This opinion piece appeared in The Hill, you can read the full piece here.

Labor Day offers an appropriate annual reminder to consider the big issues and court cases on matters of freedom affecting workers.

Janus v. AFSCME was a major victory for the First Amendment rights of public workers, who can no longer be forced to subsidize the speech of labor unions. Janus recognized that practically everything a public-sector union does is speech on matters of public concern. When a union participates in collective bargaining with a government agency over wages and benefits, it is lobbying for policies that affect public finances and services.

It follows that, as Janus concluded, the government cannot force its workers to pay for union lobbying any more than it could require seniors to support the AARP. Union fees therefore cannot be deducted from public workers’ paychecks unless they “clearly and affirmatively consent” to funding the union.

Of course, the devil is in the details and unions have relied upon their employees’ pre-Janus union membership status as justification to keep extracting dues. But, for many workers, membership was automatic, with their consent presumed. Continuing to charge them dues, without obtaining their affirmative consent, violates Janus on its face.

In other cases, unions pressed members to sign years-long dues authorizations in the run-up to Janus. And even when union members are not locked in, many unions are relying upon limitations they snuck into collective bargaining agreements that limit designated opt-out periods to brief windows of time and that impose convoluted procedures to escape union membership.

These unions have essentially adopted the “roach motel” approach to membership: once you join the union, you can never leave—unlike with every other voluntary association in America.

But some unions have recognized, correctly, that taking a tough line on these issues is legally untenable. The Buckeye Institute has already notched several wins for public workers in Minnesota, Ohio and Maine who wanted to resign their union memberships immediately, without any hassle and without paying another dime in support of speech with which they disagree.

Continue reading…