Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, No. 10-1121; U.S. Supreme Court; opinion by Alito, J.; concurrence by Sotomayor, J.; dissent by Breyer, J.; decided June 21, 2012. On certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
California law permits public-sector employees in a bargaining unit to decide by majority vote to create an “agency shop” arrangement under which all the employees are represented by a union. Even employees who do not join the union must pay an annual fee for “chargeable expenses,” i.e., the cost of nonpolitical union services related to collective bargaining. Under Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U.S. 209, a public-sector union can bill nonmembers for chargeable expenses but may not require them to fund its political or ideological projects. Teachers v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292, 302-11, sets out requirements that a union must meet in order to collect regular fees from nonmembers without violating their rights.
