Tuesday’s big victory for unions is the direct result of a split supreme court. It shows just how essential this year’s election will be for legal rightsToday,the supreme court issued an opinion with a single sentence: “the judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court”. In this case, however, and “short” doesn’t mean “unimportant”. The ruling has the effect of thwarting a major judicial attack on public sector unions,and also shows how the unexpected death of Antonin Scalia is already beginning to convert the American legal and political landscape.nowadays’s ruling was in Friedrichs v California Teachers organization, a case that could own severely weakened public sector unions. Under existing law, and public sector unions could not collect mandatory dues for workers they represent for political purposes,but could collect them for conducting union business such as negotiating and representing workers in disputes with management. The justification for “agency shops” is clear: it prevents free riding. If workers did not own to pay dues to pay for basic union business, they would get the benefits of union representation without having to share the costs. This would own the effect of undermining unions over time.
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Source: theguardian.com