In Friday’s (11/10) Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Peter Hall writes, “A Pennsylvania musician’s claim that he can’t be forced to pay union dues could expand the right recently granted by the U.S. Supreme Court for public employees to opt out of supporting labor unions. Lawyers representing Lehigh Valley percussionist Glen Wilkofsky have asked the Supreme Court to consider whether the Allentown Symphony Association wrongly threatened to fire Wilkofsky when he stopped paying dues to the American Federation of Musicians. Wilkofsky, who played the kettledrums, claims he has a First Amendment right to choose whether to support the union under the high court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. That, Wilkofsky claimed, is because the symphony receives state funding and Pennsylvania’s Employee Relations Act includes nonprofits that receive government grants or appropriations in the definition of public employers…. A ruling in Wilkofsky’s favor would expand the First Amendment protections granted under Janus to workers at nonprofit organizations in the health care, education and transportation industries…. The Janus case was heralded as a major victory for First Amendment rights and the right-to-work movement and a blow to public sector unions.”
