{"id":6196,"date":"2015-02-12T10:07:08","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=6196"},"modified":"2015-02-12T10:07:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:07:58","slug":"rauner-declares-fair-share-fees-a-violation-of-first-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/rauner-declares-fair-share-fees-a-violation-of-first-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Rauner Declares ‘Fair Share’ Fees a Violation of First Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucy Ren<\/p>\n

Governor Bruce Rauner declares in a federal lawsuit<\/a> that the \u201cfair share\u201d union fees are \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d as the Supreme Court has repeated recognized from recent cases that \u201ccompelling a state employee to financially support a public sector union seriously impinges upon the free speech and association interests protected by the First Amendment.”<\/p>\n

Steven Schwinn, associate professor at the John Marshall Law School, opined that if the case goes eventually to the Supreme Court, Rauner will win. \u201cThe Supreme Court will ineffably hold that the fair share fees are violating the First Amendment,\u201d he said. \u201cI disagree with that personally, but I think he\u2019s probably right about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rauner also issued on Monday an executive order<\/a> to exempt state workers who do not want to join a union from paying union fees. Anticipating backlashes to his order, Rauner filed the pre-emptive federal lawsuit against state unions to seek for declaration of his decision legal.<\/p>\n

Under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, it is currently permissible for collective bargaining agreements to require state employees who are not full member of the unions to pay what are called \u201cfair share\u201d union fees. The fees are \u201cdesigned to cover union expenses that benefit all employees,\u201d said Schwinn, \u201clike collective bargaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

The constitutionality of such provisions was first considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education<\/a> in 1977. The case holds that fair share fees are constitutional, \u201cbecause they avoid the free rider problem in an union shop, and they promote labor peace,\u201d Schwinn explained.<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/190719541″ params=”color=0066cc&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

Steven Schwinn of the John Marshall Law School said that Rauner’s federal lawsuit was a \u201cpretty aggressive attempt\u201d to overrule the Abood case.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very strange that he would file a suit like this,\u201d Schwinn added. \u201cOrdinarily, the way that it would work is that the union would file a suit to challenge the executive order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Abood case is just barely hanging by a thread,\u201d Schwinn said, \u201cand I think what Governor Rauner is trying to do is just delivering the final blow and bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illinois Statute prohibits the fair share fees from being used for political activities, but Rauner believes it is impossible to separate public sector unions from the government. He noted that in the Knox v. Service Employees International Union<\/a> case decided in 2012, the Supreme Court \u201crecognized that \u2018a public-sector union takes many positions during collective bargaining that have powerful political and civic consequences.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The unions represent over 45,000 state employees collectively, or about 93 percent of the state employees covered by the Unions\u2019 bargaining agreements.<\/p>\n

Rauner\u2019s action came after his attorney Dan Webb and his powerhouse law firm Winston & Strawn reviewed the result of Harris v. Quinn<\/a>, which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2014. The ruling declares that \u201cexcept perhaps in the rarest of circumstances, no person in this country may be compelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pamela Harris, the plaintiff of the Harris v. Quinn case, applauded Rauner\u2019s decision after Rauner announced his executive order. \u201cState employees can still organize, join a union and pay dues,\u201d she wrote in an email to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation<\/a>. \u201cWhat has changed is now all state employees have the freedom to choose whether or not to support a union.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I think what Governor Rauner is trying to do is just delivering the final blow and bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Steven Schwinn, John Marshall Law School<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Teamsters Union, Service Employees International Union, Illinois Nurses Association<\/a> and AFSCME <\/a>are among the 28 state unions being sued by Rauner.<\/p>\n

According to the governor\u2019s complaint, the fair share fees of the sued unions amount to between 79 percent and 100 percent of the total dues charged to their members.<\/p>\n

AFSCME Council 31 calls Rauner\u2019s executive order \u201ca blatantly illegal abuse of power,\u201d according to a statement released by Executive Director Roberta Lynch on Monday.<\/p>\n

The statement also asserts, \u201cIt is crystal clear by this action that the governor\u2019s supposed concern for balancing the state budget is a paper-thin excuse that can\u2019t hide his real agenda: Silencing working people and their unions who stand up for the middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think his action is very unfair and undemocratic,\u201d INA\u2019s executive director, Alice Johnson, said. \u201cWe will be doing educational activities for our members and the public.\u201d She added that there would be \u201clegal challenges\u201d following the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Anthony Riedel, spokesmen of NRTW, wrote in an email that its staff attorneys were \u201cprepared to provide workers with a wide range of legal assistance if needed, ranging from explanations of the executive action and how workers can go about in exercising their rights under it, to the possibility of assisting workers in filing legal actions and briefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Gov. Bruce Rauner announces executive order to abandon compulsory public union dues. (Reboot Illinois\/YouTube)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucy Ren Governor Bruce Rauner declares in a federal lawsuit that the \u201cfair share\u201d union fees are \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d as the Supreme Court has repeated recognized from recent cases that \u201ccompelling a state employee to financially support a public sector union seriously impinges upon the free speech and association interests protected by the First Amendment.” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":6206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,30,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nRauner Declares 'Fair Share' Fees a Violation of First Amendment - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/rauner-declares-fair-share-fees-a-violation-of-first-amendment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rauner Declares 'Fair Share' Fees a Violation of First Amendment - 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