Time will tell whether unions can recover from top court decision

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered a punch to the solar plexus of what’s left of the American labor movement, although happily not the knockout blow conservatives were seeking.

Only time will tell whether labor unions will recover from the blow or whether the high court will follow up with another more crippling shot as soon as it gets the right case.

Make no mistake: the end goal of those who successfully sought to halt the practice of requiring thousands of home health care workers in Illinois to pay union dues was to smash public sector unions for good.

The Supreme Court didn’t go that far Monday, but the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, left several clues that some members of the court would prefer to go further in that direction by barring all government unions from collecting forced dues — if given the opportunity.

Such a ruling would throw those unions into the “right to work” netherworld that could eventually destroy whatever influence labor has left.

I hate to tell you, but whatever their shortcomings, if the public sector unions get their legs cut off, I’m not sure who will be left to fight for working men and women in this country, given the rate at which labor unions are fast disappearing in the private sector.

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