Bill McMorris of the Washington Free Beacon documents the Trump administration’s role in legal action challenging labor union privileges.
The Trump administration could bolster an Illinois state workers’ lawsuit to end coercive unionism, according to legal experts.
The Solicitor General’s office filed a brief supporting Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a lawsuit challenging coercive unionism for government workers. The suit argues that the Supreme Court’s 1977 Abood decision violates the speech and association rights of workers by allowing government agencies to mandate union dues or fees as a condition of employment. The amicus brief from the Justice Department bolsters that argument.
“Abood thus ultimately endorsed precisely what it simultaneously prohibited: compelled subsidization of union speech for political or ideological causes,” the brief says.
The U.S. government has previously defended Abood before the court, arguing that it was necessary to preserve workplace harmony. The Trump administration is breaking from the federal government’s traditional position by making the case that all public sector collective bargaining equates to political speech, since wages and benefits affect the way state and local governments, as well as federal agencies, budget and set political priorities.
