Unions are criminal enterprises using strong-arm tactics to bully workers. They can no longer coerce people into paying dues to an organization they don’t want to join.
Via Fox News
In a major legal and political defeat for big labor, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Wednesday that state government workers cannot be forced to pay so-called “fair share” fees to support collective bargaining and other union activities.
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.
The unions say 5 million government employees in 24 states and the District of Columbia would be affected by this ruling.
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.
Justices split 4-4 on the issue in a similar case two years ago. But with Neil Gorsuch now filling the vacancy left by the late Antonin Scalia, he was seen as the deciding vote this time – and sided with the conservative majority in Wednesday’s opinion.
But while his colleagues were closely divided in arguments back in February, Gorsuch played it close to the vest and left court watchers guessing for comments. He had no comments or questions from the bench during nearly 70 minutes of oral arguments.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing justice in other cases, cast a skeptical eye toward the union argument in February He said repeatedly that separating politics from the union’s collective bargaining mission was impossible.
“We’re talking here about compelled justification and compelled subsidization of a private party that expresses political views constantly,” Kennedy said. He told the union’s lawyer, “It seems to me your argument doesn’t have much weight.”
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.
“The fundamental issue is my right to choice,” Janus said outside the court in February.
Union thugs have a habit of assaulting anyone who confronts their corruption. They harass businesses for the “crime” of backing the “wrong” political candidate, they show off their frothing hatred, racism, and bat-shit crazy behavior when they gather in mobs, and they’re teaching these methods in college.
That’s the way they operate. Intimidation, assault, arson, threats, and murder. Unions started out with an anarchist/socialist agenda, ended up with bed with the mafia, and went downhill from there. The leaders spend member’s dues to suit their own political agendas, and line their pockets. So much for looking out for the “working class”. And they wonder why their membership has plummeted.