In the Freedom Foundation’s line of work, success has consequences. And our success in Oregon is hard to ignore.

Since we opened our Oregon office in 2014, more than 30,000 public employees have used our website to opt out of union dues — and that’s not including the countless public employees who call our office every day for assistance but don’t use the website.

We hear daily from teachers, school staff, city and state workers and others who say they’ve been left in the dark or ignored completely by their unions.

Many say we’re the only organization that ever told them the truth — or even picked up the phone.

From day one, Oregon quickly became one of the leading states in terms of union opt-outs — and not by accident.

We heard from countless public employees who needed our help, and we responded. As demand surged, we ramped up our outreach, knocking on tens of thousands of doors, visiting public buildings and making personal phone calls.

Why? Because so many public employees simply couldn’t continue — morally, financially or professionally — to fund the extreme agendas of unions like OEA, SEIU 503, AFSCME 75, OSEA and other increasingly radicalized unions.

They didn’t abandon their union: Their union abandoned them, overwhelmed by radical ideology and propped up by Oregon’s leftist lawmakers.

We’re proud of this success. And the unions? They’re terrified.

Rather than reversing course to represent all employees, provide real value and make membership worth the money, they turned to their allies in the legislature to rewrite the rules in their favor.

Oregon House Bill 3789 isn’t about protecting public employees. It’s about targeting the only organization that’s been truly effective in supporting them.

It’s a blatant attempt to silence opposition and criminalize our right to communicate.

Let’s be very clear: This isn’t the first time unions have tried to shut us down. It’s just the lowest they’ve gone.

They’ve rallied their most radical activists to bully fellow members into silence and submission. They’ve flooded their members with misinformation, pushed out slanderous hit pieces and, most recently, blasted an email calling our outreach efforts a “SCAM.”

It’s just the latest move in a clear pattern of desperation. And now, they’re outright rejecting valid opt-out requests — just like AFSCME 75 and ATU 757 are doing right now.

With HB 3789, they want to punish us legally for helping public employees exercise their constitutional rights.

Their justification? Bogus claims that we impersonate unions or union officials.

But there’s one problem with their argument: Every year, we send more than a million pieces of mail and a million emails to public employees across Oregon. If impersonation were happening, wouldn’t they be able to cite just one example?

But they don’t. They can’t. Because it ain’t happening.

Not one email. Not one flyer. Not one voicemail. Nothing.

Just empty accusations, political posturing and a manufactured legal standard tailored to silence their most successful critics.

HB 3789 is not about fraud. It’s about control. It’s about unions using their supermajority in the legislature to do what they can’t do through persuasion — stop the Freedom Foundation from reaching the people who no longer want to fund them.

If lawmakers truly care about public employees, they’ll reject this disgraceful bill. Public employees are adults. They don’t need Big Labor or Big Government filtering what they can hear, read or choose.

They certainly don’t need legislation designed to punish the one group that’s been there for them when their union turned its back on them.

This is about more than a bill — it’s about whether Oregon stands for open dialogue and free choice or if it will allow powerful political interests to silence dissent and sue their critics into submission.

HB 3789 is a betrayal of the public trust and a stain on Oregon’s democratic values.

But we’re not going anywhere. We’ll keep speaking out. We’ll keep showing up.

And we’ll keep fighting — because the public employees of Oregon deserve better than this.

If you’re wondering how you can help, this is a fight we all have a stake in—and everyone can take action. Call your legislators and urge them to vote NO on HB 3789. If the Freedom Foundation has helped you—or if you believe public employees deserve to hear both sides—now is the time to speak up.

If you’re a public employee and want to take it a step further by testifying against this bill, reach out to me directly at dsashchenko@freedomfoundation.com. And if you still pay union dues, what better way to protest this kind of censorship than by opting out? Visit www.OptOutToday.com/Oregon to take action.