Trickster Alert: Anti-Union Forces Coming After Your Privacy and Your Rights

Out-of-state special interests have taken advantage of Connecticut’s Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to exploit your privacy. Funded by anti-worker billionaires, they have sent requests to multiple Connecticut agencies for their employees' names and personal information. They will likely initiate the same maneuver with municipalities and boards of education.

  • Click here for one of the FOIA requests for state employees’ private information.

After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Janus vs. AFSCME Council 31 lawsuit in February, we warned of these tactics. They're straight out of the playbook in states where lawmakers rolled back public employees' collective bargaining rights and big donors followed with deceptive PR campaigns aimed at union members.

Learn more about the groups that will try to trick you into giving up your rights and hurting your pay and benefits by dropping your union membership. And be prepared, as they may send mail, call you, come to your home, or turn up, unannounced, at your workplace.

  • Click here to read about the organizations financing the attacks on unions’ ability to represent workers.

The nation's high court is expected to release its Janus decision any day now. As Local 1565 member and state correctional employee Leighton Vanderburgh pointed out, “Statistics show that wages and benefits for all workers — not just union members — are lower than in states that have passed ‘Right to Work’ laws. I don’t want to see Connecticut go backward.”

Arming yourself with the knowledge of the Janus funders' motives is the first step toward being prepared to resist the scam and avoid going backward.

  • Click here to download and share this flyer with your fellow union members.

Equally important to protecting your freedom to bargain a better future is talking to your colleagues about the coming attempt to exploit their private information and ultimately destroy their rights. Be sure to ask your local union leadership or Council 4 representative about signing your union membership application.

Staying strong -- and staying union -- is the best way to withstand the tricksters and protect our freedoms.