Shadow
06-24-2012, 07:41 AM
The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt an election-year blow to public-sector unions with a ruling that limits their ability to collect money for use in political campaigns from non-union employees at workplaces where a union is the bargaining agent.
The ruling comes in the wake of a major struggle over the rights of public-sector workers in which unions failed in their effort to recall Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker who’d signed a law curtailing the power of public sector unions.
The court said Thursday that non-union workers who benefit from union representation must affirmatively choose, or “opt in,” to having their “agency fees” used when a special dues increase or assessment is going to be used for political purposes. Simply giving them the option of opting out is not sufficient to protect their rights, the court held.
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/21/12343048-high-court-deals-another-blow-to-public-sector-unions?lite
The ruling comes in the wake of a major struggle over the rights of public-sector workers in which unions failed in their effort to recall Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker who’d signed a law curtailing the power of public sector unions.
The court said Thursday that non-union workers who benefit from union representation must affirmatively choose, or “opt in,” to having their “agency fees” used when a special dues increase or assessment is going to be used for political purposes. Simply giving them the option of opting out is not sufficient to protect their rights, the court held.
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/21/12343048-high-court-deals-another-blow-to-public-sector-unions?lite