In the past weeks, the anti-union organization, the Freedom Foundation, has engaged in a significant and coordinated drop campaign targeting our members. While this latest round of mailers and emails is concerning, it’s nothing new. These are the same ultra-wealthy, anti-education bad actors who have been at it for years. We have come together to push back on this kind of attack before and we can do it again.
Who is the Freedom Foundation?
They are a private think tank and dark money group dedicated to diminishing the power of unions and crushing public schools. They are fueled by millions of dollars from notoriously anti-education billionaires like the DeVos, Mercer and Walton families. What do they want?
They are trying to get our members to drop the union to increase their own power. They use language about “freedom” and “choice” to entice members to do this. But don’t be fooled. What they really want is more power and money for themselves. By contrast, NYSUT is committed to the well-being of all our members, a robust and vibrant middle class, and the importance of our public schools to our communities.
The bottom line: strong unions like ours stand in the way of the Freedom Foundation achieving their objectives, so they are trying to destroy us, one dropped member at a time. What do we suggest members do if they get a mailer or email?
- Know it to be a cynical ploy from billionaires to take away their voice and power.
- Throw out any mailing you get, like they would any other junk mail.
- For emails, they should unsubscribe or send to junk; do not reply.
- In the event of any direct outreach from anti-union forces such as phone calls or door-knockers, members should reply strongly and simply: “No thanks. I’m sticking with my union.” Then end the conversation.
- Contact an officer or your building representative if you have any questions.
