Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute files brief for the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace urging court to grant review of Goldstein v. Professional Staff Congress and reaffirm Constitutional protections against compulsory union representation
WASHINGTON (August 22, 2024) – Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute® (WPI®), the government relations and public policy arm of Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), which represents millions of businesses collectively employing tens of millions of workers across the country in nearly every industry. The brief urges the United States Supreme Court to accept the petition and clarify the true – and limited – scope of its 1984 ruling in Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight and, in doing so, make clear that new union-backed regulatory schemes that create a form of compulsory union representation in the private sector are unlawful.
In Knight, the Court approved a state law establishing a nonbinding consultation process between unions and public employers, determining that governments can choose whom to listen to. That simple holding has been distorted over time by the lower courts and has allowed essentially any form of government-imposed exclusive representation. This includes state and local governments adopting novel coregulation schemes, including “labor standards boards” and “sectoral bargaining,” which allow a government to impose representation on workers – even those who would prefer no bargaining representative at all.
“Unions and their allies in state and local governments are pushing new laws and regulations that force workers into union representation schemes,” said Kristen Swearingen, chair of CDW. “These programs are a thinly veiled attempt to direct taxpayer funds to labor organizations that support these politicians, while simultaneously funneling workers into new state-backed models of forced union representation. We urge the Court to take this case to clarify unions and state and local politicians cannot collude to force private sector workers into union representation in violation of their Constitutional rights. We are pleased to be working with Littler on addressing this significant threat to workplace democracy.”
“The law simply does not allow local and state legislators to force workers and workplaces into a union agreement without a single vote being cast in favor of the union, and the Court needs to clarify that any lower court decisions suggesting otherwise are invalid misinterpretations of Knight,” said Alexander T. MacDonald, Littler shareholder and core member of WPI. “In effect, under the programs created by state and union collusion, neither workers nor businesses have any say in this process and appointed representatives owe no duty to the people they represent. The Court needs to clarify these programs don’t pass Constitutional muster.”
“Knight stood for the straightforward principle that people could not force the government to listen to their views, but has morphed into individuals being forced by the government to accept a representative,” said Michael Lotito, Littler shareholder and co-chair of WPI. “The result has been massive, continuing government overreach, while effectively cutting workers out of the process and viewing collective bargaining as arrangement between the government and its chosen representatives.”
The brief outlines the original decision in Knight, the ways in which lower courts have misinterpreted the ruling, how that has given way to new forms of compulsory union representation, and the impact this has had on workers and businesses alike.
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With more than 1,800 labor and employment attorneys in offices around the world, Littler provides workplace solutions that are local, everywhere. Our diverse global team and proprietary technology foster a culture that celebrates original thinking, delivering groundbreaking innovation that prepares employers for what’s happening today, and what’s likely to happen tomorrow.
About Littler WPI
WPI advocates for employers on a global scale. Working closely with businesses and trade associations, WPI serves as a strong voice for employers and their workplaces to navigate real-time changes in employment and labor law, while influencing the legislation of tomorrow. By harnessing Littler’s global depth of knowledge and expansive resources for tracking emerging issues that affect the workplace, WPI brings employers’ interests to the forefront of today’s rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
About the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
CDW is a broad-based coalition of hundreds of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of employers and millions of employees in various industries across the country concerned with a long-standing effort by some in the labor movement to make radical changes to the National Labor Relations Act without regard to the severely negative impact they would have on employees, employers, and the economy.
