Republican Workforce Leaders on the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), sent a letter to Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee Chairwoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL) requesting a public hearing by the Committee to examine the widening corruption scandal within the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
In the letter, Reps. Foxx and Walberg write: “Given this Committee’s jurisdiction over the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and other federal statutes governing labor-management relations, we believe it is essential the Committee confront the widespread, brazen lawbreaking by union leaders who purport to represent nearly 150,000 American autoworkers but have betrayed their trust in favor of self-enrichment. Examining this scandal is particularly important given the Committee’s intent to advance H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, which is far-reaching legislation aimed at significantly increasing the coercive power of labor leaders and decreasing their accountability, risking similar episodes of corruption and wrongdoing in the future."
NOTE: Federal investigators have found that the UAW’s senior union leaders engaged in money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, and embezzlement of workers’ hard-earned union dues for years, resulting in ten indictments thus far including the criminal conviction and prison sentencing of a former UAW vice president. Under H.R. 2474, legislation introduced by Chairman Scott that overturns right-to-work laws passed in 27 states, workers who don’t want to join a union will still be forced to pay millions to the labor union in their workplace even if union leaders use those dues on sports cars, golf trips, and parties, like they did at the UAW.
