As the Democratic party scrambles to remobilize voters in support of a to-be-determined presidential candidate, Big Labor can no longer deny the possibility of a Republican victory on Election Day.
Two strategies have emerged among America’s government unions in response.
The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, for example, whose unwavering dedication to left-wing causes and candidates yields ongoing membership losses year over year, have doubled down on their allegiance to Democrats in an attempt to appease those union loyalists who remain.
Others recognize opportunity in the Republican Party’s desire to reclaim the blue-collar vote, which could make or break a Democrat victory this November.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, the first leader of a major union to address the Republican National Convention last week, is among the few to break from Big Labor’s political consensus, insisting that America’s blue-collar workers are “not beholden to anyone or any party.”
O’Brien hopes that his appearance of neutrality, which would deal a symbolic blow to this year’s Democratic candidate, will encourage Republicans to soften their long-standing principles on worker protections derided by Big Labor as “anti-union” in exchange for a bite of the blue-collar vote.
Though O’Brien claims to represent America’s working class, more than 99 percent of the union’s political spending has lined the pockets of Democratic causes and candidates since 2019, driving hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers to resign Teamsters membership.
Rather than reevaluate union practices driving workers away, the same day that Sean delivered his speech at the RNC, the Teamsters hired three high-priced law firms to sue my organization, the Freedom Foundation, for the high crime of contacting his members with an invitation to leave their union.
Don’t believe me? Read the lawsuit.
As workers continue to leave Teamsters’ rank-and-file, O’Brien’s end game in appealing to Republicans is overturning state right-to-work laws, which grant workers the freedom to choose whether to join a labor union, a longstanding “priority” for the Teamsters and the rest of Big Labor, most recently through passage of the so-called Protecting the Right to Organize Act.
If O’Brien can entice the potential Republican administration to stand down on pro-worker union reforms in exchange for a likely inconsequential non-endorsement, he will not so much have proven his skill as a negotiator as revealed the GOP’s naivete.
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After all, O’Brien’s priorities lie not with the American worker, but with the financial interests of Big Labor.
The two are fundamentally opposed.
Securing a repeal of right-to-work protections, for example, would force millions of Americans into union membership, ensuring a steady stream of income for Big Labor indefinitely, regardless of the quality of its services.
Big Labor’s dedication to fast-tracking organization by circumventing worker protections during union elections, protecting unions’ ability to forcibly deduct dues from employees’ paychecks, and spending that revenue on a one-sided political agenda do little for the American worker, either.
Instead, O’Brien and his national counterparts should be dedicated to ensuring that employees are not only compensated fairly with respect to their value in the workplace, but that workers across America have the freedom to weigh the value of union membership for themselves and make a decision about paying union dues accordingly.
As November 5 quickly approaches, Republicans must remain cautious in supporting a union which, just like the corporations O’Brien’s speech decried, “abandon local communities to inflate their bottom line.”
Aaron Withe is Chief Executive Officer of the Freedom Foundation.
