Following a record-breaking April, May saw public employees in New Jersey continue to cancel their union membership at a record pace, much to the dismay of big government unions around the state. All told, 157 New Jersey public employees decided to leave their unions in May, the second-highest monthly total since the Freedom Foundation began operations there to inform union-represented public employees of their First Amendment right to refrain from union membership and dues payment. This brought the all-time total of Freedom Foundation-assisted union membership cancellations in New Jersey to more than 2,000, placing the state alongside only seven others that have passed this milestone.

May’s record numbers in the Garden State were driven primarily by members of Communications Workers of America New Jersey (CWA NJ), as opt-outs from that union accounted for 55 percent of all union membership cancellations the Freedom Foundation aided across the state. This increase in CWA NJ members deciding to leave their union once and for all was not surprising, as public employees represented by that union have received multiple postcards, brochures and e-mails explaining in detail the deliberately obscure process CWA NJ currently imposes on employees seeking to cancel their membership.

Not only did the information prompt immediate responses from the employees we contacted, but the campaign created a buzz in the workplace, too, as employees started talking to one another about the information we had sent them. When we followed up with one former member of CWA NJ, he told us he had been led to believe that opting out of membership was too good to be true and that he would lose his job if he did. It wasn’t until he heard his co-workers talking about opting out that he began to reconsider.

As he explained to us,

“I heard other guys were opting out at work, and I started asking myself, ‘what do they do for me other than take my money?’ If CWA was a strong union, maybe I could justify paying the dues. But it’s a Micky Mouse union; these union reps don’t fight for us at all.” 

As we followed up with more public employees represented by CWA NJ, we discovered that many who were opting out just didn’t believe the union was earning their dues. As one former member told us, “I opted out of CWA because I wasn’t getting my money’s worth. Taking my money was the only thing they were good at.”

And yet another employee wrote us via email, “They do not fight for my merit, longevity, healthcare, pension, time off, holidays or raises.”

To make matters worse for CWA NJ, we spoke with numerous employees who were still attempting to navigate the union’s treacherous membership escape windows with absolutely no help from the very union that claims to prioritize the well-being of its members.

Even more disturbing than ignoring public employees’ membership cancellation requests was the amount of disinformation coming from CWA NJ.

We heard stories about misinformed payroll departments forcing employees to schedule time during their workday to discuss opting out, even though that’s completely unnecessary. We heard about employees who couldn’t get a consistent answer from union executives about when they could leave the union. Usually, the dates the union gave were wrong and never in writing. And there were plenty more members who attempted to opt-out but never heard anything back from CWA NJ at all.

To CWA NJ’s chagrin, we were all too happy to make sure that those neglected employees would have their membership cancellations acknowledged and recognized, despite their union’s attempts to ignore them. Employees who had been misled by union leadership were thrilled to learn exactly what they needed to do to get out. As one former CWA NJ member told us, “They have made trying to opt out very confusing! Thank you so much for the call and for helping me figure all of this out.” 

Just like a toddler too scared to look under the bed, CWA NJ has been hoping that the opt-out attempts will just disappear if it doesn’t acknowledge them, but that won’t happen as long as we’re around.

The bullies at CWA NJ and other government unions across the Garden State have never been confronted with an organization that dares to challenge them—until now. Over the past eight months, the unprecedented amount of outreach we’ve conducted in New Jersey has contributed to more public employees deciding to cancel membership in their unions than we saw during the previous twenty months, proving emphatically that when we turn up the heat and reach out to public employees to inform them about their Janus rights, they become empowered to take their hard earned money back from their government union overlords.

May was an exciting month for New Jersey and, from what we’ve seen, CWA NJ will continue to see its members opt-out in droves. Make no mistake: CWA NJ won’t be the only union losing members, either, because there are bigger and nastier unions in New Jersey—such as the New Jersey Education Association—whose members have only begun to hear from us. As our educational efforts continue to grow, we expect New Jersey’s record spring to lead directly into New Jersey’s hottest summer ever.