Freedom Foundation Celebrates Employee Freedom Week August 18

Freedom Foundation Celebrates Employee Freedom Week August 18 – 24, 2019

Ashley Varner
August 21, 2019

Freedom Foundation is pleased to announce its participation in this year’s National Employee Freedom Week (NEFW) celebration, joining a coalition of organizations across the country committed to employee freedom. NEFW is an annual awareness campaign held each August that seeks to empower every American to make their own decision about union participation.

“Reaching and educating public sector employees about their right to remain independent of a government union is our one mission, and we do it very well,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe. “Since last year’s Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, Freedom Foundation has directly helped free more than 55,000 government employees from union tyranny.”

According to surveys commissioned by National Employee Freedom Week, 51% of public sector union members agree that the Janus decision was a positive step and that 31% of respondents have stopped or will stop paying dues. Many public employees support the principles of employee freedom. For example, according to a recent survey by YouGov, 90% of teachers respect the right of their colleagues to join the association of their choice and 84% think that teachers should be able to join or leave a union at any time.

“People cannot exercise rights they aren’t aware they have,” continued McCabe. “That’s why Freedom Foundation is singularly focused on educating government employees about their rights to remain free of union participation. Employee Freedom Week is a great way to continue celebrating our victories and provides an opportunity to expand our message to new audiences. We won’t stop until every public sector employee who wants to can leave their union and stop paying dues.”

If you are a government employee, or know someone who is, you can learn how to exercise your rights at www.OptOutToday.com.

National Employee Freedom Week is an annual August awareness effort founded by the Association of American Educators and Nevada Policy Research Institute in 2013. A coalition of more than 100 national, state, and local organizations dedicated to employee freedom have participated in information campaigns empowering many thousands of hard-working Americans. National Employee Freedom Week believes every worker has the right to decide for themselves whether or not union membership is the right decision.

- Labor

Ashley Varner

Vice President of Communication and Federal Affairs

Ashley Varner brings a variety of public affairs experience and a tough skin to the Freedom Foundation team. Prior to joining the Freedom Foundation, Ashley spent many exciting, turbulent and wonderful years as a media spokesperson and state government liaison at the National Rifle Association. Following her tenure at the NRA, Ashley joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where she worked with state and local lawmakers across the country on a diverse set of policy and communications issues. A grassroots activist from a young age, Ashley joined her first of many political campaigns before graduating high school and organized protests across the street from her own professors at the University of Missouri. When not rabble-rousing against Big Government, Ashley enjoys cooking, mafia movies, and has seen most of the 1970s and 80s classic rock bands still on tour. She loves the Chiefs, hopes someday she can love her Mizzou Tigers again, and she was a Kansas City Royals fan and Patriot Act opponent before either was cool.