Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Issues
Whether a union can use nonunion members’ state-mandated fees to finance political expenditures or ballot measures, despite providing limited information about such uses, and without offering nonmembers any opportunity to object.
California nonunion state employees sued their collective bargaining agent, alleging that the imposition of an additional agency fee assessment used to fund political actions without notice or an opportunity to object violated their First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the nonunion employees. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit reversed. The nonunion employees now appeal. The Supreme Court will determine what disclosures unions must provide when imposing additional agency fees on nonmembers, and the extent to which unions can use nonmembers’ wages to fund expenditures without first obtaining consent.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
1. In Teachers Local No. 1 v. Hudson, this Court held that "[b]asic considerations of fairness, as well as concern for the First-Amendment rights at stake, ... dictate that the potential objectors be given sufficient information to gauge the propriety of the union's [agency] fee" extracted from nonunion public employees. 475 U.S. 292, 306 (1986). May a State, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, condition employment on the payment of a special union assessment intended solely for political and ideological expenditures without first providing a notice that includes information about that assessment and provides an opportunity to object to its exaction?
2. In Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Ass'n, this Court held that "the State constitutionally may not compel its employees to subsidize legislative lobbying or other political union activities outside the limited context of contract ratification or implementation." 500 U.S. 507, 522 (1991) (opinion of Blackmun, J.); accord id. at 559 (opinion of Scalia, J.) (concurring as to "the challenged lobbying expenses"). May a State, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, condition continued public employment on the payment of union agency fees for purposes of financing political expenditures for ballot measures?
California state employees are required to pay fees to Service Employers International Union, Local 1000 (the “Union”) for exclusive representation as their collective bargaining agent. See Knox v. California State Employees Ass’n, Local 1000, 628 F.3d 1115, 1117 (9th Cir. 2010).
Edited by
Additional Resources
Labor Relations Counsel, Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of Public Sector Union's Assessment of Fees on Non-Members to Fund Political Activity (June 29, 2011).
Frank Miniter, National Review Online, Unions and Forced Political Speech (July 1, 2011).