Pondering the future of CTA, Sacramento post-Friedrichs
(Calif.) For decades they have cast an imposing political shadow over the Capitol – dictating terms on budget deals, elevating supporters and isolating opponents while exercising a de facto veto power over many, if not most, legislative offerings.
Deserved or not, the California Teachers Association has a reputation as kingmaker in Sacramento – a status so solid that only a handful of other stakeholder groups in the country can match. But later this spring, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to deliver a life-threatening blow to them – as well as to all other public employee unions – by trimming their ability to raise money.
If so, there is broad consensus that party politics in the U.S. will be fundamentally changed and the labor movement severely wounded.
There’s less consensus, however, on the ruling’s impact in Sacramento and on the California political landscape.
“I’m not discounting how important this decision will be – it is a direct assault on public employee unions and the impact will be significant,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.
“Money is important to CTA and the CFT (California Federation of Teachers) but that is just one thing they do,” he explained. “They also do a lot of organizing and will still have the ability to affect close elections with constituencies that you might not always notice, especially when it comes to school boards and some Assembly races. It’s not as if their capacity to be politically active will evaporate.”
At issue in Friedrichs v. CTA is a ruling made in the 1970s that upheld as constitutional state laws requiring government employees represented by a labor union to pay their share of collective bargaining activities whether they are members or not. California and 22 other states have such laws on the books and a reversal by the court would mean those unions wouldn’t be able to collect hundreds of millions of dollars, likely diminishing their overall effectiveness.
The plaintiffs have challenged the mandate on First Amendment grounds saying their dues help support a union that pushes a political agenda they do not agree with. Hostile questioning of CTA’s attorneys by the high court’s conservative majority at a hearing last month suggests that the justices will rule against the union when the opinions are made public probably in June.
CTA officials have been characteristically circumspect in most of their public statements. They have expressed hope that the court will maintain the status quo, but have also criticized the suit as “politically inspired” and a vehicle of “corporate interests.”
In a November seminar held in Sacramento, Teri Holoman, CTA’s political action manager, gave perhaps the most in-depth response when she insisted the ruling wouldn’t have as substantial an impact as many believe. She argued that the union leadership pays a lot of attention to the grass roots.
“CTA is an incredibly democratic organization,” she said. “In terms of how it functions, decisions they make, political campaigns they get involved with and candidates they back.”
As a result, she argued, even if the court takes away the mandated dues enough teachers will Pondering the future of CTA, Sacramento post-Friedrichs :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
