Are public sector unions in Illinois on the brink of extinction?

With less than five months until the Illinois gubernatorial election, the United States Supreme Court handed Governor Rauner a significant victory with its decision in Janus v. AFSCME, 138 S.Ct. 2448 (2018). During his campaign in 2014, Governor Rauner actively rallied against the unions and has shown very little support for unions since being elected. On Wednesday, June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that requiring nonmembers of public unions to pay fees to the union is a violation of free speech.

Specifically, the Court held, “Under Illinois law, public employees are forced to subsidize a union, even if they choose not to join and strongly object to the positions the union takes in collective bargaining and related activities. We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern.”¹

Prior to this ruling, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 97 S.Ct. 1782 (1977) was the controlling law. In Abood, the Supreme Court held that “insofar as the service charges were used to finance expenditures by the union for collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance adjustment purposes,” then the agency shop clause of public teachers’ bargaining agreement was valid and did not violate the First Amendment.² In other words, the Court previously held that it is not a violation of a person’s First Amendment rights to require public employees to subsidize a union.

With the recent ruling in Janus, the Court overturned long-standing law, the result of which is that Illinois is now a right-to-work state for public sector unions. Obviously, this decision is a major blow to public sector unions, and only time will tell whether public sector unions will continue to survive in Illinois.

1. Janus v. AFSCME, 138 S.Ct. 2448, 2460 (2018)