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Page Number: 45

12 

KNOX v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

objections.  In a word, a new opportunity to object means
time, effort, and funds set aside to deal with a new layer of
administrative procedure.

I  recognize  that  allowing  objections  only  once  a  year  is
only one possible way to administer a fee-charging system.
In  principle,  one  might  allow  nonmembers  to  pose  new 
objections to their dues payments biannually, or quarterly,
or  even  once  a  month,  as  actual  expenses  do,  or  do  not,
correspond  to  initial  union  predictions.    But  for  constitu-
tional purposes the critical fact is that annual objection is 
at least one reasonably practical way to permit the princi-
pled  objector  to  avoid  paying  for  politics  with  which  he
disagrees.  See Hudson, 475 U. S., at 307, n. 18.  And that 
is so whether ordinary or special assessments are at stake.
Further,  the  nonmember  who  did  not  object  initially  is 
not  likely  to  be  a  nonmember  who  strongly  opposes  the 
union’s  politics.  That  many  unions  take  political  posi-
tions and that they spend money seeking to advance those 
positions  is  not  exactly  a  secret.    All  those  whom  this 
union represents know from history that it spends money 
each year for nonchargeable purposes.  And any nonmem-
ber who has significant negative views about such matters 
is  likely  to  have  objected  in  advance.    Those  who  did  not 
object initially (but do so later) likely include many whose 
objection  rests,  not  upon  constitutionally  protected  politi-
cal grounds, but simply upon a desire not to pay a higher
fee.   And  those  who  withhold  fees  for  that  reason  are  not 
entitled to constitutional protection in doing so.  Here, the 
nonobjector cannot even claim that an increase in the total
fee (by the amount of the special assessment) took him by
surprise,  for  in  its  initial  Hudson  notice  the  union  said 
that “[d]ues are subject to change without further notice to
fee payers.”  App. 98.

Finally, if the union will not let a nonmember object to a 
special assessment, that nonmember has an easy remedy.
He  or  she  can  simply  object  the  first  time  around.  After