Question

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector employees may not be compelled to join or pay union dues to a union that represents them in the work place. Should the same principal apply to workers in a private-sector workplace when are required to pay union dues and are forced to join/support an organization whose values they do not support?

Answer 1

                                    The given case talks about the Supreme Court ruling that the public-sector employees should not be forced to pay the union dues in a work place. In the given context, the implication of the same to the private-sector employees is under question. As it is known, a union represents the employees and works for the welfare of the employees. They undertake activities like supporting the maintenance of the workplace, curtailing the excess controls and mismanagement of the employees and many other areas that would result in better working atmosphere for the employees which would result in better outcomes for the company or industry also in the long run.

                                    In the given context, as regard to all the cases, the involvement of unions also have both positive and negative impacts on the employees. The Union requires fund for its working which is essential. But the studies have revealed that the top management level of various unions have been misappropriating the funds and using majority of the funds for their comfort leaving behind only a small amount for the welfare of the employees which is supposed to be the primary concern of these unions. This particular situation forces the employees to rethink of giving the union dues and forces many employees to stop providing them.

                                    The Supreme Court, in this context has ruled that the employees should not be forced to pay the dues. But it has to be understood that the activities of the unions also have to be considered before implementing such an action on the private-sector employees. The private-sector employees are more prone to ill-treatment by the top management officials and hence the functioning of a union is more important in the private sector than the public sector. The reduction of funds in such case would lead to the weakening of the union which would result in more mismanagement of the employees in such sectors.

                                    Thus, it has to be seen that a balanced approach should be taken in the case of restricting or non-forcing of the employees among the private-sector employees. It should not result in such a situation where some employees are taking advantage of the funds that are not being contributed by many other employees. Once the functioning of the unions are found satisfactory by the employees, the payment of union dues would be beneficial for the employees in the long run and thus provisions can be made for the collection of the same. This can be done by incorporating more employees in watching the functioning of union and providing proper redressal mechanism within the union so that the complaints in this regard are dealt with immediately. Hence a balanced approach would be necessary in this regard for the extended welfare in the long run.