Hearing Recap: “Out of Touch: When Union Politics Leave Workers Behind”

Unions exist to represent workers—not push a political agenda. Today, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing to look at whether union leaders have lost sight of that job and are putting their own politics and priorities ahead of the workers they represent.

Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) started the hearing by highlighting how union leaders spend workers’ money and what that says about their priorities.

“Union dues fund more than politics. According to unions’ own LM-2 filings, dues also pay for union leaders’ trips to resorts, sporting events, golf courses, and theme parks to the tune of millions of dollars each year. Many union headquarters staff and officers receive six-figure salaries, with some leaders earning as much as five times the average wages of the workers they represent,” he said.

Witnesses discussed how many rank-and-file workers support President Trump but their union leaders back Democrat and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates, fight Trump administration policies, and spend union money on progressive political causes that have little to do with workers’ pay, benefits, or working conditions.

“Union leaders will tell you their political programs are bipartisan and issue driven. The filings and the data say otherwise. The numbers aren’t even close…A political program that gives 97, 98, or 99 cents of every dollar to one party is not a labor program. It is a party operation on union letterhead,” said Mr. Thomas Jones, President of the American Accountability Foundation.

Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) asked witnesses if unions poll their members before supporting political resolutions on matters unrelated to wages and working conditions. 

“These union leaders really like spending other people’s money on their own political agenda. They have no incentive whatsoever to go proving that what they’re doing is…against the wishes of their members, so they don’t bother asking,” said Mr. Greg Mourad, Vice President of Federal Affairs at the National Right to Work Committee.

In an exchange with Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), Mr. Akash Chougule, President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, explained how difficult it is to remove unions or change unions—making it impossible for members to hold bad unions accountable.

“The point has been made frequently that you can change your union representatives or union leaders…[but] it’s almost impossible under federal law to decertify a union if you would like to bring in a new one or no longer be unionized,” said Mr. Chougule.

Bottom Line: Workers should have a say in what their union does in their name, know where their money is going, and have the power to hold union leaders accountable.