Free Market Focus: Supreme Court Strikes Against Unions

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June 27, 2012     |    Discover more at Heritage's Enterprise and Free Markets webpage

Supreme Court Upholds Workers' Rights Not to Fund Union Politics California requires state employees who choose not to join a government union to nonetheless pay the union for expenses related to collective bargaining. However, unions cannot force workers to pay for their political and ideological spending. In prior cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that workers have a First Amendment right to certain procedural protections to enforce their underlying right not to subsidize political opinions they disagree with. CONTINUE READING ABOUT THIS SIGNIFICANT VICTORY >>

RAISE Act Lifts Pay Cap on Millions of American Workers Federal law allows unions to impose wage restrictions on nearly 8 million American middle-class workers. Union contracts set both a wage floor and a wage ceiling—barring unionized employers from offering pay raises as reward for exceptional work without negotiating with the union. No matter how hard most union members work, they cannot earn higher wages than specified by their contracts. The RAISE Act would lift the “seniority ceiling” on workers’ wages by allowing employers to pay individual workers more than the union contract specifies. READ MORE ABOUT HOW THE RAISE ACT EMPOWERS WORKERS >>

According to Union, Raising Wages Attacks Workers' Rights Union rates are not just minimum wages. They also set maximum wages. Employers may not pay union members more than the union rate without the union’s permission. Most unions, however, reject individual raises. They prefer, in Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa’s words, that “[c]ollective bargaining agreements create uniform standards for all employees.” Everyone gets the same amount, no matter how hard they work. Senator Marco Rubio (R–FL) wants to let productive employees earn more. FIND OUT WHY >>

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