Massachusetts House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said Wednesday that lawmakers intend to pursue legislation in the coming weeks to “soften the blow” on unions after the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require government employees to pay union fees.
DeLeo said that the details of any potential legislation are far from settled and that lawmakers plan to speak with union leaders to find a “consensus that we can support.”
But he indicated the Legislature intends to move fast. He said he hopes to move a bill to the House floor before the legislative session wraps at the end of July. The top leader in the Senate, President Harriette L. Chandler, also hopes to craft a bill by then, according to an aide.
“We as a House will be taking some action . . . to soften the blow, shall we say, relative to our unions here in Massachusetts,” DeLeo told reporters after a Democratic caucus at the State House. The Winthrop Democrat said the 5-4 ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which overturned a 40-year-old precedent, “could be quite a bit of loss in terms of revenue for our unions.”