What are "Beck" rights, where do they stem from, and in what way are they related to agency shop agreements?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

"Beck" rights are rights granted to union members by a 1988 Supreme Court case that questioned the right of unions to utilize union dues money for political purposes. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that workers who are covered under the union contract, but who chose to remain nonunion, cannot be forced to pay full union dues. Rather, they are allowed to request a reimbursement of that portion of union dues money that is used for something other than collective bargaining and administration of the contract. While seemingly simple, it can be difficult to disentangle individual union expenses and sort them into neat categories. For example, it is not entirely clear whether union organizing expenses could be considered as related to collective bargaining (the more members, the greater the collective power). In addition, it is not always clear at what level the expenditures should be calculated (e.g., the national or local level).
"Beck" rights are related to agency shop agreements in that they essentially turn any union shop agreement into an agency shop agreement since a union member is always able to request reimbursement for the political part of their dues money. This obviously has the effect of reducing union dues revenues and results in weaker overall labor representation.