With roughly 1.4 million public employees represented by labor unions, California continues to be one of the largest sources of government workers seeking the Freedom Foundation’s assistance in saving more money paycheck to paycheck and, more importantly, protecting their First Amendment rights.  

So far this year, the growing California team has processed an unprecedented number of union membership cancellations compared to previous years. In May alone, we handled over 1,200 opt outs – our second highest number of opt outs ever. To put this into perspective, these numbers are more often seen during the holiday season as people spend more on family, friends and fun. 

The increase in public employees seeking to terminate their union membership can be attributed at least in part to the incorporation of new technology and analytics into the Freedom Foundation’s educational outreach program, allowing us to more effectively get information into the right employees’ hands.  

Another great asset has been the growing use of digital tools for outreach. Being able to broadcast our message on computer and phone screens expands our visibility and will continue to make our informational website, OptOutToday.com, much more accessible.  

Given the growing arsenal of tools at its disposal, the California team is just getting warmed up and will continue to help many thousands more public employees opt out by the end of 2023.