Reblogged from 90.9 wbur Boston’s NPR News Station
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for American unions last week. By a 4-4 tie, the Supreme Court upheld public sector unions’ right to dun non-members for fees. Minus Scalia’s expected anti-union vote, organized labor notched a rare win.
The high court’s action, or inaction, was welcome. The union in this case, the California Teachers Association, argued that the better wages and benefits it secures through collective bargaining go to non-members as well as dues-paying joiners. To tweak an Americanism, anti-union forces wanted representation without taxation, better known as mooching. Paying for what you get ought to be a conservative value. And that’s just the start of the conservative case for unions, particularly in the private sector.