Earlier this week The Guardian, a left leaning British newspaper that has a reputation as a platform for promoting liberal causes to a left-wing readership, published what they seem to think is a scandalous “exclusive” expose´ on how “radical conservative think tanks” are trying to educate government workers on their rights.

The paper is talking about the Janus v. AFSCME decision pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, which could finally give government workers a choice in whether they want to pay a union to represent them.  A ruling from the Court in the landmark case is expected next month.

The article breathlessly reveals these think tanks (which the paper gravely informs readers support “regressive policies such as low taxes and small government”) are using a “secret toolkit” to “plot against U.S. unions.”  By plotting against unions The Guardian means ensuring government workers know and understand their right to opt-out of paying for union representation they do not want should the Court rule in favor of plaintiff Mark Janus.  The paper points to a document from the so-called “secret toolkit” as evidence of conservatives’ dastardly motives:

“To get employees to opt-out of their union,” the [conservative think tank] documents say, ‘they first need to know they have a choice.’”

The article then points out the Freedom Foundation’s “brazen” (aka effective) campaign in recent years to educate government home health and day care workers in Washington and Oregon of their right to opt out of paying union dues under a previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2014 (Harris v. Quinn).

Letting workers know they have a choice!  Educating them about their rights!  Oh, the outrage!

Of course, unions have created their own toolkit to counter the efforts of groups like the Freedom Foundation.  But the union toolkit is entirely different—instead of educating government workers about their rights, the union’s efforts so far have largely revolved around keeping government workers in the dark and preventing them from exercising their rights.

The latest ploy in the union toolkit is sending government union employees a new “membership application” that locks workers into paying union dues even if a Janus ruling gives them the right to opt out in the future.   The application appears to be a benign statement of support for union solidarity (“Yes! I want to stand with my co-workers and become a member … to build power at the bargaining table and strength in the workplace!”), but buried in the fine print is language that signing the application means the worker is essentially forfeiting their potential future rights.

It is more than ironic that the campaign launched by the AFL-CIO to convince workers to continue paying the union is named “Freedom to Join.”  A press release issued by the AFL-CIO says the new “Freedom to Join” website is designed to combat a Court ruling in favor of Janus that would “undermine the freedom of millions of…public workers.”   (I’ll leave you to ponder the mental gymnastics it takes to argue that giving workers the freedom to choose whether they want to pay a union is tantamount to undermining their freedom.)

So the “secret” [and ostensibly evil] tool wielded by so-called “radical conservative think tanks” is to reach out to as many public employees as possible to inform them of their right to opt-out of paying a union with which they may fundamentally disagree; while the union’s “freedom” tool is to trying to hide, obfuscate and deny workers’ right to opt-out.

Clearly the union spin machine is at full throttle.