N.C. Union Dues Law for Farmworkers Challenged in Court

A North Carolina law that prohibits employers from collecting farmworkers’ union dues through payroll deductions interferes with the workers’ First Amendment right to free association, according to a federal lawsuit filed Nov. 15 by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

The case differs from more typical free association lawsuits involving unions, in which workers who don’t want to be connected to a union say they’re forced to associate with one. The Supreme Court said it would hear a case this term in which a public employee who isn’t a union member says he shouldn’t be required to pay union fees. A ...