This could be the first presidential election in recent memory where Democratic candidates don’t covet cash from Big Labor.
That statement might seem strange. After all, unions have sent over $1.6 billion to the Left since 2010, and there’s no telling what they’ll be willing to spend to reinstate their influence at the White House in 2020. But this time, labor’s liabilities — corruption, sexual harassment, and poor employment practices, to name a few — have hurt its standing in the court of public opinion.
Consider some of the latest scandals. A lawsuit recently filed against one of the Service Employees International Union’s largest locals accused union leaders of gross sexual misconduct. When an SEIU staff member corroborated many of the lawsuit’s allegations, including sexual misconduct at the hand of union Vice President Dave Regan, she was fired.
Her accusations weren’t even the first to come to light, just the latest. In 2017, four SEIU executives either were fired or resigned amid similar allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
In Detroit, an ongoing federal investigation into corruption in the ranks of the United Auto Workers continues to unearth a large-scale scheme to defraud workers. Four union officials have been convicted of funneling $4.5 million away from the union’s training center and into their own pockets. Former union Vice President Norwood Jewell was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for his part in the scandal.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Justice Department investigation recently convicted another union official for receiving kickbacks from vendors in exchange for high-priced contracts with the UAW. And who knows what else several federal raids at the homes of current and former union officials will bring to light?
Even so, a union’s leadership can come into question well before an FBI raid is launched. Take the AFL-CIO, whose own staff employees recently threatened strikes against the union for unfair treatment. These employees, who are also members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2, claimed the AFL-CIO was threatening to “weaken job security and cut workers’ pay.” Local 2 went as far as to file three unfair labor practice complaints against the union.
The AFL-CIO’s scuffle with its own employees makes a recent declaration from the union’s president Richard Trumka even more worrisome: “The path to the nomination and the White House runs through the labor movement.”
But Trumka and his fellow labor leaders should watch out. After the year unions have had, Democrats might be wise to find a new path to the Oval Office that isn’t paved with so many scandals.
Charlyce Bozzello is a communications director at the Center for Union Facts.
