The Freedom Foundation has undertaken the enormous task of informing every government employee in the west of their right under a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to decide for themselves whether to support their designated labor union and its predictable leftist political agenda.

To do this, we must first obtain the contact information for these workers – a simple matter, in theory, since the names and agency provided contact information of public employees must, by law, be made available to anyone submitting a valid public information request. Most government employers readily comply with the law.

But unions didn’t get where they are by letting themselves get bogged down by the same laws that constrain the rest of us.

A recent Freedom Foundation request for public records from a school district in California, for example, produced an entirely new display of government union power.

The district’s assistant superintendent responded by informing us he needed to get permission from the union first.

After receiving assurance the records would be provided on Aug. 13, the district sent a letter on that date stating:

“(T)he District has received demands to bargain and negotiate the effects of the disclosure of employee information under the Public Records Act.”

Compliance with the law will be delayed.

Is compliance with state law something to be negotiated? If so, can the union require the district to break state laws?

In the real world, no.

But in California, reality is just a suggestion, not a rule.