Dear Freedom Fighter,
Last Friday a Thurston County judge ruled against SEIU and ordered the
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services to make public
the names of thousands of family healthcare providers being paid with
taxpayer dollars.
The Freedom Foundation requested the list of names in October following last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn that
home healthcare workers are not full-fledged state employees and,
therefore, cannot be required to pay money to a labor union as a
condition of employment.
The Freedom Foundation requested the names of all the employees who
receive public funds through DSHS ” many of whom don't even realize
the union is deducting mandatory dues from their paychecks” so we can
notify them of their newly acknowledged right to opt out of all
payments to a union if they so choose.
However, before DSHS released the names, they notified SEIU, which filed
a lawsuit to prevent mass defections and a huge loss in dues revenue.
In a preliminary hearing last fall, Thurston County Superior Court Judge
Erik Price issued a temporary restraining order to prevent release of
the list until the case could be heard.
On Friday, Judge Price said DSHS must turn over the names so long as
the disclosure doesn't make clear which employees are union members
in good standing and which have requested to pay only a forced
representation fee.
This is a big victory for the Freedom Foundation over SEIU. Thanks to
the Foundation's legal team, we will soon be able to obtain the list
of family healthcare provider names, and will be able to tell these
people they don't have to pay money to the union if they don't want
to. Providers we've been able to contact already thanked us for doing
so. Now we will be able to tell the rest of them.
Best regards,
Brian Minnich, Executive Vice President
Freedom Foundation
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