While the country was inundated with news about the impeachment and the growing international pandemic, the Freedom Foundation has remained focused on public employees and safeguarding their rights to stop paying union dues. And when workers need help, Freedom Foundation provides free legal representation.

During the first quarter, the Freedom Foundation filed three lawsuits in Oregon against government unions for forging signatures on membership cards in order to take dues from public employee paychecks. To date, the Freedom Foundation has filed 12 forgery cases against public-sector unions in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Freedom Foundation outreach teams suspended in-person contact when cases of the coronavirus began spreading in America. The outreach teams have shifted to phone calls for the time being to respect social distancing guidelines.

In March, the Freedom Foundation sent a letter to Oregon Governor Kate Brown calling for a three-month moratorium on government union dues deductions from public employee paychecks. Suspending union dues deductions for three months would return nearly $29 million to the employees who earned it, giving Oregonians economic relief during this crisis. Freedom Foundation is still waiting for a response from the governor’s office.

As of March 5, 2020, the Freedom Foundation has assisted more than 70,000 government employees in leaving their unions.