Happy Janusversary! Six years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the free speech rights of public employees with its Janus v. AFSCME ruling. In this landmark decision, the high court ruled that government employees have the right to decide whether to join and pay a union.

The majority in Janus stated that forcing nonmembers to “subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern” through agency fees or other coercive union tactics violates an employee’s First Amendment rights and is not permissible as a condition of employment.

This gave almost 5.5 million public employees in 22 states the freedom to decide whether or not to pay a union. More than 1.3 million workers across the country have exercised their right to opt out in the past six years, lowering union membership to the lowest rate ever recorded.

To celebrate this important anniversary, State Representative Douglas Wozniak, R-Shelby Township, introduced House Resolution 289 of 2024, declaring June 27, 2024 Public Employee Freedom Day in the state of Michigan on behalf of his caucus. Unfortunately, the majority Democrats referred the resolution to the House Committee on Government Operations, which is widely known as the committee where bills from the minority party go to die.

The Mackinac Center’s Workers for Opportunity project is working hard to protect worker freedom in Michigan and across the country. Some recent victories include the adoption, by Alabama and Georgia, of our recommended reforms requiring companies that receive state tax incentives to hold private ballot elections on unionization votes. To accomplish these reforms, modeled after our success in Tennessee last year, we worked with our in-state partners at the Alabama Policy Institute and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Their input and expertise were essential to our efforts, and these successes testify to the contagiousness of good public policy.

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