The pictured postcard is part of Operation Worker Freedom, a campaign aimed directly at public sector unions in California — the nation’s largest state and a leader of the opposition to Donald Trump’s Republican Party. As a (former) employee of the University of California, this week I received this post card from the Freedom Foundation. (Apparently this group hasn’t heard about my retirement.)
‘Freedom Foundation’ has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? The group purports to be a defender of worker rights and ‘free markets.’ It is actually one of several fronts of a broader assault on the country’s labor unions.
Conservatives and the Republican Party are committed to savaging labor unions because unionized workers earn higher pay, and more generous benefits, than non-unionized workers. So even in an era of increasing productivity, both the compensation of corporate executives and the income of stockholders increase at the expense of the labor force. And, even more critically — because labor unions overwhelming support Democratic candidates — this effort seeks to slash union membership as a way of defunding the Democratic opposition to Republican candidates and the conservative agenda.
Kimberly Phillips-Fein’s Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal, traces this hostile history from 1945 to the present. These union-busting efforts have been highly successful. The percentage of American workers in unions declined from a peak of 35% in 1954 to a shade over 11% today. However, membership in public sector unions is the exception – with 31.1 federal government employees, 32.8% of state government employees, and 43.9% of local government employees represented by labor unions.
This is the niche occupied by Freedom Foundation, which has trained its fire on public employee unions. In April 2017 the Orange County Register reported: “In California, the foundation’s initial target is the United Domestic Workers, which represents 97,000 caregivers statewide, including 21,400 in Orange County, where two-thirds currently pay union dues.”
The Register story continues:
“As the U.S. population ages, these workers, who feed, bathe, and assist low-income elderly and disabled patients who might otherwise find themselves in nursing homes and institutions, are in one the nation’s fastest growing occupations. ...
Most of California’s 460,000 homecare workers earn the minimum wage of $10.50 an hour, with a few counties paying slightly more.”
Freedom Foundation – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ‘educational’ organization under IRS tax rules; incorporated as Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Washington – has endeavored to convince these workers to leave their union. Or not to join.
With Operation Worker Freedom, the group has now trained its fire on a wider swath of California’s public employee unions. This newest attack comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME ruling (in June 2018) that upended decades of labor law requiring workers – who benefit from union representation – to pay agency (or ‘fair use’) fees for services such as contract negotiation and arbitration. The narrow 5-4 ruling – with the 5 Republicans in the majority and 4 Democratic justices in the minority – permitted workers to opt-out of paying agency fees.
We’re supposed to believe that this is a victory to increase ‘freedom,’ but Freedom Foundation’s cynical gambit is not difficult to discern.
The Register report began with a post-election fundraising appeal sent by Freedom Foundation:
“Union bosses spent some $100 million in member dues trying to elect Hillary Clinton and other liberal Democrats,” it read.
“Well, the Deplorables had the last laugh.”
This blunt message – which reflects the view of the Koch brothers, who may well be dark money funders of the group – reveals the underlying intent of Freedom Foundation. Rest assured, it’s not to empower minimum wage workers who care for folks who need help at home with daily activities, or teachers in our public schools, or anyone else working for California state or local government.
The good news? At this stage, with high public awareness of the Trump/Republican agenda, unions are holding their own. As Governing magazine reports, “The Supreme Court’s ruling was expected to diminish union membership. But so far, many unions have actually increased their numbers since the verdict.”
Nonetheless, “Conservative groups are working to reverse that trend in the long run.” The battle continues.