Notwithstanding the best efforts of Big Labor and its allies in elected office to stifle opposition and restrict access to information, Oregon public-sector employees are still choosing to leave their unions in healthy numbers.
As of March 25, 695 Oregon government employees have opted out in 2026, even as outreach has been effectively shut down.
That didn’t happen by accident — it was in response to a trend unions can no longer ignore.
In 2025, more than 5,000 Oregon public-sector employees opted out of union membership and dues, a sustained shift that put union revenue — and influence — at risk. Rather than addressing why their members were leaving, unions turned to lawmakers.
The result was House Bill 3789.
HB 3789 was presented as a worker protection measure specifically targeting Freedom Foundation marketing materials that allegedly deceive the recipient into believing they were sent by his or her union.
That Oregon already has strong anti-fraud legislation on its books didn’t prevent the bill from being approved. Nor did the reality that not a single example of the Freedom Foundation passing itself off as a union was ever produced.
By design, HB 3789 doesn’t require the accused to be guilty in order to be hit with a hefty financial penalty.
The mechanism is unprecedented in that it allows government employee unions to sue the Freedom Foundation for $6,250 per “incident” — a loosely defined term that gives unions and their allies in Oregon’s court system broad discretion to determine violations — for nothing more than informing public employees about their First Amendment right to decline union membership and dues.
The implications are chilling. A single mailing to Oregon’s government employees, something that would normally be routine, could expose the Freedom Foundation to approximately $1 billion in potential liability.
And the impacts of this abuse of power and lawfare extend beyond Oregon. HB 3789 sets a dangerous precedent — one that could encourage public-sector unions in other states to impose similar restrictions.
The purpose of HB 3789 is clear — to make communicating with public employees so costly that no one can afford to even try it. And in that respect, the law has largely succeeded.
Traditional outreach — mail, digital campaigns, basically any and all direct communication — has been effectively shut down under that risk.
This kind of coordination between unions and lawmakers raises serious questions. When organizations that depend on dues revenue help shape laws restricting access to information, the line between worker protection and institutional self-preservation disappears.
This isn’t about “impersonation.” Oregon HB 3789 is about control — whether public employees can access information about their rights or whether that access is filtered by organizations whose power depends on collecting dues.
It’s about whether speech protected by the First Amendment can be restricted. And not because it is false or misleading, but because it is effective at helping public employees make informed choices that reduce union revenue and influence.
The constitutional concerns are substantial. HB 3789 restricts lawful speech and limits the flow of information to public-sector employees. The Freedom Foundation challenged the law in federal court, arguing it violates the First Amendment.
After the case was dismissed at the district level by Mustafa T. Kasubha of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the Freedom Foundation appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case is far from over, and there is strong reason to believe the law will not withstand constitutional scrutiny.
Despite the lawfare waged against Freedom Foundation, what has happened since HB 3789 took effect is telling. Outreach has been forcibly curtailed as intended — but the underlying issue has not gone away.
Public employees are still finding information, talking to one another and deciding whether union membership is worth the cost — a reality reflected in nearly 700 public-sector employees in Oregon who have already opted out as of March, only three months into the year.
When public employees understand their rights, they exercise them. That hasn’t changed.
Efforts to limit outreach may have altered the landscape, but not the outcome — as public employees in Oregon have proven.
And despite efforts by public-sector unions to keep employees uninformed or misinformed about their rights, their legal right to opt out of union membership and dues remains intact.
To learn more about your rights and to opt out of your government employee union, visit OptOutToday.com.
