## Facts

- A union and employer entered a collective-bargaining agreement containing a union-security clause requiring all bargaining-unit employees, including nonmembers, to pay dues or equivalent “agency fees” as a condition of employment.
- Employees who declined union membership were required to pay fees equal to members’ dues.
- Objecting nonmembers alleged the union used portions of compulsory fees for activities beyond collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment, including organizing other employers’ workers, lobbying, and social, charitable, and political activities.
- The nonmembers sued in federal court, alleging violations of the union’s duty of fair representation, NLRA § 8(a)(3), and the First Amendment.
- The district court granted injunctive relief and reimbursement of amounts spent for non-representational purposes.
- The court of appeals affirmed on statutory/duty-of-fair-representation grounds, avoiding a constitutional ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether federal courts could decide the dispute notwithstanding the NLRB’s primary jurisdiction over unfair labor practice questions.
2. Whether NLRA § 8(a)(3) permits a union, under a union-security agreement, to compel nonmembers to fund union expenditures unrelated to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court held federal courts had jurisdiction because unfair labor practice questions may be resolved as collateral issues in suits brought under an independent federal remedy, including duty-of-fair-representation claims.
- The Court construed NLRA § 8(a)(3) to authorize compulsory nonmember fees only to the extent necessary to fund the union’s representational functions: collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment.
- The Court concluded § 8(a)(3) does not authorize charging objecting nonmembers for expenditures unrelated to representation, such as organizing, lobbying, or political and ideological activities.
- The Court resolved the case on statutory grounds and declined to decide the First Amendment claim.

## Legal Principles

- Under NLRA § 8(a)(3), union-security agreements may require nonmembers to pay only the portion of dues/fees necessary to support the union’s role as exclusive bargaining representative.
- Unions may not, as a condition of employment, compel objecting nonmembers to subsidize non-representational expenditures (including political or ideological activities) through agency fees.
- Federal courts may adjudicate unfair labor practice issues when they arise collaterally within a claim based on an independent federal doctrine such as the duty of fair representation.
- Courts may avoid constitutional adjudication when a statute, properly construed, supplies a sufficient basis for decision.

## Conclusion

The Court held that § 8(a)(3) limits compelled agency fees from objecting nonmembers to representational costs, recognizing that nonmembers cannot be required to fund union activities unrelated to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance processing.


Commc’ns Workers of Am. v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988)