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The conservatives on the court held that home care workers are technically employed both by the state of Illinois and by the actual recipients of care. As a result, the conservatives contended, those workers are only “partial” public employees. A public employee who chooses not to join the union could be required to pay a fair share fee to cover the cost of collective bargaining that benefits them. But the conservatives on the court said partial public employees can shirk payment of fair share fees.
The conservatives on the court contended that everything done by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to benefit workers was political speech and requiring those who benefitted from it but didn’t want to pay for it was compelling them to speak in a way they didn’t want to – and thus was a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Every four years, we elect a president. That individual appoints judges to the Supreme Court. Remember that in 2016, lest we get saddled with another Samuel Alito, who asserted that analyses of similar labor-related cases by earlier courts were questionable on several grounds. In other words, this particular fight isn’t over.
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