States Plan End-Run Around Anticipated Supreme Court Ruling

A June decision is likely for Janus v. AFSCME, the pending case in which the Supreme Court will put a stake in the heart of public-sector unions. Since unions must represent all workers within a collective-bargaining unit, workers will be able to quit the union but still benefit from collective bargaining. But in several red states teachers have demonstrated that concerted action without union support can work, and in two blue states officials are strengthening public-employee union’s ability to recruit and retain members. New York passed a provision that makes it harder for people to opt out of paying union dues, and allows union representatives to recruit new employees during the workday. New Jersey just enacted a similar measure. The former national political director of the AFL-CIO, said the blue state efforts may be a turning point at which unions and their supporters could begin to effectively counter the Koch-bankrolled right-to-work movement.