Hearing Recap: “Unmasking Union Antisemitism”

Today, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing examining the rise in antisemitism in unionized workplaces and the unions that defend these behaviors while forcing Jewish members to pay dues.

Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) kicked off the hearing by calling out just a few of the unions that have acted against their Jewish members.

"Today we will hear about how unions like the United Electrical Workers and a United Auto Workers affiliate, A Better NYLAG, would rather defend union members who engage in disruptive, discriminatory, and antisemitic behavior than fulfill their duty to fairly represent all the workers they represent. We will hear today about how their unions are selling them down the river, even though Jewish workers have supported unions and been leaders in the labor movement for generations," he said.

Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) explained how unions need to better protect rank and file members. "Now let me make it very clear-we're not attacking unions, we're attacking abusive union leadership that are not doing what they are supposed to do for their union membership," he said. "And I think that's why the Republican party is now being seen as the party of the working man and woman, the rank and file."


In a shocking moment, Ms. Kyle Koeppel Mann, Senior Staff Attorney for the New York Legal Assistance Group, described to Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) how unions have created a toxic workplace for her and her Jewish colleagues. "We never considered ourselves as a separate group in the office, but we've essentially been pushed into our own little Jewish ghetto where we can only discuss matters of the office with each other," said Ms. Mann.


In an exchange with Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), Mr. Glenn Taubman, Staff Attorney for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, discussed how right to work polices could fix a lot of the problems being debated today. "Federal law tells you join this union, this Hamas supporting terror organization, or we'll get you fired… Unions are not government. They are a private organization, and I think it's a disgrace that any American has to fund a private organization that they don't want to," he concluded.

Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) highlighted how difficult it is for workers to object to union membership on religious or moral grounds. "Upon contract ratification, Cornell University promised that I could religiously object by doing no more than checking a box on a form, and yet that form never materialized. Instead, I needed to beg union officials for permission to object by writing a highly personal letter detailing private information that's none of their business. Even after I did that, they demanded further intrusive information that they have absolutely no right to. At which point I decided that if I did not want to pay the union, I had no choice but to file legal charges against them," Mr. David Rubinstein, Ph.D. Candidate at Cornell University's Department of History, explained. "That is not the checking the box on a form that Cornell promised."

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked whether witnesses believed unions were political enforcement organizations rather that neutral parties advocating for workers. Mr. Taubman responded, "I've been at this for 43 years. When I started, I used to say 'unions were representatives who did politics on the side.' Now, they're political powerhouse parties that do a little collective bargaining on the side."

Bottom line: No worker should be forced to choose between his or her union and his or her identity. Committee Republicans are working to protect Jewish workers from threats and harassment at the hands of unions.