Immediately after a Nov. 19 Sacramento Bee article reported that SEIU Local 1000 President Richard Brown inexplicably released six years of the union’s credit card transactions, the Freedom Foundation obtained the data and came across an interesting find: SEIU Local 1000, the largest union representing state workers, spent $32,000 in 2018 on anti- Freedom Foundation training seminars throughout the state.
Not that it was all work, you understand. Charges included hotel rooms, conference centers, training material — as well as airfare and restaurant and alcohol charges for union bosses.
The unions dubbed the seminars “#iChoose – Steward Training” and held them in eight locations throughout California to warn regional union bosses about us.
Here’s a sample of what they posted on their website promoting the events:
“The Freedom Foundation has set up shop in Southern California and is taking aim at making California a so-called ‘right-to-work’ state … if they’re successful, this will weaken our union … We’re fighting back with a rigorous program to educate, train and empower member leaders against these attacks.”
SEIU Local 1000 know us — and rightfully fear us. They attack us because we’ve been effective in costing the union members and money. In return, no other organization in the country is attacked as viciously by government unions as we are.
“Union shills are fond of boasting that the Freedom Foundation isn’t effective,” noted Timothy R. Snowball, litigation counsel for the organization, “But money talks. If we hadn’t already torpedoed a massive hole in the hull of the S.S. Stolen Dues, they wouldn’t have to spend so much time and money just to keep the wreckage afloat.”
The Freedom Foundation significantly expanded its outreach and litigation operations in California after the June 2018 Janus v AFSCME ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmed the rights of government workers under the First Amendment to leave their union without losing their jobs or benefits.
And SEIU Local 1000’s membership has been in a steep and steady decline ever since.
Pre-Janus, SEIU Local 1000’s membership totaled 94,000.
“Do the math,” Snowball said. “The Freedom Foundation’s message empowering public employees is on the rise nationally while public-sector union membership is cratering. And phenomena have the same cause: Workers are unhappy paying dues to an organization that isn’t providing a valuable service in return.”
In the three years since, the Freedom Foundation’s aggressive outreach efforts to union members, helping those who want to opt out, has resulted in tens of thousands of former SEIU Local 1000 members choosing to drop the union and cease paying dues.
Today, SEIU Local 1000’s membership totals less than 54,000 – a 40 percent decline since Janus, and since the Freedom Foundation ramped-up operations in California.
SEIU Local 1000 is a union in disarray, and we’re proud of the significant part we’ve played in its downfall.
In an election held last May, the union’s new president, Richard Brown, defeated a 13-year incumbent on a radical platform that included ending political contributions to candidates and initiatives, opposing the re-election of liberal Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom and allowing non-members to vote.
Not surprisingly, the union’s board of directors — a veritable Who’s Who of hardcore leftists — has worked overtime to thwart Brown’s agenda and strip him of powers.
But Brown has cards to play, and his release of six years’ worth of union credit card transactions is one of them.
Even as these words are being written, Freedom Foundation analysts continue to scour the credit card charges looking for union malfeasance.
Is there any question we’ll find plenty?
