The In These Times website - determinedly pro-union - carries an article which views the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case before the Supreme Court as potentially very threatening to public employee unions, including teachers unions. It uses First Amendment issues to argue that agency shop agreements, which require non-members to pay what the article calls "fair share" fees in lieu of union dues, should be unlawful.
The author argues that the court could effectively "enact" a nationwide right-to-work law, by making agency fees unlawful. When union fees are truly optional, many workers choose not to pay them, greatly reducing union resources and power.
COTTonLINE believes public employees should not be unionized. Civil service regulations provide broad protection against mistreatment and abuse, leaving their unions mostly involved in influencing legislatures to raise wages and improve benefits.
