SALEM, Ore. — Oregon has enacted a law restricting communications that inform public employees of their constitutional right to leave a union and stop paying dues. The statute is written broadly to limit outside groups from reaching government workers with that message. The Freedom Foundation, which advocates for worker choice, has filed a lawsuit challenging the law; the case is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Oregon law directly targets information campaigns about rights the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in 2018 in *Janus v. AFSCME*. That decision established that public employees cannot be forced to join or financially support a union as a condition of employment.
In June, New York lawmakers passed a nearly identical bill, A.10835-A, which would give the state's attorney general expanded power to investigate and fine groups over communications deemed to "falsely impersonate" a union. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) has not yet acted on it.
The parallel moves in Oregon and New York reflect a union strategy to suppress information rather than change union practices, as workers increasingly opt out. Both laws face legal exposure: the Supreme Court's *Janus* precedent protects the right to inform workers of their First Amendment rights.
California unions are also facing pressure. The Freedom Foundation has filed a class-action lawsuit against an Orange County union after two home caregivers reported that union representatives allegedly shut off lights and blocked exits during a new-hire orientation, preventing them from leaving until they signed paperwork authorizing dues deductions.
The foundation separately filed 36 unfair labor practice charges this summer against three California unions on behalf of home caregivers. The allegations include forged signatures on union membership cards that workers said they never saw, requests to opt out that were ignored for years, and one worker who was denied membership rejection by a security guard despite never signing up.
One caregiver's supposed signature on her membership card bore no resemblance to her actual name.
