Illinois Union Can Challenge Duty to Represent Nonmembers: Judge

A union can proceed with its First Amendment challenge to an Illinois law requiring unions to represent public sector workers who don’t pay any fees, a federal judge ruled.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, which forbids public sector unions from requiring nonmembers to pay for nonpolitical expenses, altered unions’ obligations under state law and created the alleged constitutional injury, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said in her Feb. 7 order. That makes the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150’s lawsuit ripe for resolution, Coleman said.

Local 150’s lawsuit alleges that the duty ...