As an institution, over the last couple of decades, the Democratic Party has backed off its full-throated support for unions a bit. Most Democratic politicians are still pro-union, especially compared to the GOP. The only actual anti-union Democrat running for Congress this cycle is John Avlon, who isn’t really a Democrat anyway, just pretending. At the very least, Democrats mouth support for union initiatives and usually vote well if some pro-union bill manages to overcome all the hurdles and make it to the floor.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party has demonstrated a virulently anti-union stance rooted in policies and rhetoric that undermine organized labor’s influence and weaken workers' rights to collective bargaining. Many of the states they control have right-to-work laws on the books, meant to weaken unions by allowing workers to benefit from union-negotiated contracts without paying union dues. These laws effectively reduce unions’ financial resources and bargaining power, creating a “free rider” problem where workers can opt out of supporting the union while still receiving its protections and benefits. The GOP has consistently championed these laws as part of its platform. Occasionally, a few corporate conservative Democrats have supported these laws. During the passage of right-to-work laws in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin, a few of the very worst Democrats either supported or were not strongly opposed to such legislation. The corrupt, right-of-center, Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), contributed to a shift away from strong pro-union stances by some Democrats starting during the Clinton era, driven by efforts to appeal to suburban and business interests, which often led to compromises on labor issues. Over time, this has been linked to the weakening of labor unions and the decline of Democratic seats in state legislatures, as research has shown that right-to-work laws tend to reduce union influence, voter turnout and fundraising for Democrats, particularly in working-class districts, When Blue America insists that not any blue will do, this is what we’re often referring to.
Again, Republicans have consistently opposed legislation aimed at strengthening unions, such as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would make it easier for workers to join unions, provide stronger protections against employer retaliation and enhance the power of collective bargaining. GOP members in Congress, backed by corporate interests, have fought against such measures, arguing they would harm businesses and hinder economic growth. A few conservative Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Mark Warner (VA), Mark Kelly (AZ)— shitting on the party brand— joined the GOP on this one. Remember, conservative— mostly Republican— policies tend to favor deregulation of industries, which always reduces oversight on labor practices. The weakening of workplace protections disproportionately impacts unions because it undermines the mechanisms unions rely on to protect workers from exploitation. By rolling back labor regulations, the GOP an environment where unions are less effective. On top of that, of course, Trump and other Republican presidents have appointed conservative, pro-business, anti-union judges to the federal courts, including the Supreme Court and to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), who have ruled against unions in key cases.
Republican politicians— and John Avlon— frequently use anti-union rhetoric, portraying unions as corrupt, self-serving institutions that harm workers and businesses. They frame unions as barriers to economic efficiency and accuse them of being overly political. GOP politicians argue that union dues are unfairly used for political purposes, supporting Democratic candidates and policies, further driving a wedge between unions and the party.
Public sector unions, representing workers like teachers, firefighters, and government employees, have been the most frequent target of Republican efforts (and of John Avlon’s anti-union advocacy). GOP leaders love to blame public sector unions for state budget deficits and call for pension “reform” that would reduce benefits. High-profile Republicans like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gained national attention for curtailing collective bargaining rights for public employees in his state in 2011.
Ideologically, conservatives/Republicans/robber barons promote a narrative of individualism and free enterprise, arguing that workers should negotiate their own terms rather than rely on collective bargaining. This approach dismisses the systemic power imbalances between employers and workers, and by favoring individual contracts, it undercuts the solidarity that unions foster among workers.
I spoke with iron worker and Wisconsin union leader Randy Bryce last night and he told me that “Any union member voting for a Republican in 2024 is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. The GOP brought Wisconsin Act 10 and ‘Right to Work’ for less. They also made it illegal to be able to investigate wage theft of jobs that use state subsidies. Nationally there’s no doubt that they’d pass a federal right-to-work bill. Trump has admitted that he’s a fan of it… If Republicans were truly on the side of unions we’d already have the PRO Act in place.”
Bryce had been reading Nick Fandos’ report on how some local unions were supporting congressional Republicans. I wish I could say ‘Ah ha! Democrats nominate shitty candidates and enlightened unions strike back by endorsing their opponents. That, however, isn’t what we’re necessarily looking at here. Fandos noted that “After years of antagonism between the labor movement and Republican Party leadership, a growing number of moderate Republican lawmakers are trying to break from their party’s union-hostile policies as they defend House swing seats this fall, and they have found surprising support. The shift remains nascent, largely limited to building trades [which tend to be more conservative among workers] and other blue-collar groups in the union-heavy Northeast. Yet, with the elections looming, it has already injected an unpredictable new element into a half-dozen races that could determine control of the House of Representatives.”
Conservative-leaning unions have thrown their support behind incumbents, including Republicans like Mike Lawler (R-NY), Marc Molinaro (R-NY), Nick LaLota (R-NY, Avlon’s opponent), Tom Kean Jr (R-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and even right-wing freak Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).
“Institutionally, the Republicans are still anti-worker,” said John Samuelsen, the head of the 150,000-member Transport Workers Union of America, a group that has turned heads by wading into several hard-fought contests to back Republicans. But he said he was also frustrated with the Democrats who appeared to be taking union support for granted.
“It makes it more important that those individual Republicans who stand up and support workers and their trade unions not be abandoned,” Samuelsen said.
The high-profile endorsements, which often bring five-figure checks and armies of door knockers, reflect an emerging trend in American politics, where the ties that once bound Democrats and organized labor together appear to be loosening, if not exactly broken.
Last week, the 1.3-million-member Teamsters voted to stay neutral in the race for president, a blow to Democrats after years of support. Prominent Republicans, including former President Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, have begun to speak in more explicitly pro-worker terms, though many labor leaders say their policies do not match their rhetoric. And leaders of some of the nation’s oldest unions increasingly find themselves grappling with how to respond to members shifting rightward.
“That might be giving cover to more down-ballot Republicans,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociologist who studies unions at Washington University in St. Louis. “Ten or 15 years ago, if you staked out a real pro-union position as a GOP lawmaker, you were going to be hearing from the Chamber of Commerce or the National Association of Manufacturers.”
Democrats say they see little reason for concern, arguing that endorsements represent tactical transactions between union leaders and Republican candidates who know they need labor support to win on contested turf, rather than a more lasting realignment in the labor movement.
Many of the unions supporting Republicans like Lawler or Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania are also overwhelmingly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Some are also fighting against Republican majorities in Congress that would almost certainly block their priorities or advance outright hostile measures, like national right-to-work legislation that would cripple unions’ organizing force.
In nearly every competitive race, Democratic candidates still have support from major public-sector unions and large service worker groups, including the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO, that are planning to spend millions of dollars helping them. And some Democrats defending swing seats, like Representatives Tom Suozzi and Pat Ryan of New York, have picked up support from law enforcement unions that typically back Republicans.
Gabby Seay, a longtime labor leader involved in a pro-Democrat turnout organization called Battleground New York, likened the Republican courtship of unions to costumed mimicry. “They are cosplaying this right now because they are feeling a little bit of heat,” she said. “But we know who they really are, and we will remind voters of that on the doors.”
And yet, even the idea of Republicans and Democrats fighting in a general election over who is more friendly to working people represents a change.
In a sprawling upstate New York district, Molinaro’s opponent, Josh Riley, is running as a staunchly pro-union Democrat and accusing Molinaro of supporting policies that have undermined American jobs. Like most of his party, Riley supports raising the minimum wage and the PRO Act, legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize and costlier for employers to retaliate.
Molinaro’s positions have more caveats, but he also uses terms like “corporate stooges” that most of his fellow Republicans scoff at. This month, he visited a picket line of striking Teamsters and said in an interview that he would vote for the PRO Act, though he has reservations. Riley remained skeptical.
“He’s telling labor that he supports the PRO Act, but it’s been sitting on his desk for two years and he refuses to put his name on it,” he said.
Mondaire Jones, a former Democratic congressman running against Lawler in the lower Hudson Valley, has made similar arguments. He pointed to Lawler’s vote to rescind a key Biden administration labor rule, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions that the Republican took from corporate political action committees.
“The endorsement of Mike Lawler by some of these building and trades unions cannot possibly be based on policy,” Jones said, accusing some unions of “turning their backs on pro-labor candidates.”
He attributed the endorsements in part to national unions’ having “a better understanding of which candidates are pro-labor and which candidates are antilabor than some of the local leadership.”
In the two years since he took office, Lawler has won over unions representing boilermakers, electrical workers, plumbers and steamfitters who supported his Democratic opponent in 2022. On Wednesday, two more groups, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the transport workers, were expected to endorse him.
“When someone does the right thing, it’s not like is there an R or D behind your name,” said Kevin Elkins, the political director for the New York City area carpenters’ union.
Lawler said he believed he could stand with both businesses and workers. “It doesn’t have to be an adversarial relationship,” he said. Like Molinaro, he said he would vote for the PRO Act, though he argued that it needed changes.
Mondaire Jones’ own latest internal poll, shows him trailing Lawler by 3 points in their D+3 district. Jones, who represented the district, then abandoned it when the head of the DCCC claimed it (and subsequently lost to Lawler), has alienated progressives in the district and is intensely disliked by many of his former allies. Union backing for his opponent looks like permission for Democrats to sit on their hands after voting for Kamala in November.
The opposite is going on in the race between progressive Democrat Sue Altman and conservative Republican Tom Kean, Jr., where the right-of-center, George Norcross-run building trades unions are trying to tank Altman while they and the shady state AFL-CIO cozies up to Kean. The state AFL-CIO is staying neutral in the race between an anti-worker Republican and one of the only excellent candidates backed by the DCCC this cycle. David Wildstein reported that “Altman was likely a casualty of her past disputes with the South Jersey Democratic machine and with the New Jersey AFL-CIO president, Charles Wowkanech. The New Jersey Globe has learned that leaders of the building trades unions had pushed for no endorsement in the race. ‘Organized labor is a cornerstone of this campaign and will be key to our winning coalition,’ Altman said last week after the New Jersey State Council of Machinists announced their support of her campaign to unseat Kean. While individual unions are free to make their own endorsements in the 7th district, neither candidate’s name will appear on campaign materials circulated by the AFL-CIO, including GOTV labor walks in the fall. Altman has received endorsements from eleven labor unions, including the Communications Workers of America, the New Jersey Education Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 32BJ Service Employees International Union, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, and the Amalgamated Transit Union NJ State Council. The Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, SEIU NJ State Council, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers have also endorsed Altman. ‘The GOP is poised to destroy organized labor as we know it, especially if they win the Presidency and control the House,’ stated Altman. ‘I am proud of the labor endorsements we’ve earned so far, and I will continue to work with any union that wants to help flip NJ-07 and build the labor coalition we need to win this race. No matter what, I will fight like hell to protect working people when elected to Congress.’”
WRT labor, both parties are lying their asses off.
Your democraps may have been full "throated" supporters, at times, since the '80s, but in deed they have been as anti-labor as the nazis always have been. They'll say the words, cash the checks from unions, celebrate labor's endorsements... but when the rubber hits the road, all they are is a hub with no wheel.
The nazis didn't used to bother to lie to labor since they'd been anti-labor forever. But since the democraps have been so indifferent to labor for so many decades, there may be an opening there that they can exploit. And, based on the election results, they've made a bit of headway.
All of which proves that…