California public employees are opting out of their unions in record numbers thanks to the work of the Freedom Foundation. Last year, 16,500 chose freedom over union control, while this year we’ve already eclipsed that mark by more than 20 percent with a few months of the year left – at over 20,000 opt outs! This has cost the unions an estimated $17,100,00 in one year alone and will only compound moving forward.

In the process, we’ve also reduced our per-opt-out cost.

That’s not just progress; that’s momentum.

Month after month, the records keep falling. April, June, July — each month shattered a record set the previous month.

Thousands of workers across the state are learning the truth: You can keep your pay, benefits and job protections without funding a union’s leftist political machine.

The key to our success has been breaking the communication barrier with the hundreds of thousands of IHSS providers across the state over whom the union previously enjoyed sole access.

Barred from the public records request process, the Freedom Foundation’s California outreach team looked towards innovative digital ad campaigns to finally be able to reach these quasi- government employees en masse, averaging about 5-6 million impressions every month.

In addition to our innovative digital ads are our robust mailing and email campaigns that prove time and time again that the Janus decision, packaged down to a few lines of email or a few words on a mailer, is truly empowering to the average public sector worker. With thousands of pieces of mail sent out thus far and emails, we reach closer to our goal every week – to ensure that every worker is well informed of their right to cease their dues deductions.

Every opt-out is a victory for free speech and choice. It’s a sign California’s workforce is waking up — and the unions know it.

We’re not slowing down. Our teams are on campuses, in counties and online making sure every public employee knows his or her rights.