The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether public employee unions must get special permission before spending some workers' dues on political causes. Justices accepted an appeal from the state of Washington that involves fees paid to the Washington Education Association by teachers who decline to join the union. Those workers still can be charged dues by the union to help pay for labor negotiations that affect them. But they can't be forced to pay for the union's political activism, under a string of Supreme Court rulings that reach back nearly 30 years.
See "Supreme Court to Hear Union Fee Case", Associated Press, The New York Times, September 25, 2006