## Facts

- Approximately 400 Charlotte Fire Department employees and a firefighters’ union sought declaratory and injunctive relief against enforcement of North Carolina statutes regulating public-employee union activity.
- Before the challenged statutes, Charlotte firefighters belonged to a local union affiliated with an international union, and the City recognized the union and allowed dues checkoff.
- The challenged laws prohibited public employees from belonging to specified unions affiliated with national or international organizations that had collective bargaining as a purpose, voided public-sector collective-bargaining agreements, and criminalized violations.
- Firefighters alleged the statutes prevented them from becoming dues-paying members of a local union affiliating with the international organization.
- The State justified the restrictions largely as measures to prevent strikes and protect essential public services.

## Issues

1. Whether a categorical prohibition on public employees’ membership in certain unions violates the First Amendment right of association as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Whether a statute voiding collective-bargaining agreements between public employers and unions violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
3. Whether a criminal penalty provision tied to the above statutes can stand if the union-membership prohibition is unconstitutional.
4. Whether declaratory relief is sufficient or an injunction is required.

## Decision

- The three-judge district court held the public-employee union-membership prohibition unconstitutional on its face.
- The court upheld the statute declaring public-sector collective-bargaining agreements void as constitutional.
- The court invalidated the criminal penalty provision because it was inseparably related to the unconstitutional union-membership prohibition.
- The court entered declaratory judgment and declined to issue an injunction, finding no indication defendants would disregard the ruling.

## Legal Principles

- Public employees retain First Amendment associational rights, including the right to join labor organizations, subject to reasonable, narrowly tailored restrictions.
- A broad, categorical ban on union membership that restricts protected association more than necessary to serve the asserted governmental interest is unconstitutional (overbreadth).
- The First and Fourteenth Amendments do not confer a constitutional right to compel public employers to recognize unions, bargain collectively, or enter labor contracts; a state may bar or void such agreements as a policy choice.
- A criminal enforcement provision may be invalidated when it is not severable from an unconstitutional substantive restriction.
- Declaratory relief may be an adequate remedy where compliance by public officials is expected and injunctive relief is unnecessary.

## Conclusion

The court protected public employees’ right to associate by striking down a sweeping union-membership ban, while confirming that states may refuse public-sector collective bargaining; it also invalidated the related criminal penalties and granted declaratory relief without an injunction.


Atkins v. City of Charlotte, 296 F. Supp. 1068 (W.D.N.C. 1969)