GUEST COLUMN: SMALL BUSINESS Erin Shannon | Director, WPC for Small Business Erin Shannon became director of the Washington Policy Center for Small Business during January 2012. She has an extensive background in small business issues and public affairs. The Center improves the state’s small business climate by working with owners and policymakers toward positives solutions.
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What the Supreme Court ruling in Friedrichs right-to-work teachers union case really means
abor union executives excitedly declared a “major victory for organized labor” with the unsurprising 4-4 tied vote of the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association right-towork case.
Actually, the Court’s deadlock was a victory for organized labor only because it leaves the status quo in place and punts the issue to be reconsidered once the Court has a new Justice. The Friedrichs lawsuit filed by Rebecca Friedrichs and other California teachers contended that the compulsory union dues they are forced to pay are unconstitutional. The case raised the important question about whether the practice in forced-union
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states of requiring public employees to pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of employment violated the First Amendment rights of workers. Had the Court ruled in favor of the teachers, school employees would have the right to decide for themselves whether to join and support a union. The implications of the Friedrichs case went far beyond teachers in California. A ruling in favor of Friedrichs would have secured the right-to-work for all government employees in all 50 states. Presentlly, workers are protected only in 26 states. Soon after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Friedrichs case on Jan. 11, Justice Antonin Scalia died and that instantly changed what many constitutional experts and legal pundits assumed would be a precedent-setting 5-4 decision this summer in favor of Rebecca Friedrichs and the other teachers. Nearly every media outlet covering the hearing agreed the attorneys representing unions were on the defense, as they were battered by questions from five of the Justices, including Scalia. It appeared all but certain that the union gravy train that has run for decades on forced unionism would end soon. Scalia’s sudden passing was an instant reprieve for labor unions; short one Justice, the Court’s decision was tied in a meaningless 4-4 ruling. Of course, organized labor put their public relations machine into overdrive, spinning the split decision