(The Center Square) - Saturday June 27 marks eight years since the landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employees have a right to join — or not join — a union.
Since then, millions of public employees have opted out of paying union dues, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
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The Center Square's Carleen Johnson interviews Aaron Withe, CEO of Freedom Foundation discussing milestone of helping 250,000 employees leave their unions post Janus decision in 2018.
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