(Tampa Free Press)—On Labor Day, many associate unions with advancements in workers’ pay, benefits, and working conditions—but the truth is that unions don’t always make workers better off.
Many workers who choose not to join a union are nevertheless compelled to pay money to that union—even when the union takes positions which a worker disagrees with or finds offensive, or even when the union’s stance attacks that worker’s identity.
That’s the situation Arnold Levine and Allen Popper find themselves in. Arnold and Allen are Jewish public defenders in New York City, who have long represented criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own defense attorneys. But to be public defenders in New York City, Arnold and Allen must pay money to a union.
If they were employed directly by the City as public defenders, they could not be compelled to pay money to the union as a condition of their employment. That’s because the First Amendment prohibits such “union-security” clauses in collective bargaining agreements between government employers and public sector unions. In Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court held that a government employer cannot force its employees to join or pay money to a union as a condition of their employment.
But New York does not directly employ public defenders, although it is legally required to provide such services to indigent criminal defendants. Rather, the City has a contract with the Legal Aid Society, a not-for-profit organization, which employs attorneys like Arnold and Allen, whose entire job is to provide criminal defense to the indigent, paid entirely from funds that come from the government.
And Legal Aid Society has a collective bargaining agreement with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA), UAW Local 2325—which requires all its attorneys, including Arnold and Allen, to pay dues or the equivalent amount to ALAA. New York State does not prohibit such agreements between employers and unions.
But Arnold and Allen have a very good reason to not want to pay money or associate with the ALAA.
In the last few years, ALAA has taken public positions, including adopting several resolutions, attacking Israel. On July 25, 2022, ALAA passed a resolution “in support of Palestinian liberation from Israeli apartheid” that called on “UAW International to divest itself from any and all Israel bonds.” Then on December 19, 2023, ALAA passed a resolution stating that “Israel has, since the violent tragedy on October 7, 2023, increasingly espoused genocidal rhetoric against all Palestinians,” accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing and genocide,” and calling “for an end to Israeli apartheid and the occupation and blockade of Palestinian land, sea, and air by Israeli military forces.”
In March, Congress launched an investigation into the ALAA due to whistleblower reports of antisemitism, including union members calling Jewish coworkers “deranged” and “fascist” in internal messages.
Not surprisingly, many across the country—including Arnold and Allen—find these resolutions and internal messages antisemitic. And Jewish public defenders like Arnold and Allen don’t want to be forced to support speech that they find deeply offensive and hateful.
Nevertheless, the union told Arnold and Allen that they must pay union dues, claiming that the First Amendment doesn’t protect them since they are not directly employed by the government.
New York City cannot directly compel public employees to pay money to a union—and it shouldn’t be allowed to do that indirectly by employing the city’s public defenders through a unionized nonprofit.
That’s why the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Arnold and Allen to stop the forced payment of dues, arguing that contracting with Legal Aid Society to provide public defenders—who it knows will have to pay money to a union as a condition of their employment—violates Arnold and Allen’s First Amendment rights.
This Labor Day, let’s set aside union narratives and take an honest look at their actions. Think of Arnold and Allen and how you would feel if you were forced to pay your hard-earned money to an organization that advocates for positions and policies you find loathsome just to keep your job.
Jeffrey Schwab serves as Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, the organization that represented Mark Janus before the Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME. He currently represents Mr. Levine and Mr. Popper in their lawsuit, Levine v. Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.