Opinion ID: 569313
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The First Amendment and the Right to Object

Text: 69 Kidwell argues, however, that, even if the RLA does not contain a right to object for union members, the First Amendment mandates such an option. We do not believe that the First Amendment contains any right that can be extended to cover Kidwell's proposition. Moreover, we believe that adopting Kidwell's proposition could infringe on the union's First Amendment right of expressive association. It would cause to rise, in another guise, the free rider situation by permitting union members to avoid paying a fair share of political activity expenses incurred by an organization which they had voluntarily joined. 70 To raise the First Amendment argument, the union's actions must constitute state action. We are inclined to believe, however, that no state action exists outside of the narrow area of those actions taken by the union as the collective bargaining representative. 71 The state action prerequisite  'preserves an area of individual freedom,'  and permits citizens to structure their private relations as they choose subject only to the constraints of statutory or decisional law. Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., Inc., --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2077, 2082, 114 L.Ed.2d 660 (1991) (citation omitted). State action has been found where the deprivation of constitutional rights has been caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by a rule of conduct imposed by the State or by a person for whom the State is responsible, Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922, 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 2753, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982), and where the private party charged with the deprivation could be described in all fairness as a state actor. Edmonson, 111 S.Ct. at 2083. The issue of state action focuses upon whether the government can be held responsible for the private party's actions. Of late, the Supreme Court has indicated that such responsibility rarely arises unless the government  'has exercised coercive power or has provided such significant encouragement, either overt or covert, that the choice must be deemed to be that of the [government].'  San Francisco Arts & Athletics v. U.S. Olympic Comm., 483 U.S. 522, 546, 107 S.Ct. 2971, 2986, 97 L.Ed.2d 427 (1987) (citation omitted). 72 Although the Court construes § 8(a)(3) of the NLRA and § 2, Eleventh of the RLA as in all material respects identical and as  'statutory equivalent[s],'  Beck, 487 U.S. at 745-46, 108 S.Ct. at 2648-49, the state action area is more confused. Section 2, Eleventh pre-empts state laws that would otherwise ban union shops. Beck, 487 U.S. at 746 n. 3, 108 S.Ct. at 2649 n. 3; see id. at 761, 108 S.Ct. at 2656. The NLRA does not; rather, it expressly preserves the authority of States to outlaw union-security agreements. Id. at 761, 108 S.Ct. at 2656. The RLA's preemption became the basis for a finding of state action. In Railway Employees' Dep't v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225, 76 S.Ct. 714, 100 L.Ed. 1112 (1956), the Court stated that, if private rights are being invaded, it is by force of an agreement made pursuant to federal law which expressly declares that state law is superseded. Id. at 232, 76 S.Ct. at 718. Although recognizing that it takes a private agreement to invoke the federal sanction, the Court held that the enactment of the federal statute authorizing union shop agreements is the governmental action on which the Constitution operates.... Id. The Court has explained the Hanson decision as providing that the negotiation and enforcement of such [union security] provisions in railroad industry contracts involve[ ] 'governmental action' and is therefore subject to constitutional limitations. Beck, 487 U.S. at 761, 108 S.Ct. at 2656. 73 The trend under the NLRA, however, has been to find no state action. In Beck, the Court declined to decide whether the exercise of rights permitted, though not compelled, by § 8(a)(3) involves state action. Id. The Court went on to cite two Supreme Court cases in which union decisions had been found not to involve state action. United Steelworkers v. Sadlowski, 457 U.S. 102, 102 S.Ct. 2339, 72 L.Ed.2d 707 (1982), involved the union's internal rule that only members could contribute to union election funds and a challenge to it under a federal statute. In a footnote, the Court stated that the First Amendment rights of free speech and association were irrelevant because the union's decision to adopt an outsider rule does not involve state action. Id. at 121 n. 16, 102 S.Ct. at 2350 n. 16. In United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193, 99 S.Ct. 2721, 61 L.Ed.2d 480 (1979), the Court concluded that the union's negotiation of the affirmative action plan did not involve state action. Id. at 200, 99 S.Ct. at 2725. In the en banc opinion in Beck, the Fourth Circuit also declined to address the state action issue although at least five members of the Court believed that no constitutional basis for relief existed. See Beck, 800 F.2d 1280, 1290 (4th Cir.1986) (en banc ) (concurring opinion). Other circuits, however, have found no state action under the NLRA. See, e.g., Price v. International Union, United Auto. Aerospace & Agric. Implement Workers, 927 F.2d 88, 91-92 (2d Cir.1991), petition for cert. filed (June 3, 1991) (No. 90-1855); Kolinske v. Lubbers, 712 F.2d 471, 474-80 (D.C.Cir.1983); Hovan v. Carpenters, 704 F.2d 641, 642-45 (1st Cir.1983). 74 In light of a growing reluctance to find state action under the NLRA, we examine the scope of state action present under the RLA. The coercive effect of the RLA over nonmember employees and its preemption of state law often give rise to state action. See Hanson, 351 U.S. at 232, 76 S.Ct. at 718. But often does not necessarily mean always. Many decisions by a union that has been elected collective bargaining representative, for example, support of a local political candidate or the design for the union's softball team uniforms, can hardly be considered state action. The mere fact of regulation of some aspects of the union's duties under the RLA does not give rise to state action. See West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 52 n. 10, 108 S.Ct. 2250, 2257 n. 10, 101 L.Ed.2d 40 (1988); Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U.S. 345, 95 S.Ct. 449, 42 L.Ed.2d 477 (1974). 75 But what of areas in which the union has adopted internal rules to carry out its governmental authority? The RLA does not specifically authorize or require such rules. The RLA only addresses the conduct of the actual collective bargaining representative and addresses the representative almost as if it were a single person. It does not address how an entity chosen as representative should arrange its decisionmaking process so that it acts as a single person. Moreover, the RLA does not specify membership criteria for the collective bargaining representative. The union actions challenged by Kidwell involve those internal union matters. If the government is not responsible for the termination decisions of heavily regulated utilities with electricity monopolies, Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U.S. 345, 95 S.Ct. 449, 42 L.Ed.2d 477 (1974), the decision to transfer or discharge Medicaid patients by extensively regulated and federally subsidized nursing homes, Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U.S. 991, 102 S.Ct. 2777, 73 L.Ed.2d 534 (1982), the decision to discharge employees by extensively regulated private schools serving a mandatory public function with almost complete public funding, Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830, 102 S.Ct. 2764, 73 L.Ed.2d 418 (1982), the enforcement of the federally granted right to prohibit uses of Olympic by the federally chartered United States Olympic Committee which represents the United States government's interests in international amateur sports, see San Francisco Arts & Athletics, 483 U.S. 522, 107 S.Ct. 2971, and the findings of the NCAA that a state university's basketball coach violated NCAA rules which resulted in that coach's suspension, see National Collegiate Athletic Assoc. v. Tarkanian, 488 U.S. 179, 109 S.Ct. 454, 102 L.Ed.2d 469 (1988), we do not believe that state action would exist over the internal membership and procedural decisions of a union chosen collective bargaining representative under the RLA. Moreover, although we make no attempt to condone the membership exclusion practiced by the union in Steele, the Court did distinguish between the duties of the union elected collective bargaining representative under the RLA and that union's right to determine eligibility to its membership. Steele, 323 U.S. at 204, 65 S.Ct. at 233; see Hovan, 704 F.2d at 644-45. The union's decision in the present case over the requirements for membership, although having an impact on those who may participate in the union's duties in carrying out its role as collective bargaining representative, does not constitute state action. 76 However, even assuming state action existed, we do not believe that the choice offered to Kidwell violates any First Amendment rights. Kidwell bases her argument on the First Amendment but the precise origin and content of her claimed rights are not clear. Kidwell appears to allege a First Amendment right to associate with a group that makes decisions relating to her employment along with a First Amendment right not to pay for the political and ideological activities of the group. We perceive no First Amendment right to object to certain expenditures where membership is not required as an actual or de facto condition of employment. We cannot find any precedent for a right just to associate with any group without regard to the group's requirements. And, we have severe reservations about impinging on the union's First Amendment right to expressive association. 77 We agree with Kidwell that cases have found a First Amendment right not to pay for political and ideological costs of an association to which one is a member. In every case, however, membership was either actually compelled or in essence was required to retain employment. In Abood, the plaintiffs argued that their First Amendment right arose because they had been prohibited from refusing to associate. 431 U.S. at 234, 97 S.Ct. at 1799. 12 The Court wrote that the First Amendment principles, 78 that in a free society one's beliefs should be shaped by his mind and conscience rather than coerced by the State ... prohibit a State from compelling any individual to affirm his belief in God or to associate with any political party as a condition of retaining public employment. They are no less applicable to the case at bar, and they thus prohibit the appellees from requiring any of the appellants to contribute to the support of an ideological cause he may oppose as a condition of holding a job as a public school teacher. 79 Id. at 235, 97 S.Ct. at 1799 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). The Abood Court thus based its reasoning on the idea that a contribution required to keep a job had to be narrowly construed. The Abood Court went on to explain: 80 We do not hold that a union cannot constitutionally spend funds for the expression of political views, on behalf of political candidates, or toward the advancement of other ideological causes not germane to its duties as collectivebargaining representative. Rather, the Constitution requires only that such expenditures be financed from charges, dues, or assessments paid by employees who do not object to advancing those ideas and who are not coerced into doing so against their will by the threat of loss of governmental employment. 81 Id. at 235-36, 97 S.Ct. at 1800 (emphasis added). 82 In Keller v. State Bar of California, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2228, 110 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990), the Court addressed whether an attorney's mandatory contributions to the California State Bar could be used for political and ideological activities. All attorneys practicing in California had to be members of the State Bar. Id., 110 S.Ct. at 2235. The State Bar, however, used the funds from the compelled membership to lobby and engage in other political or ideological causes. Under the State Bar system, no one could be a nonmember of the State Bar and only pay for the minimum costs of bar-related activities. A unanimous Court concluded that an attorney could be asked to contribute to an organization that espoused views of the majority but with which the individual disagreed. Id. However, the Court held that the State Bar could not use the mandatory compelled dues of objecting lawyers to fund political and ideological activities. Id. at 2236. 83 In both cases, a person's right to engage in employment triggered the First Amendment right to object: in Abood, employees had to pay full union dues, albeit as an agency fee, to keep their jobs; in Keller, attorneys had to pay full dues to the Bar to practice in California. The Court's decisions recognize that the cost of engaging in employment regulated by an association cannot automatically include amounts that will go to political or ideological activities of the association. To keep a job, one cannot be forced to contribute to the majority's political desires. Kidwell faces no such quandary. She may keep her job by paying only the minimum nonpolitical and nonideological component of the union's dues. If she chooses to join the union, she is no longer an involuntary contributor and may be bound by the will of the majority. Put simply, the political activities which a majority wishes to engage in will probably result in expenses. They are very like the lunch which is never free. Choosing voluntarily to join the union, a member must meet her or his share of the expenses. 84 The discussion in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652, 110 S.Ct. 1391, 108 L.Ed.2d 652 (1990), does not compel a different result. In Austin, the Court upheld a Michigan law prohibiting corporations from using their treasuries directly to support or oppose state political candidates, despite the argument that the statute was underinclusive because it excluded labor unions. The Court distinguished labor unions from corporations. The Court explained that union members who disagree with a union's political activities need not give up full membership in the organization to avoid supporting its political activities. Id., 110 S.Ct. at 1400. Although standing alone, the language perhaps appears to support Kidwell's argument, the paragraph continued: 85 Although a union and an employer may require that all bargaining unit employees become union members, a union may not compel those employees to support financially union activities beyond those germane to collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment. ... An employee who objects to a union's political activities thus can decline to contribute to those activities, while continuing to enjoy the benefits derived from the union's performance of its duties as the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit on labor-management issues. 86 Id. at 1401 (emphasis added) (quoting Beck, 487 U.S. at 745, 108 S.Ct. at 2648). Thus, read in context, the Court's statement that an employee was not required to give up full membership, referred to union shops and membership in the limited sense that all employees receive the benefits obtained by the union regardless of financial support for the union's political activities. A corporate shareholder, employee, or customer cannot obtain the nonpolitical and nonideological benefits of involvement with the corporation without perhaps unwillingly contributing to political or ideological activities. Id., 110 S.Ct. at 1398-99. Under the RLA, however, an employee will always be assured of the benefit of the nonpolitical and nonideological collective bargaining activities of the union without regard for union membership. 13 Austin does not support a member's right to object. 14 87 We agree with the Austin Court that disincentives less extreme than loss of employment may trigger the right to object. 110 S.Ct. at 1399. The disincentives for Kidwell if she is not a union member, however, are not extreme. She can vote on the collective bargaining representative. She will always be fairly represented by that representative. And she can form a rival group for the noncollective bargaining activities. That membership does have some privileges is not enough to raise a First Amendment right to object. 88 In the absence of a right to object as a member, Kidwell claims a right to associate with the union on her own terms, i.e., refusing to contribute to activities unrelated to collective bargaining. The union, however, claims a right to associate with people who are interested in contributing to those noncollective bargaining related activities. 89 The Court has stated that, although the First Amendment does not in terms protect a 'right of association,' our cases have recognized that it embraces such a right in certain circumstances. Dallas v. Stanglin, 490 U.S. 19, 23-24, 109 S.Ct. 1591, 1594, 104 L.Ed.2d 18 (1989). Two senses of freedom of association have been recognized. The first, inapplicable to either the union or Kidwell, is a right  'to enter into and maintain certain intimate human relationships.'  Id. at 24, 109 S.Ct. at 1594 (quoting Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609, 617, 104 S.Ct. 3244, 3249, 82 L.Ed.2d 462 (1984)). The second is  'a right to associate for the purpose of engaging in those activities protected by the First Amendment--speech, assembly, petition for the redress of grievances, and the exercise of religion.'  Id. A union appears to be an archetype of an expressive association. See Board of Directors of Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte, 481 U.S. 537, 548-49, 107 S.Ct. 1940, 1947, 95 L.Ed.2d 474 (1987); see also Conti v. City of Fremont, 919 F.2d 1385, 1388-89 (9th Cir.1990) (no First Amendment associational right of entertainment owner to do business with 18-20 year olds); Watson v. Fraternal Order of Eagles, 915 F.2d 235, 243-44 (6th Cir.1990) (private drinking club had no First Amendment protection). 90 The Court has examined rights of association not by looking at whether the person has a right to be included, but rather whether the association has a right to exclude: 91 There can be no clearer example of an intrusion into the internal structure or affairs of an association than a regulation that forces the group to accept members it does not desire. Such a regulation may impair the ability of the original members to express only those views that brought them together. Freedom of association therefore plainly presupposes a freedom not to associate. 92 Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609, 623, 104 S.Ct. 3244, 3252, 82 L.Ed.2d 462 (1984). Eradicating discrimination provides a sufficiently compelling state interest that courts or states may force associations to accept members if such compulsion is the least restrictive means available. Id. 93 Kidwell's desire for membership at the reduced price has little constitutional compulsion. For example, in Minnesota Bd. of Community Colleges v. Knight, 465 U.S. 271, 104 S.Ct. 1058, 79 L.Ed.2d 299 (1984), the Court held that the rights of nonunion teachers at a community college were not violated by an exclusive state statutory right of the union to meet and confer on nonmandatory subjects with the state. The Court recognized that the nonunion teachers would feel pressure to join the union; however, the Court stated that the pressure is no different from the pressure to join a majority party that persons in the minority always feel. Such pressure is inherent in our system of government; it does not create an unconstitutional inhibition on associational freedom. Id. at 290, 104 S.Ct. at 1069. 15 94 Indeed, the Court has upheld the right of an association to choose its members in an even more compelling situation. In Democratic Party v. Wisconsin, 450 U.S. 107, 101 S.Ct. 1010, 67 L.Ed.2d 82 (1981), the Court rejected the idea that voters who desired to affirm Democratic party membership in secret (i.e., instead of by open primary) in the presidential primary elections could compel the National Democratic Party to recognize their delegates. Wisconsin had a state statute that bound state Democratic delegates to vote according to results of an open primary. The Democratic National Party refused to seat the delegates. The Court upheld the right of the National Party  'to identify the people who constitute the association, and to limit the association to those people only.'  Id. at 122, 101 S.Ct. at 1019 (citation omitted). The Court concluded that a political party's choice among the various ways of determining the makeup of a State's delegation to the party's national convention is protected by the Constitution. Id. at 124, 101 S.Ct. at 1020. 95 Moreover, in a society where many people are money conscious, in other words, known to free ride, an association could find itself practically bankrupt and powerless if it had to permit all members to opt out of payments. Almost fifty years ago, the Court wrote, One would have to be blind to history to assert that trade unionism did not enhance and strengthen the right to work. Hanson, 351 U.S. at 235, 76 S.Ct. at 719-20. In the absence of more compelling interests, for example, the eradication of race or sex discrimination, we refuse to compel the union to admit as members those who choose to pay only for collective bargaining activities. 16