Pennsylvania’s federal courts have been bustling with litigation filed against public-sector unions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27, 2018, decision in Janus v. AFSCME, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018).

Prior to Janus, Pennsylvania, like many other states, permitted public-sector employers and unions to negotiate collective-bargaining provisions requiring nonunion members to pay their “fair share” of the cost of representing them to the union, in lieu of the full membership dues paid by union members. Part of the reason for this was because nonmembers would otherwise receive the benefit of union advocacy without paying for it. This is so, because a duly-elected public-sector bargaining representative must advocate for and represent all bargaining-unit employees, not just union members.