Court rules in favor of unions over fees

OLYMPIA — Labor unions don't need specific permission from nonmembers to spend those workers' bargaining fees on political causes, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The 6-3 decision drew cheers from the state's largest teachers union, which was sued by the state in 2000 for violating the law. Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Association, called it "yet another reaffirmation of educators' political rights."

The union's opponents were disappointed.

"This is an open-door inviting all unions in the state to spend nonmember dues however they want," said Mike Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The law regulates the way unions can spend fees paid by workers who don't join the group. Those workers still can be charged fees by the union to help pay for labor negotiations that affect them. But they can't be forced to pay for the union's political activism.

In the WEA, nonmembers who don't support union politics can ask for a partial refund of those fees. Workers who don't respond to the refund offer pay the full fee.

The WEA's opponents, however, argued that an initiative passed in 1992 requires unions to get a yes-or-no reply from each nonmember.

The court said forcing the union to get permission from each nonmember would be an unconstitutional burden on the union's free-speech rights.