AUGUSTA – The Maine State Employees Association is hailing a federal judge’s ruling upholding “fair share” fees the state workers’ union charges nonunion members.

Twenty state employees challenged the fees in U.S. District Court in Portland with assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The suit asked the court to block fee collections until the union provides an independent audit of its expenditures.

U.S. District Judge George Singal denied a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the union from collecting the fees to cover the cost of collective bargaining while the lawsuit over the matter is pending.

The union negotiated a contract earlier this year requiring all state workers to join the union or authorizing the union to collect service fees from nonunion members. Some state workers said that is unfair.

Dana Graham, president of the MSEA, called the ruling a “victory of common sense over suspicion and misinformation.” The MSEA is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.