NLRB Finds Unions Can't Force Workers Covered by Union Contracts but Not Joining the Union to Pay Union's Political Expenses

Abstract

In a recent case, Kent Hospital, 367 NLRB No. 94 (2019), the National Labor Relations Board ruled against a union that wanted to charge a nurse covered by a union contract but who was not a union member for a share of some of the union's political contributions. The Board made a bright‐line rule that all of a union's lobbying costs are not part of a union's statutory collective bargaining obligations and, therefore, unions cannot compel employees support them.