# Ellis v. Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employes > Supreme Court of the United States · April 25, 1984 · 466 U.S. 435 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9429582 ## Case - **Full name:** ELLIS Et Al. v. BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY, AIRLINE & STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS & STATION EMPLOYES Et Al. - **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States - **Decided:** April 25, 1984 - **Citations:** 466 U.S. 435; 52 U.S.L.W. 4499; 116 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2001; 104 S. Ct. 1883; 80 L. Ed. 2d 428; 1984 U.S. LEXIS 70 - **Precedential status:** Published - **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Powell - **Judges:** White, Burger, Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Powell - **Cited by:** 437 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases. - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9429582 ## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction) - holding that the union could not force nonunion employees to fund the recruitment of workers outside the bargaining unit because it did not implicate a free-rider concern: “the free rider Congress had in mind was the employee the union was required to represent and from whom i… - stating, in case involving procedure for rebating union dues to non-members, when union had been decertified during litigation, that, “as long as the parties have a concrete interest . . . in the outcome of the litigation [such as a claim for damages], the case is not moot” (p… - holding that certain litigation expenses may not be charged to “objecting employees” (emphasis added) - holding that union conventions, social activities, and publications were chargeable so long as they did not relate to political causes ## Opinion text Justice Powell, concurring in part and dissenting in part. I am in accord with Parts I, II, III, and IV of the Court’s opinion, and with all of Part V except for Subdivision 1, which addresses the “convention” issue. I also do not agree with the Court’s analysis in Part VI in which petitioners’ First Amendment arguments are disposed of summarily. *458 HH For the most part, the Court’s opinion considers whether the Railway Labor Act itself permits the respondent union to charge nonunion employees for the challenged expenditures. The First Amendment, upon which petitioners primarily rely, is not the basis for the Court’s decision except to the extent this was addressed in Part VI. In light of prior decisions construing the Act, I agree with the Court’s decision to dispose of most of petitioners’ claims on statutory rather than constitutional grounds. The relevant general principles, as the Court has shown, are well settled. Railway Employees v. Hanson, 351 U. S. 225 (1956); Machinists v. Street, 367 U. S. 740 (1961); Railway Clerks v. Allen, 373 U. S. 113 (1963). It is clear from these decisions that objecting nonunion employees may not properly be required to contribute to political causes with which they may disagree. No prior decision of this Court, however, has “define[d] the line between union expenditures that all employees must help defray and those that are not sufficiently related to collective bargaining to justify their being imposed on dissenters.” Ante, at 447. The Court today adopts a statutory test or standard for identifying expenditures that fairly can be viewed as benefiting all employees: “[W]hen employees such as petitioners [in this case] object to being burdened with particular union expenditures, the test must be whether the challenged expenditures are necessarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of performing the duties of an exclusive representative of the employees in dealing with the employer on labor-management issues.” Ante, at 448. This standard fairly reflects statutory intent and is reasonable. But like any general standard, reasonable people— and judges — may differ as to its application to particular types of expenditures. In this case, petitioners challenge six general categories of expenditures incurred by respondent *459 union (BRAC): the quadrennial conventions, litigation not involving the negotiation of agreements or settlement of grievances, union publications, social activities, death benefits for employees, and general organizing activities. As noted above, I concur in the Court’s disposition of all of these categories except the quadrennial conventions of BRAC. The Court, in a single paragraph, concludes that in view of the primary purposes of a national convention, it is appropriate for petitioners to “help defray the costs of these conventions.” Ante, at 448. I agree that conventions are necessary to elect officers, to determine union policy with respect to major issues of collective bargaining, and generally to enable the national union to perform its essential functions as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees. But it is not seriously questioned that conventions also afford opportunities — that often are fully exploited — to further political objectives of unions generally and of the particular union in convention. The District Court’s findings in this case were based on the record with respect to the 25th quadrennial convention of BRAC. Its cost to the union was approximately $1,802,000. The minutes of the convention indicate that a number of major addresses were made by prominent politicians, including Senators Humphrey, Kennedy, Hartke, and Schweiker, the Mayor of Washington, D. C., and four Congressmen. The union has not shown how this major participation of politicians contributed even remotely to collective bargaining. Before a union may compel dissenting employees to defray the cost of union expenses, it must meet its burden of showing that those expenses were “necessarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of performing the duties of an exclusive [collective-bargaining] representative.” Ante, at 448. See Railway Clerks v. Allen, 373 U. S., at 122 . 1 Appar *460 ently no effort was made by the union in this case to identify expenses fairly attributable to these and other political activities, and to make appropriate deductions from the dues of objecting employees. I do not suggest that such an allocation can be made with mathematical exactitude. But reasonable estimates surely could have been made. See ibid. The union properly felt a responsibility to allocate expenses where political material was carried in union publications. See ante, at 450-451. In view of the foregoing, I do not understand how the Court can make the judgment today that all the expenses of the 25th quadrennial meeting of BRAC qualify under the Court’s new standard as “necessarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of performing the duties of an exclusive [collective-bargaining] representative.” I, therefore, would reverse the Court of Appeals on this issue, and remand the case for further consideration in light of the standard articulated by the Court. II In Part VI the Court found it necessary to address petitioners’ First Amendment argument with respect to three of the six activities at issue: social affairs, publications, and con *461 ventions. The reasoning of the Court is not clear to me. It agrees, as it must, that the First Amendment “does limit the uses to which the union can put funds obtained from dissenting employees,” ante, at 455 (citing Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U. S. 209 (1977)). Nevertheless, the Court’s conclusion with respect to convention expenses appears to ignore that constraint. In Part I above, I have expressed my disagreement with the Court’s apparent determination that the Railway Labor Act permits the use of compulsory dues to help defray the costs of political activities incurred at the quadrennial conventions. Under that interpretation of the Act, it would be unnecessary to reach the constitutional question in this case. Even if Congress had intended the Act to permit such use of compulsory dues, it is clear that the First Amendment would not. Where funds are used to further political causes with which nonmembers may disagree, the decisions of this Court are explicit that nonmember employees may not be compelled to bear such expenditures. The Court’s conclusory disposition of petitioners’ argument ignores the force of these decisions. See Abood, supra, at 234 ; Street, 367 U. S., at 777-778 (Douglas, J., concurring). 2 These same concerns would prohibit the union, as a constitutional matter, from charging dissenting employees for publication expenses related to political causes. Because the Court has determined that the Act prohibits the union from charging dissenting employees for publication expenses unrelated to collective bargaining, ante, at 451, I assume that the First Amendment discussion in Part VI applies only to publication expenses directly related to collective bargaining. *462 Thus, I concur in Part VI of the Court’s opinion only to the extent it holds that the First Amendment does not bar those publication expenses “necessarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of performing the duties of an exclusive [collective-bargaining] representative.” 3 HH < i — I For the reasons stated above, I join Parts I, II, III, IV, and all but Subdivision 1 of Part V. As to the convention issue addressed in that subdivision, I believe that the judgment should be reversed and the case remanded to the Court of Appeals for further consideration in light of the test articulated today by the Court. In view of my position on that issue, I do not think it necessary to reach the First Amendment issue as to conventions; nor do I agree with the Court’s summary conclusion that no First Amendment rights are implicated by the expenditure of funds on political causes at conventions. I, therefore, dissent from the Court’s decision in Part V, Subdivision 1, and from its decision with respect to conventions found in Part VI. I concur in the remainder of the result reached in Part VI. Respondents’ brief emphasizes the purposes and activities of these quadrennial conventions that do relate — even though sometimes tangentially — to collective bargaining. Respondents’ brief deals only lightly with political speeches and activities. It does say that the “appearances of the *460 Mayor of Washington and the other public officials created no additional costs to BRAC,” and “if there had been such costs [such as paying hono-raria] those costs would have been deducted from [the dues of] objecting employees.” Brief for Respondents 29, n. 16. This brief explanation leaves a number of unanswered questions. For example, the record does not appear to reveal who defrayed the travel, hotel, and other expenses of speakers and their staff who made political speeches or whose purpose in attending was to further political causes. Nor does the record show who paid for the considerable entertaining that likely was provided for speakers as distinguished as those mentioned above. This may or may not fairly be considered an appropriate expense under the Court’s standard. In short, at least for me, it does not seem appropriate for this Court — on the record before us — to assume that all union activities were disassociated from political causes. The case should be remanded for a full development of these facts. In Abood , the Court observed: “[The dissenting employees] specifically argue that they may constitutionally prevent the Union’s spending a part of their required service fees to contribute to political candidates and to express political views unrelated to its duties as exclusive bargaining representative. We have concluded that this argument is a meritorious one.” 481 U. S., at 234. With respect to “social activities,” I concur only in the result reached by the Court’s First Amendment analysis. As the Court points out, the expenditures on such activities are “de minimis,” and petitioners do not contend that the social activities here “implicate serious First Amendment interests.” Ante, at 456. Within reasonable limits, I think it fairly may be argued that social occasions are related to the duties of the union as the exclusive representative of all of the employees in the bargaining unit. The fraternal aspect of a union may be relevant to its bargaining capability, and this Court has held that the First Amendment permits the union to “expend uniform exactions under the union-shop agreement in support of activities germane to collective bargaining.” Railway Clerks v. Allen, 373 U. S. 113, 122 (1963). --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9429582. Public record. Not legal advice.