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Public Employee Springfield Injury Lawyer Blog Unions

My Predictions on Public Employee (State Jobs) and Unions

An old case, Abood, holds that unions can require nonunion members to pay their fair share of union dues because they benefit from the union negotiating for them. Abood said this applies to public sector jobs like state jobs.  Abood v. Detroit Bd. Of Ed., 431 U.S. 209, 232 (1977). Specifically, Abood says a state may allow public sector unions to charge nonunion members fees “insofar as the service charges are applied to collective-bargaining, contract administration, and grievance-adjustment purposes.” 431 U.S. at 232. However, the Supreme Court recently suggested the opposite. In Harris v Quinn 573 U.S. (2014) the court held that the First Amendment prohibits a State      Read more…

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Public Employee Springfield Injury Lawyer Blog

Illinois Pension Reform (2013) is Unconstitutional

I promised when I was on the radio to post links to both the act which contains no new Illinois pension reform and a post to an article by Eric Madiar regarding the constitutional amendment which prohibits diminishment or impairment to Illinois State Employee pension rights.The Illinois legislature amended the Constitution in 1970. It provides: “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Recently the Illinois legislature passed a new      Read more…