Posts tagged Freedom Foundation
New York’s union bosses just invented a new way to silence their critics
September 17, 2026 // But read past the press release and you find the real target: the state attorney general now has subpoena power and can seek $1,000 per violation against any person or group, in state or out, whose mailers about a worker's right to leave a union get labeled "impersonation." Unions get their own private right to sue on top of that. I've spent three decades in regulated finance, and I know what an uncapped $1,000-per-item liability schedule does to an organization's willingness to speak. It doesn't punish fraud. It punishes volume.
Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group
September 15, 2026 // "This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker," said Withe. He asserted that the New York law was "copied" from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will "make the same case here." Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Walters, former superintendent of Oklahoma public schools and CEO of Freedom Foundation’s education arm, the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Walters called the New York law an example of "pure censorship and targeting of political opponents by Democrats protecting their union bosses."
House Republicans ramp up labor union investigations before midterms
September 3, 2026 // Inquiries come after conservative thinktanks claim unions are using member dues to support Democratic causes
Calif. In-Home Workers Accuse Unions of Coerced Dues, Shakedowns
July 15, 2026 // May, 39, received training to become a home worker through Medicare’s In-Home Support Services, or IHSS, to care for her then-infant. In the summer of 2023, as a mandatory part of her training, she attended an IHSS orientation. May was expecting to learn about the program’s rules, payroll procedures, and her legal responsibilities for compliance. Instead, she says that 75% of the orientation was devoted to pressuring her to join the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. At the end of the presentation, May said a representative from the Service Employees International Union local 2015 locked the doors of the orientation room and told attendees that “no one is leaving until everyone signs” a union membership card.
Editorial: Randi Weingarten’s book sleaze might mean the end of corrupt teacher-union power
July 13, 2026 // Under Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Rick Allen (R-Ga.), the committee is following up on Post reporting on dubious transactions uncovered by the Freedom Foundation that amount to hundreds of thousands of AFT dollars spent to help produce the book Of course, that’s just a fraction of how union higherups profit from members’ dues: Weingarten’s pay is now $470,000 a year, not to mention ample perks. Maybe she’s worth it — to the union itself, at least: She’s been a Democratic Party powerbroker for decades, using that influence to protect the power of the AFT and its larger ally, the National Education Association.
House launches probe into AFT boss Randi Weingarten tapping teachers’ union spending to write ‘manifesto’ book
July 8, 2026 // As part of its sweeping investigation, it requested Weingarten turn over by July 21 all AFT expenditures related to the drafting, publishing, promoting and tour activities associated with the book; all agreements between AFT and outside parties and documents of all work performed by AFT employees on the book. See Also An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Randi Weingarten holding her book "Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy", Image 2 shows Randi Weingarten holding a copy of her book, "Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy." AFT boss Randi Weingarten tapped union resources worth over $1.4M to write ‘manifesto’ book Walberg and Allen said they have a responsibility to ensure that unions representing American workers operate “transparently and that union members receive a full accounting of how their dues are utilized.”
Op-ed: 8 years after Janus, unions are still trying to keep workers in the dark
July 6, 2026 // The National Education Association’s headquarters dues revenue fell from $370 million in fiscal 2017 to an inflation-adjusted $310 million five years later — a decline in real terms of about 16 percent. Nationally, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show public-sector union density slid from 33.9 percent in 2018 to 32.2 percent in 2024, before edging back up to 32.9 percent last year. States that gave workers more direct control over their own dues saw the effect even more clearly. After Florida ended government payroll deduction of union dues in 2023, the Florida Education Association lost more than 20,000 members in a single school year. When workers must actively choose to pay, rather than having dues quietly deducted by default, a meaningful share of them chooses not to.
WATCH: Eight years later, quiet opt-out rules can’t stop millions saved in union dues
July 1, 2026 // But according to Washington Policy Center’s Director of the Center for Healthcare and Worker Rights Elizabeth New, many employees still don’t understand they have an “opt out” option. “A lot of workers still don't know about this right. It isn't included on required workplace posters about a worker's rights. It's not listed on a state website where other rights are listed," said New in a Thursday interview with The Center Square. "So, if your membership is truly voluntary, and we care about all workers' rights, employees should receive neutral information about membership before a union gives them paperwork to sign up.”
Weingarten Blames Screens, Not Herself, For Falling Test Scores
June 3, 2026 // The same union that lobbied to keep students off school grounds is now positioning itself as a champion of children’s well-being, pointing an accusing finger at Silicon Valley while the learning-loss data keeps compounding. The financial record makes that positioning even harder to stomach. A recent analysis of National Education Association and AFT federal disclosures by the Network Contagion Research Institute and the Gevura Fund – of which Tina Snider is president – found America’s two largest teachers unions spend roughly $4 on political activities for every dollar spent on direct member representation. The NEA alone reported more than $51.7 million in political spending in its most recent filing, plus another $123 million in contributions and grants, compared to less than $46 million on the collective bargaining its members thought they were paying for.
Unionized nursing homes in deep-blue state trail the pack as analysis reveals ratings gap
May 28, 2026 // California nursing homes with unionized staff received lower average federal quality ratings than facilities without confirmed union presence, according to a new report. "Union presence in a CMS-certified registered home appears to lower its CMS rating by almost 10 percent," a new report published by the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a right-of-center organization critical of organized labor, reviewed by Fox News Digital found. The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, scores nursing homes on a five-star scale based on how well they perform on health inspections, the number of staff present relative to patients, how much care patients are provided and the overall quality of care residents receive.