Eight years after the landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision, millions of public employees have opted out of paying union dues, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employees have a right to join — or not join — a union, and many have chosen to exercise this right.

Opting Out of Union Dues

According to Elizabeth New, Director of the Center for Healthcare and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center, many employees still don’t understand they have an “opt out” option. New stated that if union membership is truly voluntary, employees should receive neutral information about membership before a union gives them paperwork to sign up.

The Freedom Foundation, which created an opt-out site to assist public workers in exiting their unions, reported that they are on track for another record year. The organization has helped free more than 275,000 public employees from their union dues, resulting in an estimated $791 million in lost dues revenue for public-sector unions.

Some unions have created new ways of attempting to attract and retain workers, including requiring public employers to give unions access to new employee orientations. However, groups like the Freedom Foundation have lost legal challenges to have equal access to new employee orientations, which would allow them to educate workers about their rights to opt-out.

Union dues vary greatly, but most Washington union members pay between $1,000 and $1,600 a year. Many public employees who choose to opt out of paying union dues have done so because they don’t agree with how those dues are being spent politically.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.