On the last day of the session, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Janus v. AFSCME. This long anticipated decision ruled that non-members of public sector unions cannot be charged “agency fees”, often referred to as fair share fees. In a 5 to 4 vote, the Court overruled a 41-year old decision that said non-members can be charged a fee to cover the cost of a union’s collective bargaining efforts.
While the decision will have broad implications nationwide, there is no immediate impact on ACSS. For rank-and-file public sector labor unions in California and throughout the country, there will be some big changes as they adapt. Impacted unions anticipated this decision since at least 2016 and have been working to educate employees about the value of membership and collective representation.