California news outlets were eager to pick up on Wednesday’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, and rightly so. The ruling is a huge win for workers’ rights across the nation, especially in states like California where public employees could previously be forced to pay union fees against their will.
As the West coast’s recognized leader in the fight to give workers a choice, the Freedom Foundation was featured prominently in the coverage.
“We have folks all over the state,” said Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy. He said the group eventually hopes to reach every public employee in Oregon and California as well.
SacBee: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article213953319.html#storylink=cpy
The State Controller’s Office said on Wednesday that it would cease deducting fair share fees from the paychecks of state workers who are not full union members. Employees will notice the change in their paychecks for their work in July, with many of them saving about $1,000 a year that they had paid in labor fees.
The Freedom Foundation, a well-funded nonprofit organization that is critical of unions, plans to target dues-paying union members in California. It’s sending email blasts to public school teachers instructing them on how to quit a union and is making plans to leave printed information at government offices throughout Southern California.
“This is a game-changer for politics in California,” said Samuel Han, the foundation’s California Director.
Samuel Han is the California Director of the Freedom Foundation, a proponent of the Supreme Court ruling. His organization is non-profit think tank whose mission is to advance government transparency and limited government through education and advocacy.
“I think for so long unions have controlled and dominated elections here in California and as well as the legislative process,” Han said.
He calls the ruling a big win for government transparency, one that will weaken labor unions ability to effect legislation.
“I think anybody who’s trying to say this is not going to affect California at all is just, either living in a fantasy world or hoping that this thing is not what it is,” Han said.
ABC 7: http://abc7.com/politics/socal-unions-react-to-scotus-dues-decision/3665383/ (Second article on page)
“If a member says, ‘I don’t agree with the political activities of my union,’ meaning ‘I don’t agree with the way my union is representing me,’ then I can’t be forced to pay to subsidize that political speech,” said Samuel Han, with the Freedom Foundation.
