The saga continues in New York as the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) continues to push back against the Freedom Foundation’s fight against union corruption.
This time the CSEA’s latest weapon is fearmongering.
In the union’s April newsletter, a feature profiled Pamela Caleb, a union member, who claims she would, “… never intentionally opt out of my union.”
And yet she apparently did, of her own free will.
According to the story, Caleb claims she was surprised one day to receive an invoice in the mail from her insurance company, since her premiums had always been automatically deducted from her check.
Caleb claims she was shocked to discover she had “inadvertently” opted out of CSEA, resulting in an end to her insurance payments.
She said the union made everything right by agreeing to reinstate her membership — along with the $581 in dues she was paying every year.
“It’s so deceptive to the union and members,” said Caleb of the Freedom Foundation opt-out request she signed and returned. “Why would they send someone a card like that?”
First off, the mailer she received included the words “Opt Out” in bold letters right on the first page. Then there was the clear explanation that she was requesting to “opt out” of the union right above her signature block on the form — which she then returned to … wait for it … OptOutToday.com.
And she didn’t know she was opting out? Really?
While we’re on the subject of deceit, the article implies — without coming straight out and saying so, of course — that CSEA was actually paying her insurance premiums before she opted out, but afterwards she was forced to absorb the cost herself, negating the monthly dues she was no longer paying.
But that’s not true.
By law, CSEA must provide equal representation to every worker in the bargaining unit whether they are union members or not. It may be possible that — at CSEA’s insistence — the state agency she works for no longer deducts her premiums automatically, requiring her to write out her own check to the insurance company every month. But that’s all.
“After a long civil service career,” the article’s author writes, “Caleb is well aware of the benefits and privileges afforded by union membership.” But contrary to the impression that statement is trying to create, she didn’t lose her insurance coverage or any other benefits just because she opted out of the union.
No one does. Ever.
But it gets worse.
Elsewhere in the article, the author warns workers that giving their personal information to the Freedom Foundation can be an invitation to ID theft. “Once they have your information,” he writes, “there is no telling where or how they will use it.”
Another boldfaced lie. In fact, when the Freedom Foundation obtains the names, addresses, birthdate, etc., of a government employee — whether it is voluntarily given by the worker or in response to a public information request — the data can only legally be used for the stated purpose.
The Freedom Foundation has never even been credibly accused of reselling anyone’s information for profit, let alone convicted of doing so. But that doesn’t stop union shills from using scare tactics.
A front-page photo Caleb sitting at a desk with a smile on her face underneath a headline stating, “Fighting back against scammers.” But from all indications, the only scams being perpetrated here are by the union that somehow enticed her back into the fold through fraud misrepresentation, and by Caleb herself, who seems perfectly content to let herself be used as the face of a union misinformation campaign.
This article is the third installment of a series highlighting New York CSEA’s increasingly hysterical attempts to scare people out of quitting their membership.
