The argument almost succeeded in 2016, when the Supreme Court seemed poised to rule that the fees were unconstitutional. The new case, which had been filed in 2015, was waiting in the wings and soon reached the Supreme Court. The activities of public unions are akin to lobbying, they said, and so are by their nature political. If the Supreme Court rules against his union, Mr. Clover said, its finances would suffer and its influence would drop. More than 20 states let public unions charge nonmembers fees for work on their behalf.

Source: New York Times February 22, 2018 19:52 UTC