Oregon politicians can restrict outreach. They can threaten lawsuits, protect government unions and make it harder for public employees to receive information about their constitutional rights.

But they can’t force workers to believe SEIU membership is worth the money.

That’s the real reason Oregon public employees continue leaving their unions. The problem isn’t the Freedom Foundation, adverse Supreme Court decisions or bad karma.

The problem is that SEIU simply hasn’t made the case that it provides sufficient value to justify the money taken from every paycheck.

I’ve spoken personally with hundreds of union-represented employees while canvassing all over Oregon, and the response has been remarkably consistent.

The vast majority of those I’ve encountered can’t see how they benefit from being SEIU members. They feel under-represented. They’re convinced their union is more concerned with advancing their leadership’s political agenda their workplace concerns.

Most SEIU members rarely see representatives meaningfully involved in their workplaces. Many can’t even remember the last time SEIU helped them resolve an individual problem.

What they do see is an organization constantly working to grow its membership, revenue and political clout while fixating issues that have nothing to do with workplace representation.

The workers don’t need the Freedom Foundation to make them angry about SEIU. They already are.

The conversations usually begin with a few simple questions.

• Do you believe SEIU represents you well?
• Do you know how much you pay in dues every year?”
• Can you identify a benefit that makes that cost worthwhile?
• Did you know union membership is voluntary?

Those questions often reveal how disconnected SEIU is from the workers it claims to represent.

For members of SEIU 503, the state’s largest public-employee union, dues generally add up to 1.7 percent of a worker’s gross regular salary, along with an additional monthly issues assessment. An employee earning between $4,000 and $5,000 per month can easily owe the union $849 to $1,053 every year.

That’s real money that could be used to pay utility bills, buy groceries, repair a vehicle, reduce debt or remain in the worker’s family budget.

Workers might willingly pay dues if they believed they were receiving effective representation in return. But when employees feel ignored, poorly represented or politically alienated, every deduction becomes a reminder of what the union is failing to provide.

Workers see lobbying, ballot campaigns, political spending and activism. Meanwhile, many employees continue dealing with understaffing, workplace grievances, poor communication and management problems without seeing the same urgency from their union.

Employees joined expecting workplace representation. Few signed up to become a permanent, unquestioning source of political funding for an organization whose priorities may not reflect their own.

A union can’t simultaneously claim everything it does benefits workers while failing to demonstrate that value in their daily lives.

Many disgruntled Oregon employees still decline to opt out of their union because they’ve been told their wages, health coverage or other negotiated benefits are tied to their membership.

It’s a boldfaced lie that gives SEIU enormous leverage.

Public employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement generally remain covered by that agreement regardless of whether they choose to remain dues-paying union members. They may lose internal union privileges, such as voting in union elections, but resigning from membership does not suddenly erase their negotiated pay or employer-provided benefits.

Once workers understand that distinction, the decision becomes practical.

Instead of looking in the mirror and asking why their members are leaving in droves, Oregon’s union-backed political machinery prefers to demonize anyone telling the truth about their First Amendment rights.

Oregon State House Bill 3789, which last year made it illegal to “impersonate” a union, created new restrictions and legal risks to communicating with union-represented workers. The Freedom Foundation maintains that the law was designed to suppress effective outreach and has challenged it on constitutional grounds.

The political strategy is clear: Rather than improving the product, union officials and their allies sought to muzzle the messenger.

But limiting outreach does not make SEIU representatives more responsive. It does not resolve grievances. It does not reduce dues. It does not repair years of frustration.

Most importantly, it hasn’t stopped workers from leaving.

Even after the new restrictions severely limited the Freedom Foundation’s Oregon outreach, public employees continue resigning from their unions in huge numbers.

That harsh reality destroys the claim that workers leave only because the Freedom Foundation pressured them to do so. Employees are examining their paychecks, discussing their experiences with coworkers and reaching their own conclusions.

A good product doesn’t require heavy-handed legislation preventing customers from considering alternatives.

A valuable organization doesn’t need employees to remain uninformed about their fundamental right to leave.

Oregon lawmakers may restrict some forms of outreach, but they can’t create value where workers see none. Nor can they erase employees’ experiences or outlaw dissatisfaction.

Oregon public employees are still leaving because the underlying problem was never the Freedom Foundation.

The problem is SEIU.

Public employees who want to understand their rights and review their options can visit OptOutToday.com.