Should States Give Out Birthdates and Contact Information of Public Employees?

“Right to work” is a concept that limits a union’s power to collect dues via a mandatory dues deduction process.

But there’s a good argument behind right-to-work: employees should make a choice whether to pay dues or not.

With that in mind, the Right to Work movement is far more motivated to destroy public unions than to help the employee.

Let’s begin with their formal name: the Freedom Foundation. In the state of Washington, the Freedom Foundation is using the FOIA law (Freedom of Information Act) to seek names, birthdates, addresses, and contact information of every employee in the state who is covered under a collective bargaining agreement. The group sought the records as part of a campaign to inform unionized state employees of their right to opt out of paying some union dues.

Public-sector unions fought back. The unions claimed that disclosing workers’ names and birthdates violated their right to privacy under the state constitution.

The unions also argued that the Freedom Foundation’s request would expose workers to identity theft, and that the information could be used to find their home addresses and phone numbers.

The union won at the state appeals court level—but the Freedom Foundation is appealing to the state supreme court.