Janus v. AFSCME

Paying union dues and baking a wedding cake may not seem like classic examples of free speech—except perhaps at the Supreme Court.

Even in his hometown of Springfield, Mark Janus is a relatively unknown figure. 

Janus is a state employee who works in a nondescript office investigating child support claims. He’s also a divorced father of two adult children and he volunteers to help Boy Scouts.

An outsider looking in might think Mark Janus has the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

The child support specialist for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is less than three weeks away from oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in his case challenging forced union dues.

The court’s decision could change labor law across the country, impacting hundreds of thousands of government workers in 22 states without right-to-work laws.

Government unions in New York together constitute a major industry in their own right, annually collecting at least $862 million in dues and fees from more than 1 million employees.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear oral arguments in Janus v. AFSCME on Feb. 26, in a case challenging the constitutionality of compulsory union dues for state government workers. 

Mark Janus and Rebecca Friedrichs? And why did I write about them in The Wall Street Journal today?

Mark Janus works as a child support specialist with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, advocating for kids when their parents aren’t together anymore. He didn’t find out he was required to pay union fees until he saw fees deducted from his first paycheck. Mark loves his job, but he doesn’t see the union that he is forced to support working for the good of Illinois.  He doesn’t want to have to give money to a union to keep his job. And he’s not alone.

Rebecca Friedrichs, whose name may sound familiar, is a California school teacher who loves teaching children to read and write by introducing them to a lifelong passion for learning.

The Supreme Court has only just announced it will hear Mark Janus’s case, but labor unions are already acting as if they’ve lost. Mr. Janus, a state employee in Illinois, wants to stop paying union “fair share” fees, which ostensibly cover the cost of collective bargaining. If he wins, public workers in states like Illinois, California and Minnesota—which don’t have “right to work” laws—could be freed to keep their money if their union isn’t delivering value.