SCOTUS Split Decision Upholds Right to Strong Public Sector Unions

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court  issued a 4-4 decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that threatened to upend forty years of public sector collective bargaining by imposing “right to work” on all state, city, county and public agency employers and their employees’ labor unions.

The court issued a one-line “per curiam” decision indicating simply: “The Judgment is affirmed by an evenly divided court.”  For now, the Ninth Circuit’s decision stands with no change in the law, and public employee unions may continue to negotiate union security provisions on behalf of their members.  Read more.