Advocates for Labor and Progressive Institutions

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Read Before You Send:

This email has been initiated at the website www.bredhoff.com. The content of this email is provided by, and is the responsibility of, the person posting the email communication, and not of any person affiliated with the www.bredhoff.com website. This email does not and will not create an attorney-client relationship, and will not necessarily be treated as privileged or confidential. By sending this email, you acknowledge that any reliance on material in this email communication is at your own risk.

To continue, click This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

News

Seventh Circuit Affirms Enforcement Of Union Membership Agreement In Latest Post-Janus Decision

January 11, 2023

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an Illinois teacher union was entitled to enforce the terms of a union membership agreement. In so holding, the court soundly rejected an argument that a teacher had a First Amendment right under the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), to avoid paying dues under that agreement.

The Court held that “Janus does not apply to union members,” such as the plaintiff, who voluntarily signed union membership agreements, but only to nonmembers. The case is Ariadna Ramon Baro v. Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 504, IFT-AFT/AFL-CIO, et al. (Case 22-1722). The decision is one of many in recent years that have rejected efforts by anti-union advocacy groups to invoke Janus as a basis to disrupt unions’ voluntary relationships with their own members.