Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic:
Why Some States Want Strong Public-Sector Unions
Having a powerful partner on the other side of the bargaining table can make for happier workplaces and better public services.

An estimated 15,000 teachers, parents, and other supporters encircle City Hall in New York during a mass rally in support of an ongoing teac

As argument commenced at the Supreme Court last Monday, most eyes were on Justice Antonin Scalia. While still the Court’s conservative paterfamilias, union supporters were looking to Scalia as a potential swing vote in their favor in the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. He had endorsed Abood, the precedent now under scrutiny, in a 1991 case, and strongly defended state and municipal employers’ right to limit employee speech in other contexts. However, as his questioning began, union supporters lost hope.

Scalia seemed skeptical of public-sector employers’ interests in a strong union representing workers, implying that a state would be equally well off bargaining with a weak union with fewer resources. He told the solicitor general of California that he understood “the need of the state to have an efficient system for dealing with its employees,” but questioned whether “the union would not survive without” agency fees, the payments that are at issue in the case. Later, Chief Justice Roberts echoed this view, asking for proof that “the unions are going to collapse” without agency fees. Counsel for Friedrichs put a finer point on it, arguing that “if anything, [public employers] don’t want” effective unions, “because nobody wants a strong bargaining partner that’s going to drive up public expenditures.”

In some ways, Scalia’s question was a (very) small victory for the unions. At least the conservative justice saw a state interest in allowing public workers to be represented by a union, and in ensuring the union’s minimal survival—though maybe no more than that.

Yet, Scalia’s implication missed an important fact: Many states want effective and well-resourced unions, even though those unions will be on the other side of the bargaining table. That much is apparent from California’s robust defense of its collective-bargaining law in Friedrichs, as well as the amicus briefs filed by 21 states and the District of Columbia and a list of cities, counties, elected officials, and school districts in support of California and the California Teachers Association. (I was one of the co-authors of an amicus brief on behalf of Labor Law and Labor Relations Professors in support of the state and union parties in this case.)

And there’s further proof in how many individual states have chosen to manage their employees through collective bargaining: States are not locked into a one-size-fits-all labor-relations model. If a state views unions as unhelpful partners, they are free to eliminate or curtail public-sector bargaining. Despite this, most Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic: