CALIFORNIA: Record-breaking year continues

CALIFORNIA: Record-breaking year continues

For the past year, the Freedom Foundation has been crushing it in California, averaging nearly 1,250 opt-outs per month.

This feat has been accomplished by the Outreach Team at the Freedom Foundation and its efforts to inform and empower public-sector employees about their right to opt out of burdensome union dues.

We know when an individual is informed about anything — their finances, politics and especially their rights — they make the best decision for themselves.

We also know unions go out of their way to suppress such information and aggressively lobby California school, city, county and state employers not to tell their employees about their rights.

From now until the end of the year, we aim to break another opt-out record for the Golden State.

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of public employees to opt out of union membership and dues six years ago, in Janus v. AFSCME. But workers are still just finding out about it.

These workers opt out for a variety of reasons, from the fact that their dues money goes to fund political campaigns or simply because their union does not really advocate for their behalf.

Whatever the reason, it’s good enough. And with every month that goes by, the unions are having to come to terms with this seismic shift.

California Outreach Director
Before joining the Freedom Foundation, Orlando studied and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. During his college career he worked and canvassed for various organizations and candidates to bring change to Southern California and his neighborhood of San Bernardino County. As an independent minded student, honored the freedoms and limitation set forth by the Constitution. As a deputy director for Rick Caruso’s bid for mayor in Los Angeles in 2022, Orlando’s role was to recruit, train and manage canvassers fulfilling his passion of engaging with people about politics on the streets of South LA. Despite the hostile environment, he enjoyed being an effective member of Caruso’s team. Orlando enjoys spontaneous trips with friends, the sunny beaches of Orange County and making his newly-wed wife, Mariana, laugh.