Trump administration: Union fees trample First Amendment

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Public employee unions bargaining for better wages are effectively “lobbying” government officials and should be barred from passing their fees onto workers who disagree with the political stances that labor leaders advocate, the Trump administration argues in a new Supreme Court brief.

Trump’s solicitor general filed the brief last week in Janus vs. AFSCME, an Illinois case that could cost California public employee unions thousands of members and millions of dollars.

A decision against AFSCME would forbid public employee unions from collecting so-called “fair share” fees from workers who do not want to join labor groups but benefit from representation. California is one of 22 states that allow public employee unions to charge them.

Coercion in the news.