Many on the right and left believe that the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus decision will significantly reduce teachers unions' political power and role in public education—and could even cause their demise. It won't.
The case overturned the Court's 1997 holding in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that public unions could collect regular dues called “agency fees” from non-members, reasoning that all workers who benefit from unions' negotiated contracts can be forced to pay for those efforts. Before Janus, the collection of such fees was common practice in twenty-two states. Now they'll be in none, with the Count pointing, in part, to how difficult it is to separate a union's work negotiating contracts from its participation in political activities
Read Full Article »