The state wants to repeal the process for claiming a religious exemption from a union

The state is proposing to repeal the regulations that give public employees a way to opt out of joining or paying a union on religious or conscientious grounds. The Alaska Labor Relations Agency wants to strike its "right of nonassociation" rules, including a religious exemption that lets an objecting worker send the equivalent of dues to a charity instead of the union. Comments are due Sept. 18.

Under the current rules, an employee with an objection files a claim with the agency and serves it on the union and employer; the union can contest it and request a hearing. Repeal would remove that filing-and-hearing path from regulation.

What the notice doesn't say is what repeal would mean for the underlying right. It states what the agency proposes to strike but not why, and it doesn't explain whether an objecting employee would still have a route to opt out, or where. The proposal isn't final, and the agency says it may change the language, take no action, or adopt other provisions after reviewing comments.

Alaska's public sector unions have argued in other venues that the membership question is already settled by individual choice. In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the state's union-dues dispute, the Alaska State Employees Association said, "Union membership in Alaska is voluntary," and that the state deducts dues only after an employee signs an authorization.

The agency administers labor law for the state, municipalities, boroughs, the University of Alaska and school districts. The same repeal package would also modernize agency paperwork, allowing electronic filing and dropping a notary requirement on unfair labor practice complaints.