Government workers should not be forced to pay Union Dues

As a landmark right-to-work case nears the Supreme Court, it’s worth remembering what’s at stake. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce this week whether it will hear a landmark labor case, Janus v. AFSCME.

At the heart of the case is this question: Should government workers be forced to pay money to a union as a condition of their employment? Plaintiff Mark Janus is a child-support specialist at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. He is suing because he believes workers deserve the right to decide for themselves whom to support financially. Opposing him is the most powerful government-worker union in Illinois, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. AFSCME says that if this is the job Janus wants to do, it is owed a cut of his paychecks. Janus is caught in an unfair predicament, and he’s not alone.

It’s estimated that at least 5.5 million government workers in 22 states are forced to pay money to unions just to keep their jobs. Powered by “When I was hired by the state of Illinois, no one asked if I wanted a union to represent me,” he says. “I only found out the union was involved when money for the union started coming out of my paychecks.” The First Amendment is on Janus’s side. It gives everyone the right to choose which organizations they will and won’t join or support financially.

Janus’s lawsuit argues that a citizen shouldn’t have to give up that right just because he or she wants to advocate for children in child-support cases, be a firefighter, or teach in a public school. But government-worker unions are hoping the Supreme Court will sidestep the Constitution to keep their current arrangement intact.

Read more at National Review