Court Opinion

ID: 9704974
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:53:26.090843+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:06.984377
License: Public Domain

Carter, J.,
concurring.
I am in full accord with the result reached by the majority. It seems to me, however, that the fundamental constitutional question should be pointed up in a more specific manner.
It must be conceded at the outset that if Congress lacks the power to compel union membership because of constitutional guarantees or prohibitions, the validity of Article XV, section 13, of the Constitution of Nebraska, is not subject to question. See Lincoln Federal Labor Union v. Northwestern Iron and Metal Co., 149 Neb. 507, 31 N. W. 2d 477. As the majority opinion states, the purpose sought to be accomplished was to eliminate free-riders by compelling them to pay their proportionate shares of the cost of representation in the collective bargaining process. For the purposes of this discussion it will be assumed that the object was a lawful one which the Congress could bring about without offending constitutional provisions. The majority opinion correctly holds that there was no reasonable relation between the purpose to be accomplished and the legislative method invoked to bring it about.
*701I fail to see any relation, whatever, between compelling union membership and enforcing payments by employees for benefits received from collective bargaining. Assuming that contributions can be compelled for the representation required in securing benefits accruing to nonunion employees as well as those belonging to the union, compulsory union membership exceeds the necessities of the case and compels an employee to join and support an association of persons with whose purposes and concepts he may be in total disagreement. The Constitution protects an individual against legislation having this effect.
If an employee is compelled to join a union against his will in order to continue in his employment, he not only pays his share of the cost of the union’s bargaining processes, but he is compelled to support many other principles, policies, programs, and activities to which he may not subscribe. Some unions support a form of life insurance which pays death benefits; some support a welfare fund for the benefit of needy members. Some unions maintain a strike fund to protect employees ■when on strike; some establish funds to be used in the furtherance of economic and political principles in which an employee may have no confidence. In some instances compulsory membership would compel support, financial and otherwise, of policies which an employee might deem objectionable from the standpoint of free government and the liberties of the individual under it. An employee may neither desire the benefits of such programs nor desire to contribute to their support. He may object to certain programs and activities of the union for reasons of his own and, consequently, not desire to contribute to their promulgation. To compel an employee to make involuntary contributions from his compensation for such purpose is a taking of his property without due process of law.
We have prided ourselves in this country on the right of free speech and free thought, rights which have been *702guaranteed to us by constitutional provision. Compulsory unionism infringes upon these rights and often encroaches upqji the right of an individual to be free from coercion by others. To compel him to contribute to the support of economic or political programs adopted by a union, which may be abhorrent to him, is as constitutionally wrong as if similar programs were compelled by the employer. The Fifth Amendment protects against the forced appropriation of one’s property for the support of ideals which he may desire to oppose. The right to work and to be compensated therefor is a fundamental principle in our democratic thinking. To force contributions against one’s will in the manner here employed is a violation of his fundamental rights and privileges. It is a violation of “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” contained in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
Constitutional guarantees exist in fair weather and in foul. They may be asserted by the minority against the majority, and by the individual even against the power of government. They may be asserted by an employee against his employer or a labor union, or both. An employee not only has a right to work, but he has the guaranteed right to have his earnings protected against confiscation against his will. Forcing an employee to join a union and to compel him to financially support principles, projects, policies, or programs in which he does not believe and does not want, is clearly a taking of his property without due process.
If this be true, the constitutional provision here questioned is declaratory of the rights guaranteed to plaintiffs under the Constitution of the United States and, consequently, is not subject to the attack made upon it by these defendants.
I am authorized to say that Simmons, C. J., is in accord with this concurrence.