In addition to creating a resource public employers can use to let their workers know about their First Amendment right to join or not join a union, I’ve written a policy paper outlining what state lawmakers could do to help increase awareness. Read it here.
This is a basic right some public employees still don’t know they have, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that workers could not be forced to join or finance a union as a condition of employment. That was in 2018. While Washington state is diligent about informing workers of meal and rest breaks, overtime, paid leave and fair treatment in the workplace, information about the right to join or not join a union is not widely distributed or treated similarly. Washington Policy Center hopes to change that.
Taxpayer-funded workers should know they can join a union and pay it a portion of their income, and they should know they can decline union membership and avoid contributing to political priorities with which some of them disagree.
