rules On Forced Union Dues
Inside Sources talks to Trey Kovacs about the Janus v. AFSCME forced union dues case before the Supreme Court:
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has closely followed the case as it has advanced towards the highest court. The free-market think tank has filed legal briefs and issued coalition letters against mandatory union dues. CEI labor policy expert Trey Kovacs suspects more unions might become member-only.
“Another one could be to form member-only unions which basically addresses the free-rider problem,” Kovacs told InsideSources. “You’d have unions maintain the labor laws that are on the books like they do as exclusive representatives, but would only represent the workers that are full-fledged members, and basically let the free-riders go.”
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CEI released a report Jan. 24 arguing that unions should choose to form as member-only groups to avoid the free-rider problem. That way they don’t have to represent workers that don’t pay them. The group also released a recent video depicting a government worker who becomes dismayed about being forced to pay a union.
The Supreme Court ruling in favor of the state workers would directly impact where their membership rates are strongest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that the public-sector has the highest rate of unionized workers at 34.4 percent. In the private-sector only 6.4 percent of workers are unionized.
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“What it shows is unions fare fairly well in right-to-work settings,” Kovacs said. “I think a lot of the doomsday predictions are overstated, and I think what will likely happen is the unions will spend a lot more time and money recruiting and attracting members and surveying members what their needs are, rather than spending money on ideological or political purposes.”