A key focus for the Freedom Foundation is informing public employees about their First Amendment right to opt out of union dues

Carleen Johnson
The Center Square

August ended on a high note for a free market conservative think tank that helps public employees opt out of their unions.

Maddie Dermon is director of communications at the Freedom Foundation, just coming off a record week for opt-outs.

“In one week, we helped 1,304 people leave their unions, and that cost big labor more than $1 million in dues money drained from union coffers,” said Dermon.

A key focus for the Freedom Foundation is informing public employees about their First Amendment right to opt out of union dues, which became an option after the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The high court ruled that public sector unions could not require member participation as a condition of employment, as the organizations use the dues money to engage in political speech. 

“Those dues are often spent by big labor in support of a radical political agenda, rather than support of a workers well-being in the workplace,” said Dermon.

“We’ve helped over 186,000 public employees opt out of union membership since Janus,” said Dermon. That is costing big labor almost $500 million in union dues.”

The Foundation uses direct mail, email and a digital advertising campaign to reach public employees.

“Our outreach is most effective in California and Washington state, which are really the strongholds of big labor,” said Dermon.

“In California we’ve been averaging more than 1250 opt outs per month and it’s not slowing down,” said Dermon, who told The Center Square during the month of August, 928 Washington state public employees opted out of union membership.

Most of those opt-outs came from SEIU 2015, the Washington Education Association, SEIU 1000, and the Washington Federation of State Employees.

As of July 29, 2024, the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) reported representing about 50,000 employees, but only 26,671 are dues paying members. WFSE is the largest union for state employees in Washington and is part of the AFL-CIO and AFSCME, the largest public service employee union in the country.

As of July 1, 2024, WFSE member dues are 1.5% of a member’s gross monthly salary, up to a maximum of $125.66 per month, or $1507.92 per year.

“They don’t want people opting out of paying dues, so we do hear from a lot of workers who feel intimidated,” said Dermon, who told The Center Square public employees are often worried about losing health insurance and other work benefits. “We want to make sure they know that even if they opt out the union still has to represent them in the workplace, the only thing they lose is their right to vote in a union election.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the union membership rate-the percent of workers who were members of unions-was 10% in 2023 or approximately 14.4 million.

In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the nationwide union membership rate was 20.1%.

BLS also reported that in 2023, the union membership rate was highest in local government (38.4 percent) in occupations such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

The Washington Education Association, which represents teachers and other educational employees, reports union dues are spent on a number of worthwhile causes including bargaining efforts, professional and leadership development, legislative and political activities, and racial social and economic justice.

This report was first reported by The Center Square.