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Page Number: 20

16 

KNOX v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES 

Opinion of the Court 

sented.  Thus,  the  effect  of  the  SEIU’s  procedure  was  to
force  many  nonmembers  to  subsidize  a  political  effort
designed to restrict their own rights. 

As  Hudson  held,  procedures  for  collecting  fees  from
nonmembers  must  be  carefully  tailored  to  minimize  im-
pingement on First Amendment rights, and the procedure
used  in  this  case  cannot  possibly  be  considered  to  have
met  that  standard.    After  the  dues  increase  was  adopted, 
the  SEIU  wrote  to  all  employees  in  the  relevant  bargain-
ing  units  to  inform  them  of  this  development.    It  would 
have been a relatively simple matter for the union to cast
this  letter  in  the  form  of  a  new  Hudson  notice,  so  that 
nonmembers could decide whether they wanted to pay for
the union’s electoral project.   

The SEIU  argues that we should not be troubled by its 
failure  to  provide  a  new  notice  because  nonmembers  who
objected  to  the  special  assessment  but  were  nonetheless
required  to  pay  it  would  have  been  given  the  chance  to 
recover the funds in question by opting out when the next
annual  notice  was  sent.  If  the  special  assessment  was
used  entirely  or  in  part  for  nonchargeable  purposes,  they
suggest, the percentage of the union’s annual expenditures
for chargeable purposes would decrease, and therefore the
amount of the dues payable by objecting nonmembers the 
following  year  would  also  decrease.    This  decrease,  how-
ever, would not fully recompense nonmembers who did not 
opt  out  after  receiving  the  regular  notice  but  would  have
opted  out  if  they  had  been  permitted  to  do  so  when  the 
special  assessment  was  announced.5    And  in  any  event,
even  a  full  refund  would  not  undo  the  violation  of  First 
Amendment  rights.  As  we  have  recognized,  the  First 

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5 These  nonmembers,  after  paying  the  full  amount  of  the  special  as-
sessment, would be required during the subsequent year to pay at least 
as much as those nonmembers who did opt out when they received the
initial Hudson notice.