NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 24, 2018 | PAGE 29
How to turn the tables on
union-busting canvassers
For years, the Olympia-headquartered anti-union group
Freedom Foundation has filed public records requests to get
names, addresses and even birthdays of public employee
union members in Oregon, Washington and California — in
order to contact them about dropping their union member-
ship.
Now the union-funded group Northwest Accountability
Project is turning the tables, publishing the names, pictures,
and in some cases addresses of Freedom Foundation employ-
ees, including canvassers who knock on workers’ doors to try
to talk them out of financial support for their union. They’re
posting their findings at FreedomFoundationCanvassers.com
and are calling on union members to report Freedom Foun-
dation canvassers when they’re spotted at homes and work-
places— at nwaccountabilityproject.com/report-ff.
Northwest Accountability Project says Freedom Founda-
tion complained to the company hosting the web site, and the
site was taken down. But it’s back up as of when this issue
went to press.
But if the experience of one OPB reporter is any indica-
tion, the Freedom Foundation canvass is no great threat to
unions.
“The union-busting business doesn’t seem to be going
great” concluded reporter Dirk Vanderhart after he tagged
along with Freedom Foundation canvasser Ben Straka and
encountered locked doors, wrong addresses, and disinter-
ested union members. [Hear the whole segment at
bit.ly/2vveUUI]