The Freedom Foundation last month cashed yet another check from a government employee union—or at least its lawyers—to help fund our efforts to combat it.

Last fall, the Freedom Foundation sued the Washington State Council for County & City Employees (WSCCCE) on behalf of 15 Thurston County employees whose dues had been illegally collected. As part of the resulting settlement, the union agreed to refund nine months’ worth of dues to the workers and pay the Freedom Foundation $15,714.50 for its legal expenses in representing them.

Then in March, lawyers for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 925 paid $1,125 to compensate the Freedom Foundation for the cost of responding to an improper last-minute motion filed on the union’s behalf.

The case at issue was SEIU 925’s lawsuit against the Freedom Foundation and the state Department of Early Learning (DEL) to prevent us from notifying 12,000 forcibly unionized childcare providers of their newly affirmed rights under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Harris v. Quinn ruling to opt out of paying union dues or fees altogether.

Last summer, the Freedom Foundation requested the names of the providers from DEL, and the agency turned them over immediately. But SEIU 925, knowing thousands of its “members” would defect if they knew they could, responded by filing a lawsuit demanding the list be returned and no contact be made with the workers.

But less than 48 hours before the deadline for the union’s motion for summary judgment, the union asked the judge to consider an anonymous declaration in support of the motion. The Freedom Foundation’s lawyers opposed the request and a hearing was set to hear arguments.

Except the union’s lawyers never showed up.

Either they realized belatedly the motion was improper or they knew all along and simply filed it to waste the Freedom Foundation’s time. In either case, the ploy blew up in their face when Thurston County Superior Court Judge Erik Price not only rejected the motion but suggested on the record that payment of attorneys’ fees might be in order to pay the Freedom Foundation for the hours its legal team spent developing a counterargument. The Freedom Foundation filed a Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and the union’s counsel agreed to pay before the judge needed to rule on the motion.

“SEIU is used to throwing its legal weight around, intimidating its opponents and showing such overwhelming force that its enemies turn tail and run,” said Freedom Foundation Litigation Counsel David Dewhirst. “But we’re not like anyone they’ve come up against before.

“The Freedom Foundation is here to stay,” he vowed. “The Foundation is strong enough, determined enough and nimble enough to fight back. So take heart, Washingtonians. The days of public-sector unions bullying the taxpayers of this state are over. “