
In Oregon, SEIU 503 recently negotiated its first contract with the Oregon Department of Administrative Services since the landmark 2018 U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Janus v. AFSCME that allows public employees to opt out of union dues and fees and still keep their job.
For years, unions have seen fast-food employees as an untouched cash cow from which to milk dues. The workers seem to union leaders like ideal targets of opportunity because fast-food employees typically are willing to trade relatively modest wages for the opportunity to get a foot in the door of the labor market.
June 27 marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public employees can no longer be required to pay any form of union dues against their will. Almost before the ink on the decision was dry, the Freedom Foundation began to execute its plan to make sure all public employees on the West Coast were informed of their newly affirmed rights. This campaign included direct mail, emails, billboards, commercials, door-to-door canvassing, office visits and now even texting — any and every way to ensure public employees are informed about the landmark decision and how it applies to them.
For too long, unions have been putting their noses, and more notably their money, into political races in hopes of buying government influence.
A little a month after its last hearing in the Oregon State Senate’s Committee on Workforce, House Bill 2016, the so-called union “wish-list,” this week received a work session.
AFSCME 75’s plan to reward union loyalty rather than workplace seniority for Oregon State Corrections workers is both illegal and unconstitutional, and the Freedom Foundation is poised to take legal action if union officials sign a collective bargaining agreement with these provisions.
A bill that could fairly be characterized as a union wish-list had its second hearing on April 18 in the Oregon State Legislature, this time in the Senate Committee on Workforce.
The Freedom Foundation is constantly looking for new ways to expand its footprint as we continue weakening the stronghold government unions have on our state government. In Oregon, that has recently entailed growing our target audience to now include members of Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA).
It comes as no surprise that during the first legislative session following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, government unions and their pet politicians in both Washington and Oregon are working feverishly to undermine it.
Government labor unions are losing dues-paying members at an unprecedented rate, which is good news for workers and bad news for liberal coffers. The mass exodus is forcing leaders on the left to address a serious problem: Their decades of financial backing from fat cat union bosses may be coming to an end.