Last Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack that shook Israel and the western world to its core. Since then, countless prominent American universities from coast to coast have come out in support of “Palestine” or its equivalent, Hamas, as thousands of students, professors and university employees have sided with the terrorists.
One of the most notable demonstrations was staged at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) this past May, and the events clearly stoked the fires of anti-Semitism on campus.
These were then followed, not coincidentally, by illegal strikes by the on-campus unions.
As the nation’s leading government employee union watchdog, the Freedom Foundation is outraged enough when they venture beyond the confines of worker representation and into political advocacy having nothing to do with pay, benefits or working conditions.
But unadorned hatred and bigotry are beyond the pale even for Big Labor.
In response, the Freedom Foundation has launched a canvasing effort on campus to contact as many university employees as possible to, 1.) inform them of their constitutionally protected right to opt out of union dues; and, 2.) the show them how their union is supporting anti-Israel causes that are of absolute no benefit to them.
Bold canvassers landed in L.A. on the first of this month to embark on this precise operation for the rest of the month. From talking to the medical staff at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center, represented by AFSCME 3299, to the lecturers, represented by UC-AFT, they are contacting workers daily to empower them.
Among the positive responses came from student organizations there to advocate for the remembrance of the Oct. 7 attacks. While they were not workers for the institution, they were very grateful for our presence and information.
They even wanted to take some of our flyers to share with any workers they might come in contact with.
While we are always looking to be respectful and informative, our canvassers have also been met with extremely vulgar attacks from none other than AFSMCE 3299 shop stewards.
Just yesterday the pair was castigated for simply handing out literature and trying to engage with workers in front of the medical center. Profanities and threats of attacks were met with a polite, yet bold, resistance.
The AFSCME thugs went even as far as to call the local campus police on us, accusing us of harassing them, which the police easily dismissed since we were exercising our constitutional right to free speech.
We were also informed by the police that shop steward Ricardo has had a history of similar attacks on the Freedom Foundation.
Our mission to inform and empower public sector workers to opt out will not be deterred. We will not let bullies frustrate our work. We know when we inform people of their rights, they exercise them.
