The Economist

The EconomistJuly 21st 2018 19

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VEN before the Supreme Court piled in

American unions were in a bad way. In

their heyday in the mid-1950s more than

30% of workers were members. Today just

11% are. With only a toehold in the private

sector—where they cover a mere 7% of

workers—unions have become increasing-

ly reliant on faithful public-sector employ-

ees 34% of whom are members to stay fi-

nancially afloat and politically relevant.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of

Janus v AFSCME at the end of June will

shrink the rump of union members even

further. What will the consequences of

even lower union membership be?

Unions engage in both collective bar-

gaining for their workers and political lob-

bying typically for progressive causes and

Democratic candidates. Among white

Americans blue-collar workers have had

their heads turned by President Donald

Trump even as union bosses remain stead-

fastDemocrats so thatmany members dis-

agree with their union’s politics. Opting

ou t of union membership—and its manda-

tory dues—would allow them to benefit

from negotiated pay rises and holidays

without incurring any of the cost. For de-

cades the compromise had been to make

non-members who would otherwise free-

ride on collective-bargaining agreements

pay “agency fees”—the share of union dues

that go to non-political operations and

could lose a third of their members as a re-

sult of the decision.

That may reflect some dissatisfaction

bu t it probably has more to do with the at-

tractive offer of keeping a union-negotiat-

ed contract while avoiding deductions

from already cramped pay-cheques. “It

was a way to get $800 a year in dues after

they had not gotten a raise in five years”

says David Crim an organiser for the Mich-

igan Education Association. The union lost

one-sixth of its membership after the state

became “right-to-work”—banning collec-

tion of agency fees through state law rather

than the courts—in 2012. “They’re virtually

getting something for nothing” says Kate

Martin a community college teacher and

treasurer for her local union chapter in

Cape Cod. “In the short term you can get a

bump in pay. In the long term you’re going

to lose benefits and suffer worse working

conditions” she adds.

Wasting no time organisations like the

Mackinac Centre a conservative think-

tank based in Michigan have already put

up websites encouraging workers to ditch

their unions and retain their benefits in-

cluding a helpful service which will auto-

matically write a pre-addressed resigna-

tion letter. The centre which has

long-standing ties to Betsy DeVos the edu-

cation secretary and a bogeyman on the

left has begun directly contacting teachers

on their official e-mail accounts in 11 states.

To counter these efforts union organis-

er s will have to work hard to convince

dues-paying members to stay. They are do-

ing so by suggesting that conservatives are

mounting an attack on all working people

who must stick together in the face of ad-

versity. “It’s all about defunding us” says

Randi Weingarten the president of the

American Federation of Teachers ( AFT) a

overheads. In its Janus decision conserva-

tive jurists on the Supreme Court cited the

First Amendment to hold that such

schemes violated the constitution on free-

speech grounds. All public-sector workers

covered by a union will now have to opt in

and consent before paying anything. It is

not a question of whether unions will lose

members as a result of this but how many.

Wisconsin provides one case study.

When that state passed a law in 2011 limit-

ing collective bargaining and banning

agency fees it s teachers’ union lost more

than half its members and two-thirds of its

dues within three years. Teachers’ unions

among the most powerful in the country

Unions

The god of beginnings and endings

WASHINGTON DC

How Janus the Supreme Court’s ruling on union dues could change American life

United States

Also in this section

20 How secure are elections?

21 Mansplaining voters

22 The flourishing Midwest

23 Lexington: A legitimacy problem

Union station

Source: Bureau of Labour Statistics

United States trade-union membership

% of employed

0

10

20

30

40

1983 90 95 2000 05 10 17

Total

Public

Private