By Matthew Hayward Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME , public employees can no longer be fired for refusing to pay their designated labor union dues . Unfortunately, state laws often still require them to remain in a relationship with a union even though they’re no longer members or paying dues. In a genuine sense, this is like the government granting an abused spouse a divorce but ordering him or her to remain with their abuser. The court recognized in Janus that forced union membership or dues is a violation of the worker’s First Amendment rights to free speech and association. But by any logical interpretation of the ruling, it also bans forced representation. So-called “union security clauses,” which stipulate that a union must represent every employee in its bargaining unit — even nonmembers — are routinely inserted into state law or the collective bargaining agreement between a governmental jurisdiction and the union claiming to repr...