OPINION:
Former President Donald Trump has often recited the lyrics to “The Snake” at his rallies. The song, written in 1963 by civil rights activist Oscar Brown, is about a “tender-hearted” woman who rescues a half-dead snake and nurses it back to health, only to be bitten for her kindness.
While Mr. Trump uses the song to illustrate the dangers of illegal immigration, the words can equally be applied to the Republican Party’s recent flirtation with organized labor. Republicans who embrace union bosses are courting the massive snake that has bitten American workers over and over again.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s address at the Republican National Convention serves as the most recent reminder of the dangers of courting the labor snake. In a speech that evoked Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s most deranged screeds, Mr. O’Brien accused companies of committing “economic terrorism,” railed against “corporate greed” and said that America’s largest companies had “no allegiance to America.”
Despite giving the longest speech of the convention’s opening night, Mr. O’Brien did not endorse Mr. Trump for president. No surprise there. When Mr. Trump was in office, the Teamsters vociferously opposed the Trump tax cuts and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. From 2019 to 2022, the Teamsters spent $9 million on political activity, 99% of which went to anti-Trump and Democratic-aligned outside groups. Despite Mr. O’Brien’s efforts to paint the Teamsters as politically moderate, 94% of Teamsters spending has gone to Democrats since 1990.
Mr. O’Brien spoke at the convention because he is hemorrhaging members. Private sector unionization has hit an all-time low of 6%. Teamsters membership has been cut in half since its peak in the 1970s. Mr. O’Brien recently terminated a no-raid agreement with the International Association of Machinists and handcuffed the Teamsters to the Amazon Labor Union’s sinking ship, but he knows that won’t be enough to stop the bleeding.
To plug the gap, Mr. O’Brien is trying to harness Mr. Trump’s sizable support among rank-and-file union members to further his agenda. In a phenomenon not seen since the Reagan Democrats, Mr. Trump garnered 42% of union voters in 2016 and 40% of union voters in 2020.
Mr. Trump successfully attracted union voters because he ran and governed on a worker freedom agenda. Mr. Trump supports right-to-work laws, which prevent employers from forcing employees into a union as a condition of employment. As president, Mr. Trump strengthened protections for independent contractors and nullified an Obama-era rule that killed franchises. Mr. Trump cut taxes across the board for workers, allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned wages. If reelected, he has pledged to end taxes on tipped wages, another boon to workers.
Mr. Trump’s worker freedom agenda benefits workers while weakening the unions’ structures that steal their money and spend it on progressive causes. Mr. O’Brien knows this and is attempting to persuade the Republican Party to adopt his anti-worker agenda.
When conservatives play with the proverbial labor union snake, they get bit. Take Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, who signed the National Right to Work Committee’s pledge supporting right-to-work laws in 2018. All it took was a $5,000 donation from the Teamsters to get Mr. Hawley to reverse his position on right-to-work laws and cast the deciding vote against a resolution that would have overruled President Biden’s job-killing joint employer rule.
How have labor unions repaid Mr. Hawley for selling workers down the river? The United Auto Workers union called Mr. Hawley a “joke” in its statement endorsing Mr. Hawley’s opponent in the upcoming election. Mr. Hawley published an op-ed in Compact magazine supporting Mr. O’Brien immediately after his convention address, only for the Teamsters social media team to attack Mr. Hawley for his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Republicans who try to compete with Democrats in delivering for labor unions are akin to high school basketball players who challenge LeBron James to a dunk contest. Union bosses will never get a better deal from Republicans than they get with Democrats in power.
The Biden administration has imposed the unions’ agenda through executive fiat. The Department of Labor has issued new rules designed to restrict independent contracting and franchising. The National Labor Relations Board intervened at the eleventh hour to rig union elections in their favor and explicitly condoned the most heinous union organizing tactics. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a rule allowing union organizers to tag along with OSHA bureaucrats during workplace inspections.
If presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris wins in November, organized labor will tighten its grip on American workers. In 2020, Ms. Harris ran on banning right-to-work provisions, codifying “card check” union election theft and sectoral bargaining. If Ms. Harris imposes her radical agenda, organized labor will likely expand its tentacles into new frontiers, such as pharmacists and ride-hailing companies.
Republicans should understand that the best way to win over union workers is by doubling down on Mr. Trump’s worker freedom agenda. Tax cuts and deregulation spur economic growth and job creation, a rising tide that lifts all boats. Right-to-work laws ensure that American workers are not forced to pay dues to a union boss to put food on the table. Strong protections for independent contracting allow Americans to make a living by being their own boss.
Republicans have a strong legacy of standing up for workers. Instead of embracing the labor union snake, Republicans should continue fighting for worker freedom.
• Tom Hebert is director of competition and regulatory policy at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Open Competition Center.
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