Santa Delivers Gift to Government Employees: Freedom From Union Dues

Aaron Withe
December 19, 2018

This week the Freedom Foundation employed the help of Santa Claus and his helpers to visit government buildings around Oregon to deliver a special Christmas gift: Freedom from paying union dues.

While the Freedom Foundation has conducted similar outreach in the past, this is the first year government employees have been able to opt out of their union entirely, due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Janus v. AFSCME.

Santa reports that he’s been surprised at the results so far, as it seems most people have already opted out. Some preliminary numbers from the state also back this up, with one department reporting that over 50 percent of its union-represented employees are no longer having union dues withheld from their wages (further details to come).

Of course, not everyone enjoys the presence of Santa, his helpers, candy canes, Christmas songs, or happiness in general. Some union activists actually threatened Santa and his elves because they didn’t want any more employees learning about their rights. One stated the Freedom Foundation “shouldn’t be out there spreading lies.” When challenged to identify a specific lie, they responded with a series of words that couldn’t be strung together into a logical sentence but were presumably from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

Those employees that did learn about their rights for the first time were overjoyed to hear they could stop paying union dues. A few signed opt out forms on the spot.

Santa even updated his technology this year and sent out thousands of e-mails to government employees as well, just to ensure that all state, county, city employees and teachers got the chance to give themselves a raise before the year’s end.

- Labor, Oregon
, Janus v. AFSCME, labor, Oregon

Aaron Withe

Chief Executive Officer

Aaron Withe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Freedom Foundation. Aaron began his career at the Freedom Foundation in 2015, working in the outreach department. He devised a full-scale outreach campaign that included having a team of door-to-door canvassers contact all union members throughout Oregon and inform them of their rights to leave their union. After various promotions the Freedom Foundation’s Board of Directors appointed Aaron as the CEO in 2021. As an immigrant-turned-U.S. citizen, Aaron recognizes America as the freest and most prosperous country in the world. However, he also recognizes the very real threat posed by the government unions attacking the foundations of the American dream. This is what fuels Aaron as he now leads the Freedom Foundation’s national campaign to free every public employee in America from union bondage. Aaron is the author of the book Freedom is the Foundation: How we are defeating progressive tyranny by taking on the government unions. Aaron has been a featured speaker for the Freedom Foundation at a multitude of events, including the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2019. He was the proud recipient of the Oregon Taxpayer Association’s 2019 Thomas Jefferson Award. He was formerly on the Washington & Oregon Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. And he is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Leadership Network. Aaron has often shared the Freedom Foundation’s message on TV, including appearances on Fox News, Fox Business, One America News, Newsmax, and The Huckabee Show on TBN. He has been featured on several national and local radio shows, including Sean Hannity and Lars Larson, and in print media outlets across the country, including the Wall Street Journal, the Hill, and the Daily Wire. He is a native of Birmingham, England, and is a graduate and former basketball player at Corban University in Oregon. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Aubree and their daughter Amelia, as well as with their extended family and friends. He is active of his church and enjoys relaxing at several Pacific North West’s microbreweries. As an immigrant-turned-U.S. citizen, Aaron recognizes America as the freest and most prosperous country in the world. However, he also recognizes the very real threat posed by the government unions attacking the foundations of the American dream. This is what fuels Aaron as he now leads the Freedom Foundation’s national campaign to free every public employee in America from union bondage. Aaron has been a featured speaker for the Freedom Foundation at a multitude of events, including the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2019. He was the proud recipient of the Oregon Taxpayer Association’s 2019 Thomas Jefferson Award. He was formerly on the Washington & Oregon Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. And he is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Leadership Network. Aaron has often shared the Freedom Foundation’s message on TV, including appearances Fox News, One America News, Newsmax, and The Huckabee Show on TBN. He has been featured on several national and local radio shows including Sean Hannity and Lars Larson and in print media outlets across the country including the Wall Street Journal and Daily Wire. He is a native of Birmingham, England, and is a graduate and former basketball player at Corban University in Oregon. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, staying active in many different sports and at the gym, he is active in his church and enjoys relaxing at several of the Pacific North West’s microbreweries.