Ben Spielberg – Huff Post
This argument is deeply flawed on several levels. First, chargeable dues contributions are a condition of a specific type of employment — they aren’t “compelled” by any reasonable definition of the word. Teachers who dislike this employment condition are perfectly free to seek employment at a non-unionized school. Unless the plaintiffs consider all conditions of employment in any profession to be “compelled,” which I doubt they do, they can’t logically argue that chargeable dues contributions are.
Second, there are also numerous other circumstances in which some form of membership dues is required. I, for example, support very little of our government’s defense spending, but I still have to pay the portion of my taxes that fund it. Or, as Gordon Lafer explains, consider that lawyers must pay mandatory fees to practice law and condominium owners are required to pay association fees.
Third, while the distinction between political and nonpolitical activity is undoubtedly fuzzy, we draw seemingly arbitrary lines between the two all the time. For example, many large corporations have lobbyists who fight against unions and labor standards, charitable arms that donate to organizations that undermine unions and labor standards, and managers who discourage unionization (both legally and illegally) at their stores — each of these activities is overlapping and affects the public interest, but only the first is typically classified as political. For this reason, the plaintiffs’ arguments, if accepted, could potentially invalidate a whole lot of other rules that differentiate political from nonpolitical activity.
Fourth, the prevention of free rides (when someone benefits from collective bargaining without paying for it) is a compelling justification for requiring dues from union members. Unions in states that have restricted collective bargaining are already reeling; in Wisconsin, for example, where Governor Scott Walker initiated an anti-union crusade in 2011, compensation has fallen by 10 percent for members of the Wisconsin State Employees’ Union, while NEA membership in the state has fallen by a third and AFT membership by half. Allowing free rides and making it more difficult for unions to negotiate reduces the bargaining power and hence the likelihood of securing adequate compensation and good working conditions — for all members.