Revealed: Anti-Union Group’s Secret Blueprint to Undermine Labor With Trump and Musk
The Billionaire-Backed Campaign to Break Teacher Unions Nationwide
Headlines:
The Billionaire-Backed Campaign to Break Teacher Unions Nationwide
Revealed: Anti-Union Group’s Secret Blueprint to Undermine Labor With Trump and Musk
Freedom Foundation Teams up With Trump, Musk in Aggressive Anti-Union Campaign
Leaked Memo: Union-Busting Group Boasts to Donors of Lucrative Returns on Investment
Lede:
A confidential donor memo obtained by Source Code details a "very aggressive plan" by the Freedom Foundation to advance its anti-union agenda in collaboration with the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The group's strategy for 2025, outlined in the memo, includes promoting a raft of state and federal legislative actions, launching a pro-capitalist, anti-union teacher group, and targeting conservative school boards to undermine unions, even in traditionally blue states. The group claims it drove 40,000 public sector workers from their unions in 2024, costing them over $38 million. Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe told donors, "I view our supporters as investors" entitled to "a handsome return on their investment."
Why this matters:
A recent New York Times report highlighted growing efforts on the right to dismantle key institutions supporting power on the left, including public sector unions — a push led by groups like the Freedom Foundation.
As the Trump administration led by DOGE has moved to gut the Department of Education, teachers unions have led protests and lawsuits challenging massive layoffs, deep budget cuts, and alleged breaches of student data privacy.
Since the Supreme Court's landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision in 2018 — prohibiting unions from collecting fees from non-members — the Freedom Foundation has aggressively ramped up its attacks on unions. Officials from the group have openly declared their intent to "defund the political left" and explicitly framed their goal as an effort to "defund and defeat public-sector unions." They have employed aggressive outreach, targeted litigation, and legislative campaigns aimed at financially crippling education and other public sector unions nationwide.
The confidential memo obtained by Source Code outlines plans for intensified collaboration with the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) across 14 states, characterizing this initiative as "the final nail in the coffin for unions." The FGA itself is significantly financed by groups tied to Leonard Leo, the influential conservative operative who engineered the rightward shift of the Supreme Court and who openly advocates a mission to "crush liberal dominance."
Key quotes:
“…with a new incoming presidential administration, we are well-positioned to pick up where we left in 2020 and push a pro-worker agenda at the federal level. This will include working with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiencies (DOGE), the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Personnel Management, the Internal Revenue Service as well as congress. We have identified and will execute on 11 opportunities to reform unions at the federal level."
"We seek to free another 47,000 public employees through our outreach campaign while keeping our cost per opt-out to below $125 per person."
"We will significantly expand our legislative agenda by targeting 14 states in 2025 with legislation that is pro-worker and will end taxpayer support for organized labor. We are partnering with our friends at the Foundation for Government Accountability in some of these states."
"Based on the success of our Teacher Freedom Summits, we will be launching the Teacher Freedom Alliance in 2025. We are growing from once-a-year meeting to a more traditional network that will rival the teachers unions' monopoly.”
“To do this, we will provide superior benefits to those of the teachers' unions, including liability coverage, professional development credits and an alternative curriculum that is pro-America and pro-capitalism."
If you are a reporter and want the full memo, email us at press@source-code.org or find us on Signal: SourceCode.23