Union funding endangered by pending Supreme Court case

SCOTUS friedrichsThe average K-12 teacher in California pays at least $30,000 in union dues over the course of a 30-year career, at a minimum of $1,000 a year.

But not all teachers want to pay that much; 12,212 teachers in 2014 opted for “fee payer” status, which docks them around $650 a year.

The fees are supposed to cover only non-political activities, like hammering out contract agreements. Those opting out of the union, despite paying the fee, are ineligible to vote in union matters.

Wherever it goes, the money represents an estimated $7.8 million annually for the California Teachers Association, and many feel that it is being extracted from the unwilling.  

Which means that a victory in the legal crusade of teacher Rebecca Friedrichs to overturn the mandatory assessments would inflict a heavy hit on the union, which collects and uses the money. Given the choice, some teachers currently paying the $1,000 a year would forego any payment if it were not mandatory, diminishing the union’s power.

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 11, has drawn 57 amicus filings, or documents in support of one of the two parties. Most of the filings offer legal opinion or expertise, and the originators break down along the lines of conservative and liberal.

The filers in favor of Friedrichs include 17 Republican attorneys general led by Michigan’s Bill Schuette, the Goldwater Institute and former California Gov. Pete Wilson.

Those supporting the teachers association include the state of California, the California School Employees Association and the Obama administration.

What’s at Stake

The plaintiffs seek to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which allows the fees to be taken against the will of the employee.

Abood failed to recognize the full extent to which teachers unions advocate positions during collective bargaining on intensely divisive public-policy issues, some of which — from the perspective of nonmember teachers — are harmful to both teachers and students,” reads the filing on behalf of Wilson.

The state’s school employees association contends in its amicus filing that “the essence of exclusive representation is that the union represents, and speaks for, all unit employees on employment issues pertaining to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment (hence the term “collective bargaining”) … the characterization of union representational activity as per se ‘political advocacy’ or ‘influencing public policy’ is so far outside the real world of public school employment and labor relations as to be ludicrous.”

RELATED: Read the transcript of the oral arguments here and listen to the arguments here.

According to one analysis, .08 percent of CTA political money went to Republicans between 2003 and 2012.

Since 1997, the association has donated $184 million to 583 filers, 50 of them Republicans, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. The top individual recipient is Gov. Jerry Brown, who has taken $3.25 million from the association. The union group also spent $3 million to help Brown defeat Meg Whitman in the 2010 gubernatorial race.

It spent $21 million in 2012 to defeat the unsuccessful Alliance for a Better California ballot measure, which would have ended payroll deductions for political activism.

It has also given money to other unions, including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a Nevada measure backed by teachers unions to require additional funding for public schools.

The union also receives money from offshoot groups, including the California Teachers Association for Better Citizens, which donated $1.5 million in 2010 to its independent expenditure arm, and Teachers and Families Supporting O’Donnell for Assembly 2014, which backed the successful campaign of Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach,  a public school teacher seen as a political ally of the union.

The union has 65 paid staffers, including two staffers working full time on political issues – one at a gross salary of $138,087 and another at $105,004 – and three others who spent 80 percent of their time on political activities, the union’s most recent federal filing shows.

“Every year, petitioners are required to provide significant support to a group that advocates an ideological viewpoint which they oppose and do not wish to subsidize,” Michael Carvin, an attorney representing Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs told the Supreme Court justices in his argument Jan. 11. He said the problem was not that the union was the sole representative of the workers, but that the workers were forced to subsidize the union’s political positions.

In his argument, Edward DuMont, representing the state, said that the union had to be funded and not by the state. “It’s very important that we do not fund it directly and that we not be perceived as controlling the speech of that representative.”

Union Influence Under Pressure

The decision by the Supreme Court “may mark a sea change in the way in which we understand labor law going forward,” Richard Epstein, a law professor at New York University School of Law, said in a post-argument podcast.

Epstein’s analysis explains that the five conservative justices regarded the plaintiffs  as “‘compelled riders’ who are obligated to pay fees to a union even if they felt they were better off without a union “even if the union offered them membership for free.”

It’s the opposite of what the union has referred to as free riders, who reap the benefits of a union without paying a full price, he said.

Epstein predicts that Abood will be overwritten in a 5-4 ruling with the conservative justices prevailing, and “the agency shop will be ended on constitutional grounds.”

Steve Miller can be reached at 517-775-9952 and [email protected]. His website is www.Avalanche50.com

18 comments

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  1. Dawn Urbanek
    Dawn Urbanek 23 January, 2016, 07:18

    In the Capistrano Unified School District The CUEA President (a teacher) is released from their duties and given an office at the District and is paid (partially) by the District. So while a community member has 3 minutes to address the Board of Trustees – the teachers Union president has 24/7 access to District staff and Trustees to lobby for higher pay and benefits for employees.Prop 30 would have never passed except for all of the lobby efforts in public schools (illegal) Leeters went home everyday saying that if parents failed to pass Prop 30 our kids would have 18 furlough days. There was never any mention of Molly mungers tax for students. We now know that Prop 30 did not benefit students and was used solely to backfill teacher pensions. http://patch.com/california/sanjuancapistrano/was-prop-30-good-deal-students

    Reply this comment
  2. Rex the Wonder Dog!
    Rex the Wonder Dog! 23 January, 2016, 10:10

    Friedrichs v CTA is going to blow the Public Union scam/fraud clean out of the water…off the map… back into the stone ages! Bye-Bye.

    Teddy Steals and Co. will no longer be “Stealing” from the poor….. 🙂

    Reply this comment
    • bob
      bob 23 January, 2016, 10:12

      Mr. Dog,

      The chance of real pension reform in the near future is slim to none, and Slim just left the building.

      Read Walters article in the Bee. I think he has it right.

      Let’s face it, the public employee unions are very strong and have the politicians bought. On the other side there is no one with the resources to fight them, except a few billionaires.

      The reality is that the politicians will trot forth meaningless proposals as reform while the situation gets worse. And when they can’t kick the can down the road anymore, they will attempt to bleed the taxpayers white.

      This state has gone to the dogs long ago. Why do you think Ahnode calls it Colliefornia?

      The gooberment trough feeders like NTHEOC, Sawhorse and Doglass own this state and we are just their tax livestock.

      Reply this comment
  3. Rex the Wonder Dog!
    Rex the Wonder Dog! 23 January, 2016, 10:12

    Epstein predicts that Abood will be overwritten in a 5-4 ruling with the conservative justices prevailing, and “the agency shop will be ended on constitutional grounds.”

    Bam!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Double BAM BAM!!

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Reply this comment
  4. Spurwing Plover
    Spurwing Plover 23 January, 2016, 13:36

    Forcing workers to join some corupt unions and pay union dues should be totaly unconstitutional

    Reply this comment
    • Queeg
      Queeg 23 January, 2016, 14:23

      Buying a job……unions or franchises…..take your pick….

      Reply this comment
    • Ted. Mentor to the doomed....
      Ted. Mentor to the doomed.... 23 January, 2016, 21:06

      most workers will still be happy to pay dues notwithstanding the Court’s call on this—- trolls respond NOW ! HURRY!!

      Reply this comment
      • Rex the Wonder Dog!
        Rex the Wonder Dog! 24 January, 2016, 10:33

        “…most workers will still be happy to pay dues notwithstanding…”
        Oh my lil Stooge, I love how you can read the future!!!!!!!

        This case must be killing you to make such birdbrained comments…oh…wait…you always make these comments. My Bad 🙂

        Reply this comment
  5. Rex the Wonder Dog!
    Rex the Wonder Dog! 23 January, 2016, 15:09

    The average K-12 teacher in California pays at least $30,000 in union dues over the course of a 30-year career, at a minimum of $1,000 a year.
    I wonder who spends more over 30 years; teacher on union dues ($30K), or Teddy Steals on Diapers ($50K??) ??

    Reply this comment
  6. Bill the man from G.O.R.E.
    Bill the man from G.O.R.E. 23 January, 2016, 20:24

    Lorena Gonzales and Toni Atkins: I hope you are reading this,’cause I have a serious proposal to help you and your public employee union friends out of this quandry. Through legislative fiat, extend sovereign immunity to all public employee unions, arguing that this is needed for public safety, of course. The same bill will then dictate that union dues be paid through taxation, simply added directly to property taxes. Brilliant! The mantra of public safety will shield this proposal from all criticism. Anyone who does raise their voice against it should be told:’shut up, it’s for the kids”. Brown WILL sign it. You could do this by March. Do it. Now.

    Reply this comment
  7. Ted. Mentor to the doomed....
    Ted. Mentor to the doomed.... 23 January, 2016, 21:01

    LOL GREAT thread!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE to see the trolls roll over and pee on themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES !!!!!!!!

    Reply this comment
    • Donkey
      Donkey 24 January, 2016, 21:47

      Of course you do Teddy, you spend most of your time in the stench of your own urine! A RAGWUS feeder has little in the way of self respect!! 🙂

      Reply this comment
      • Rex the Wonder Dog!
        Rex the Wonder Dog! 25 January, 2016, 00:01

        Donk, the “Depends” that Teddy wears absorbs his body fluids!

        Reply this comment
        • ted
          ted 25 January, 2016, 14:51

          Bwahahaha GREAT job girls/fellas/trolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          HURRY — post again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          Reply this comment
          • Rex the Wonder Dog!
            Rex the Wonder Dog! 26 January, 2016, 12:05

            Donk, Teddy has wet his Depends again, he is getting cranky in his comments 🙂

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