Close
X
Freedom Foundation

Get in touch

Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
  • Blogs
  • Staff
  • Donate
  • Join Us
  • Profiting from a Pandemic
  • Why We Fight
  • Cigars
  • SCOTUS Appeals
Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
Freedom Foundation

Contact Info

California Lifeguards ‘Stoked’ To Have Freedom Foundation on Their Side

California Labor Litigation
  • Samuel Coleman
  • January 10, 2020

The Freedom Foundation, on Jan. 7, held a press conference in Huntington Beach, Calif., to announce the filing of its latest lawsuit — this time on behalf of more than two dozen California lifeguards whose union is all too eager to play politics with their dues money but nowhere to be found when it comes to representing their workplace concerns.

“We’re fed up with not being heard and not being listened to, and now the law is finally on our side. We couldn’t be more stoked to have the Freedom Foundation to help us out.” – Scott Schneringer California State Lifeguard

This is the latest development in an ongoing effort, undertaken when local union leaders reached out to the Freedom Foundation to help stop their dues deductions.

After becoming fed up with their union and the lack of representation they received at the bargaining table, more than 130 lifeguards across the southern coast sent opt out requests to their union.

California State Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA), the union representing the lifeguards, refused to let out more than two dozen lifeguards, arguing the lifeguards had to remain in the union until the end of its collective bargaining agreement with the California Department of Parks & Recreation, which expires in 2023.

The Freedom Foundation was able to successfully stop dues deductions for 100 of the 130 lifeguards, but we haven’t forgotten about the rest, and we’re launching this lawsuit to make sure every lifeguard has their voice heard.

Bob Wickers, the Freedom Foundation’s California director, said, “When the unions refuse to honor the opt out requests of the workers who contact us, that’s when our litigators get involved. Our litigators take them to court, and that’s why we’re here today.”

“We’re here today not because of the unions,” added Mariah Gondeiro, lead litigator for the Freedom Foundation in California. “We’re here because of the workers. We’re here to protect these workers’ rights. These workers, the lifeguards here today, are part of a greater movement.”

She continued, “This is about protecting these lifeguards’ choice, their individual choice, their ability to choose where they put their money, what speech they support, what activities they support.”

Scott Schneringer, a member of the San Clemente State Lifeguard Association, gave clear and concise reasons for why he wants his dues deduction to stop.

“It’s been year after year of no transparency,” he said. “(And yet we have) no voting rights for (contract) ratification, no medical benefits and no training incentives that are commonplace in other agencies around the state and around the country.

“We’re fed up with not being heard and not being listened to,” he said, “and now the law is finally on our side. We couldn’t be more stoked to have the Freedom Foundation to help us out.”

We’re stoked to be helping them out too. All public employees deserve the right to choose when they can exercise their rights, without drowning in phony opt-out windows.

Recent Blogs

Telling the truth even to those who don’t want to hear it
February 3, 2023
DeSantis supports teachers, not their union masters
February 2, 2023
Opt-out windows just another way unions flout Janus ruling
February 2, 2023
Union Politics, Dollars Upended the Ohio State House
January 26, 2023
Freedom Foundation Reaction to Washington State Supreme Court Hearing on Capital Gains Tax
January 26, 2023

Press Articles

  • Jul 06 — RedState — Janus at 4: Landmark Labor Ruling Helped but Still Needs to be Enforced More Aggressively

    Read The Article

  • Jun 28 — Ineptocracy Chronicles — Teacher Unions Fund Left Wing Politics

    Read The Article

  • Jun 25 — The Hill — States Should Protect Caregivers' Medicaid Funds from Union Skims

    Read The Article

  • Jun 15 — Legal Newsline — Freedom Foundation: 'Education Union Spent More Money on Political Activities than Worker Representation'

    Read The Article

  • Jun 09 — Southern California Record — LA Superior Court Court Reporter Accuses Union of Forging Her Signature on Membership Card

    Read The Article

  • General Inquiries

    Info@FreedomFoundation.com

    Media Inquiries

    avarner@freedomfoundation.com

    Follow Us

             

    Contact Locations

    Washington:

    360-956-3482
    P.O. Box 552 Olympia,
    WA 98507

    Pennsylvania:

    484-747-6072
    P.O. Box 1069 Kennett Square,
    PA 19348

    California:

    949-954-8914
    1442 E Lincoln Ave #440 Orange,
    CA 92865

    Oregon:

    503-951-6208
    P.O. Box 18146 Salem,
    OR 97305

    Ohio:

    380-207-3901
    P.O. Box 14210 Cincinnati,
    OH 45250

    © 2021 Freedom Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
    Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 94-3136961