Press Release
Olympia, June 29, 2015 The Freedom Foundation will be re-airing on local cable stations a TV ad
that prompted a local labor union to threaten both the organization and
Comcast Cable with a lawsuit when it was first shown in March.
The Freedom Foundation-produced spot was created to help inform unionized individual provider homecare aides (IPs) of their right to opt out of SEIU Local 775. The ad features individual provider Brad Boardman, of Everett, who has provided in-home care for his sister-in-law since before SEIU 775 unionized IPs in 2003.
Like many providers, Boardman disagrees with the union's objectives and would prefer not to be a member but, until last summer, he was required by state law to pay union dues or equivalent fees to SEIU 775 as a condition of receiving state Medicaid funds to care for his sister-in-law.
That changed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harris v. Quinn that it's unconstitutional to force "partial-public employees" to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
The ad shows Boardman explaining to viewers their right to opt out while detailing the reasons he did so. Notably, he accuses the union of "tricking" providers into continuing to pay dues. SEIU 775 took offense and contacted both Comcast and the Freedom Foundation demanding the ad be withdrawn.
Freedom Foundation lawyers, however, responded by producing a laundry list of actions by SEIU 775 that demonstrated either deception or bad faith, and could thus be described as "tricks."
Comcast ultimately decided to ignore the SEIU threats, and no lawsuit was ever filed.
The ad will be aired this time in Tacoma and parts of Pierce County in conjunction with a Freedom Foundation information campaign under which dozens of paid staffers are canvassing state trying to personally contact each of the state's 34,000 individual providers and 12,000 family child care providers to inform them of their legal rights.
SEIU 775 has vowed to counter the campaign by dispatching its own representatives to explain why providers should continue to pay dues to an organization that's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to suppress the rights of its "members."
Viewers of the ad are directed to visit seiuoptout.com, an informational website created by the Freedom Foundation for SEIU-represented IPs and family childcare providers.
Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe issued the following statement:
“If SEIU truly had the interests of its forcibly unionized members at heart, we wouldn't have to take these steps. They should be the ones informing providers of their constitutional rights. Instead, they've filed lawsuit after lawsuit and wasted their members' dues money trying to keep the truth from them “ presumably because the union leaders know their days are numbered once the IPs start defecting en masse." See 30 second ad here.
The Freedom Foundation-produced spot was created to help inform unionized individual provider homecare aides (IPs) of their right to opt out of SEIU Local 775. The ad features individual provider Brad Boardman, of Everett, who has provided in-home care for his sister-in-law since before SEIU 775 unionized IPs in 2003.
Like many providers, Boardman disagrees with the union's objectives and would prefer not to be a member but, until last summer, he was required by state law to pay union dues or equivalent fees to SEIU 775 as a condition of receiving state Medicaid funds to care for his sister-in-law.
That changed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harris v. Quinn that it's unconstitutional to force "partial-public employees" to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
The ad shows Boardman explaining to viewers their right to opt out while detailing the reasons he did so. Notably, he accuses the union of "tricking" providers into continuing to pay dues. SEIU 775 took offense and contacted both Comcast and the Freedom Foundation demanding the ad be withdrawn.
Freedom Foundation lawyers, however, responded by producing a laundry list of actions by SEIU 775 that demonstrated either deception or bad faith, and could thus be described as "tricks."
Comcast ultimately decided to ignore the SEIU threats, and no lawsuit was ever filed.
The ad will be aired this time in Tacoma and parts of Pierce County in conjunction with a Freedom Foundation information campaign under which dozens of paid staffers are canvassing state trying to personally contact each of the state's 34,000 individual providers and 12,000 family child care providers to inform them of their legal rights.
SEIU 775 has vowed to counter the campaign by dispatching its own representatives to explain why providers should continue to pay dues to an organization that's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to suppress the rights of its "members."
Viewers of the ad are directed to visit seiuoptout.com, an informational website created by the Freedom Foundation for SEIU-represented IPs and family childcare providers.
Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe issued the following statement:
“If SEIU truly had the interests of its forcibly unionized members at heart, we wouldn't have to take these steps. They should be the ones informing providers of their constitutional rights. Instead, they've filed lawsuit after lawsuit and wasted their members' dues money trying to keep the truth from them “ presumably because the union leaders know their days are numbered once the IPs start defecting en masse." See 30 second ad here.
An extended, online-only video about Brad is available here.
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