Giving millions of workers a voice and a choice: The historic Janus decision four years later

On June 27, 2018—four years ago today—the United States Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that public employees no longer have to pay union fees in order to keep their job. Before this historic decision, millions of government workers across the country had no choice when it came to joining a union and paying dues.

Mark Janus, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, was one of those workers. A child support specialist who works for Health Care & Family Services, Janus did not believe he should be forced to pay fees to a union that engages in political causes that don’t align with his values.

Janus’s plight is one felt by millions of other public employees. Many workers do not think their union represents their political beliefs or best serves their interests, and they don’t want a portion of their paycheck supporting a cause they don’t believe in.

The Supreme Court agreed with Janus. Janus vs. AFSCME restored the First Amendment rights of millions of public sector employees—giving them a voice and a choice when it comes to union membership. The decision will force unions to better represent workers and their interests in order to prevent membership decline. The Buckeye Institute, a nonprofit policy organization in Ohio, added: “By respecting the First Amendment rights of public-sector employees, in Janus, the US Supreme Court gave workers the power to hold government unions accountable for the services they provide as well as the political causes and candidates they support.”

In the four years since the decision, a Network of state and local policy organizations, committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of the Americans in their communities, launched efforts to educate workers about their rights, and helped thousands of workers opt-out of union membership.

Educating workers about their right to choose union membership

The Janus decision was just the beginning of the effort to ensure all workers who wish to leave their union are free to do so. The Court affirmed that public workers do indeed have a choice. But how would government workers, more than five million across the country, understand their restored rights under Janus?

That’s where SPN’s 50-state Network came in. Several organizations launched initiatives to educate workers about their constitutional right to leave their union. Many of these organizations are members of State Policy Network’s Workplace Freedom Working Group—a coalition dedicated to labor reform that collaborates on multi-state worker freedom initiatives.

Joseph Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, a nonpartisan policy organization in Michigan, added: “Freedom is not self-executing. We knew even a positive ruling would mean little unless we could then educate millions of workers and help them exercise their rights under 50 unique sets of state laws. SPN is our obvious partner for giving state policy national impact.”

Network organizations spread the word and offered support to workers in a variety of ways:

The Empire Center created a campaign, Dues & Don’ts, to help employers better understand their rights and responsibilities under Janus and New York’s existing labor laws. Empire also launched a project, New Choice NY, that was all about reaching out to public employees to help them leave the union.
The Freedom Foundation mobilized canvassers who have visited tens of thousands of public employees in their homes and workplaces to inform them of their constitutional rights. Freedom Foundation is also using direct mail, email, news releases, media outreach to inform workers of their rights.
Since the Janus decision, the Illinois Policy Institute has directly communicated with hundreds of public employees one-on-one, answering their specific questions and helping them navigate the process when their unions try and prevent them from opting out of membership.
The Yankee Institute is training state and city leaders, human resources professionals, labor directors, and department heads how to negotiate against labor unions.
The California Policy Center deployed its multi-channel outreach campaign to inform public union members of their rights under the Janus decision.

Defending workers in court

In addition to ensuring public employees understand their right to op-out of union membership, it’s also important to ensure workers can exercise that right. For many workers, however, leaving their union is a difficult endeavor. Although the Janus decision affirmed a worker’s right to leave their union, unions don’t always notify employees about that right, leaving many in the dark.

The Freedom Foundation highlighted how unions will even use questionable tactics at times to prevent employees from exercising their right to leave the union. For example, some unions would only process opt-outs during an arbitrary, union-established two-week annual window. Other unions would challenge employees opt-out requests by ignoring the request outright or filing lawsuits against those requests. To help workers exercise their right to opt-out, several organizations in the Network used litigation to defend these workers in court.

Snapshot of impact across the states:

The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) has been contacted by more than 2,000 public employees who have been blocked from leaving their government union. LJC filed lawsuits in 11 states against government unions and government employers who force government employees to continue paying union dues even after they have resigned union membership.
The Buckeye Institute successfully won settlements for six Ohioans who left their unions after the Janus decision, but still had dues taken out of their paychecks.
The Fairness Center in Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit to protect a cafeteria worker who was told by her union that she “couldn’t opt out and that [President] Biden had ‘signed’ a bill to ‘overturn’ Janus, which would mean that Ms. Curtis would owe ‘back dues’ if she resigned.”
The Freedom Foundation helped 150 employees stop the City of Cincinnati and union from taking 75 days of their vacation time each year and giving it to the union for union organizing and political purposes.
Cindy Ochoa, a Washington homecare provider, contacted the Freedom Foundation when she noticed SEIU 775 was deducting dues from her paycheck, despite having already left the union. When the Freedom Foundation intervened on her behalf, it became clear that the union had forged her signature. Ms. Ochoa successfully settled her claims against SEIU 775 for $28,000.

Passing legislation to enforce the Janus ruling

Legislation is another component of the Network’s strategy to ensure the Janus decision is respected and workers can exercise their rights. In fact, 179pieces of pro-Janus legislation has been introduced

since 2019. The Mackinac Center is working with Network partners to educate lawmakers and governors on the role they play in enforcing the Janus decision.

Snapshot of impact across the states:

In 2022, Arizona became the first state to pass a policy that prohibits release time—a union practice where taxpayers pay for a public employee to do work for the union rather than their day job. For years, the Goldwater Institute pursued this reform and found the nation-wide practice occurs at all levels of government and costs taxpayers millions each year.
The Mackinac Center drove nationwide efforts to enforce the Janus decision by passing reforms that would require workers to expressly opt in to union membership, otherwise they are no longer members. Michigan successfully enacted opt-in through their Civil Service Commission in 2020.
Indiana passed opt-in reform through the Legislature and strengthened it in 2022. At least four other states are considering similar legislation.
In Pennsylvania, nine members of Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT) testified in support of bills that would protect public worker rights. AFFT is a nonprofit that offers educational materials and a free membership program to public sector employees in New York and Pennsylvania.

What’s next for workplace freedom?

In the four years since Janus, the Network has helped thousands of workers exercise their right to choose union membership. But there’s still work to be done. Millions of workers across the country feel the struggle Mark Janus once felt—unrepresented and without a voice at work. This Network is committed to helping these workers find their voice and leave their union if they chose to do so.

Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation, said: “The opt-out results since Janus have been both encouraging and disappointing. We’re deeply gratified that our hard work has helped so many win their freedom in the face of the unions’ unrelenting opposition, but we won’t be completely satisfied until every single worker who wants out gets out. In our experience, unionized government workers are eager to opt out once they learn they can—and that the Freedom Foundation has their back.

But it doesn’t happen by itself. You have to work at it.”

Snapshot of impact across the states:

The Mackinac Center projects an estimated 646,000 workers have left their union since the Supreme Court decision.
In 2018, California Policy Center (CPC), alongside the Mackinac Center, developed a research method that gave real insight into the growth of public unions: auditing union membership records directly from government employers in California’s state agencies, cities, counties, and school districts. CPC found that public union payers are down nearly 21 percent in California, the deepest drop in the nation.
The Freedom Foundation has helped more than 117,000 workers exercise their rights to leave their union.
The Yankee Institute highlighted how more than 15,000 government workers in Connecticut have been freed from paying a union that doesn’t represent their values.
The Illinois Policy Institute helped 38,000 people leave Illinois’ largest government unions.

Giving millions of workers a voice and a choice: The historic Janus decision four years later￼

Educating workers about their right to choose union membership

Defending workers in court

Passing legislation to enforce the Janus ruling

What’s next for workplace freedom?

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Giving millions of workers a voice and a choice: The historic Janus decision four years later