I play two roles at the Free Press. I’m the newspaper’s business columnist, and I also serve as president of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit. The guild is the union that represents journalists in the newsrooms of the Freep, the Detroit News and other publications around town.

As a union leader, I’ve taken a keen interest in the Janus vs. AFSCME case. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in Janus that public sector unions may no longer collect “fair share” fees from nonmembers to help cover the cost of negotiating contracts and representing workers in a bargaining unit.

Unions are required to represent all workers, members and nonmembers alike, even if the “free riders” refused to join or pay dues.

In effect, the Supreme Court in Janus imposed so-called right-to-work status on public sector unions nationwide, much as conservative Republicans in Lansing did for all unions in Michigan by enacting a right-to-work law in 2012.

As a union leader I do not fear that the Janus ruling represents a death blow to unions, as some commentators jumped to say. The Janus ruling, and right-to-work laws generally, simply means unions must work harder to recruit and represent their members.

Source: Supreme Court’s Janus decision: Unions will have to work harder