OptOutToday

The OptOutToday project advocates for government employees by informing them of their First Amendment rights to leave their union and still keep their job.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

The Chicago Teachers Union rakes in $40 million a year in teacher dues, yet spends less than 20% of that on actual representation, according to a new Illinois Policy Institute report.

Instead, the bulk goes to politics and perks like nearly $10,000 on headshots.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Eliminating government unions means ending collective bargaining. We cannot allow a special interest incentivized to raise taxes and grow government while delivering nothing for taxpayers.

Public employees should bargain individually over wages and conditions, just like tens of millions in the private sector. Pay top performers highly. Fire those who fail the standard. Anything less is a disservice to the public, especially in education, where weak teachers fail entire generations.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

CEO Aaron Withe’s debate at the Yale Political Union was significant for reasons beyond the vote.

@AaronWithe @OfficialYPU @realsienarose

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

BREAKING: We’ve charged Teamsters Local 2010 with trapping California university workers in the union.

Eight workers resigned in writing (following the union’s own rules), yet Local 2010 kept taking dues from their paychecks.

The reason? A 30-day “escape window” that opens only once every 3–5 years. Miss it, and you’re locked in for years.

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[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Your teachers' union: dues, politics, and a lecture.

@Freedom4Teachrs: completely free, $2 MILLION liability insurance, and you just teach.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Unionization of government workers became legal under President John F. Kennedy, the first president elected with unions’ financial backing and campaign support in exchange for a return on that investment.

That opened a cycle in which government unions collect dues from public employees and use the money to elect radical liberal officials. Those officials then raise taxes on the private sector to grow government, generating still more dues for the unions’ reelection campaigns.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

🚨The Communist Party USA just published its playbook for using the labor movement as vehicle for communism.

In a statement adopted by the CPUSA National Committee this year, they ask how to drag millions of unorganized workers into unions and how to sell them a “peace and international solidarity” foreign policy.

Their answer is open class warfare on “monopoly capital,” shredding Taft-Hartley, passing the PRO Act, and a federal jobs guarantee funded by "taxing the oligarchy.” Then they say the quiet part out loud: “Ultimately, the relationships, understanding, and collective power built through such struggle are the very foundations upon which a broader working class majority can be organized to advance a transition to socialism.” They even name the villains of the old labor movement: “a long history of class collaborationist and anti-communist politics in the U.S. labor movement — from the Gompers era through the Cold War leadership of George Meany and Lane Kirkland.”

Translation: Capitalism and anti-communism are the problem, and the CPUSA's aggressive new strategy is the cure.

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[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Freedom Foundation CEO @AaronWithe opened his Yale Political Union debate by quoting not Ronald Reagan, but Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said that collective bargaining “cannot be transplanted into the public service.”

Nearly 90 years later, FDR’s warning has proven right. Government unions work against the taxpayers who fund them, growing their own power and advancing their own political agenda.

[Aaron Withe @AaronWithe]

Ryan is right that the incentive structure is the whole problem. Teachers' unions do not get paid more when a third-grader learns to read. They get paid when the contract locks in dues, seniority protects the worst performers, and the political operation stays funded.

That is why states with the some of the strongest teachers' unions keep posting the weakest literacy numbers, and why those same unions spend millions trying to stop teachers from ever hearing they can opt out.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

From the unions that brought you timeless classics like, "We never protect bad teachers," "Parents don’t need to see the curriculum," and "This strike is about student learning!"

[Aaron Withe @AaronWithe]

Governor Hochul signed a law with one purpose: to silence us. It’s a hit job written by union bosses who are terrified of what happens when public employees learn they don’t have to pay dues, because once they know, many of them stop paying. That’s why we’re filing suit in federal court today. Albany doesn’t get to make it illegal to tell people the truth.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Today we’re filing suit in federal court to block New York’s union-backed attempt to silence us. This law punishes us for telling public employees the truth: they have a constitutional right to leave their union and keep their own money.

Union bosses couldn’t win the argument with their own members, so they got Albany to make our speech illegal.

[Susan Crabtree @susancrabtree]

🚨@RCPolitics SCOOP: Worker-Rights Group to Sue New York Over Union-Backed 'Hit Job' Law

The Freedom Foundation plans to go to federal court Monday to block a New York law it says was written to silence outreach to public employees about their right to leave their unions. The group argues the new law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech because it allows state government officials to shut down speech before a single word is conveyed.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the measure on Sept. 9. It took effect immediately.

The case sets up a high-stakes test of how far a state can go in policing speech aimed at its own workers. New York contends that the law simply targets fraud. The Freedom Foundation counters that it’s a union-backed weapon targeting its highly successful education campaigns to show public sector workers how to cancel their union memberships.

READ the full @RCPolitics story in the link below:

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Hours after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, FAU professor Karen Leader went on X and added to a wave of attacks on him:

“This was Charlie Kirk.”

"Misogynist to the core.”

“Charlie Kirk would happily watch gay people being stoned to death, and then find a way to monetize it.”

She also shared a post from an account then named “I smoked Charlie Kirk.”

Yet the NEA just published a glowing puff-piece about her, calling her a beloved truth-teller who “didn’t do anything wrong" and a victim of the "far-right".

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[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

SEIU forged union cards to take dues from workers' paychecks — and when Staci Trees sued to hold them accountable, SEIU sued her to make the case disappear.

Today Freedom Foundation lawyers argued before the Ninth Circuit: Ms. Trees deserves her day in court.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Last week, Governor Kathy Hochul just signed a law whose entire purpose is to silence the Freedom Foundation for telling New York’s public employees the truth.

The bill makes it illegal to “falsely impersonate” a union or a union representative. That sounds reasonable until you see what it’s actually aimed at: mailers and emails that inform government workers of their rights under the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.

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[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Siena Rose and @OptOutToday canvasser Caleb went looking for the truth on Labor Day.

They attended a union picnic, spoke with Democratic Socialists and radical activists who turned the day into an anti-Trump statement, and talked with teachers’ union representatives who admitted to withholding information from workers about their rights and union activities.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

Gov. Hochul just signed a law designed to stop us from telling New York union members they can keep their dues.

Why? Because it’s working.

We’ve helped drive down union membership in New York and across the nation, costing union bosses hundreds of millions in political donations. They won’t debate us. They won’t make the case to their own members. They sent Hochul to try to silence us instead.

But we won’t be intimidated.

We’ll fight this law in court. And we will keep telling workers the truth: You don’t have to fund unions who don't represent your values.

If you’re a union member, go to https://t.co/d9uUqgePO7 to learn how you can put up to $1,100 a year back in your wallet.

[Freedom Foundation @FreedomFdtn]

🧵Arizona voters are about to decide whether taxpayer resources should continue funding teachers’ union organizing and politics in public schools!

Late last week, the Arizona Legislature passed HCR 2040 (a Freedom Foundation-backed bill) after a tense all-night session and debate. The bill now heads straight to the November ballot.

This is a major step toward ending teachers' unions' misuse of public funds!

[Julie Collier @JuliewithPALs]

As a public school teacher in Oklahoma I am not interested in participating in the teachers’ unions indoctrination. Common sense teachers need to take back their dues and leave their teachers’ unions. Our profession is far too important to be influenced by anything other than student academic success.