The modern Republican party is once again showing just how little they care about the average worker.
The United Auto Workers have been on strike against three major automobile companies. The UAW is one of the largest and most influential labor unions in the country. The strikes have garnered a lot of attention with most people supporting them. But some Republicans are still not just opposing the strikes, but aggressively disparaging them. This includes Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, both from South Carolina and both considered more “moderate” than the rest of the current cast of radical GOP presidential candidates. Both of these points make their anti-union stance even more—pun-intended—striking.
South Carolina ranks well below the national average in terms of union rates. Private sector unionization in this state is at a minuscule 1.1% and the public rate is only 4.6%. This compares to the national rates of 10.3% and 33.9% respectively. So maybe Haley and Scott don’t have it in their blood to care about union needs. (Haley was governor of the Palmetto State and Scott is one of the state’s two current U.S. Senators.) But is this a good strategic move considering they are both running for President?
Republicans love to pretend that Democrats are just a bunch of “elites” and that Trump won in 2016 because he cared about working-class people. Of course, Trump cares about no one but himself. But it was a narrative that they kept pushing and that way too many people believed. There are ongoing narratives even from some progressives, that say neither party does enough to support the working class. However, even if you agree with that sentiment, both parties are not the same on this issue. There is a stark difference in the ways Republicans and Democrats address working-class and union issues.
This difference is being highlighted by Haley and Scott’s anti-strike rhetoric. Scott said on Monday that striking UAW members should be fired. Not even punished, but fired. Seems pretty anti-American. (Not to mention potentially illegal!) He brought up former Republican icon Ronald Reagan, who fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers back in 1981. He touted this as a good example and a simple concept. I don’t know, this seems like a horrible example and actually a rather complex concept. I don’t understand if this means Scott doesn’t support labor unions more generally speaking, or if he just doesn’t approve of them striking.
Haley has given more explicitly anti-union rhetoric overall. She has described herself as a “union buster.” She has taken credit for the influx of foreign auto manufacturers into South Carolina and said she purposely didn’t want to bring in unionized companies. She proclaimed President Biden to be the most “pro-union president in American history” and said it like it’s a bad thing. Haley is worried that the UAW’s demands like wage increases would drive up prices for everyone. Ah yes, that same old story! This is somehow only an issue when it comes to workers. CEOs having massive raises and tax breaks never seem to have a negative financial impact according to Republicans. Regardless of these terrible opinions, according to a Morning Consult poll, 54% of American adults support the strike.
This could and should be a gift to Democrats. The narrative that Republicans are somehow more pro-worker is just laughable. We have to be honest with what has been going on and with American voters’ passions and habits. Trump never won because of his economics. He won because he conjured up fear and people hated the same groups as him. And to an extent, current Republican candidates are hoping to capitalize off of those same fears, creating scapegoats to blame for people’s financial problems. Even “moderates” like Haley and Scott are demonizing workers.
Labor unions also help the middle class—you know, those people Republicans have pretended to care about while actively screwing them over for decades? According to the Center for American Progress, being part of a union has an association with greater wealth for working-class families. As an example, they found that working-class union households have almost 4x the median wealth as a typical non-union household ($201,240 to $52,221 respectively). Republicans don’t support unions, clearly. Democrats have never been as good at messaging as Republicans but they should be reminding voters over and over and over again that Republicans support the rich CEOs but not the average workers who help the American economy run. Republicans have boosted up faux culture wars while issuing vague lies about how they can boost the economy and we should call their BS out.
(featured image: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
