Press Releases

Today, Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) delivered the following statement, as prepared for delivery, at a hearing titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism”:

"Today’s hearing will examine the ways in which unions are using federal labor law to pursue their anti-Israel political agenda and to harass and discriminate against Jewish workers. 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.
 
"This Subcommittee held a hearing 14 months ago because we were concerned about the increase in antisemitic incidents in our country and in our workplaces. Unfortunately, in the last year, we have seen even more tragic incidents of discrimination and violence against Jewish people, including right here in our nation’s capital. 
 
"According to FBI crime-tracking data, anti-Jewish incidents are the most common religion-related hate crime. For a group that represents less than 3 percent of Americans, Jewish people are victims of roughly 60 percent of all religious-based hate crimes. Last year, the ADL reported over 9,300 antisemitic incidents across the United States, a 5 percent increase from 2023, and the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.
 
"The unions we will hear about today have chosen to spend time and money advancing their divisive, harmful, and anti-American political agenda. Furthermore, these unions are throwing sand in the gears of employers trying to create workplaces that are not hostile or discriminatory for their Jewish employees. 
 
"Take for example ABN. ABN represents public-interest lawyers in New York City. When employees put up posters around the office celebrating the actions of Hamas and violence against Jewish people, the employer banned all posters about the conflict in Israel and Gaza. The union did not go along with this quietly. Instead, ABN filed unfair labor practice charges against the employer for its policy designed to protect Jewish workers. 
 
"Or take another example: the Cornell Graduate Student Union. This union spends its time trying to stop Cornell from disciplining students who violate school policies, disrupt campus life, and harass Jewish students. When Jewish graduate students respectfully ask not to have to fund this union’s activities, the union tries to make them pay anyway and threatens to get them fired if they do not pay dues, flouting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
 
"Union members have rights under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and the Supreme Court’s Beck decision to speak out against their unions and not pay dues for political activities they disagree with. Title VII protects workers who want to live their lives with integrity and protects them from having to sacrifice their faith and their principles to get and keep a job. But unions have every incentive to keep workers in the dark about their rights. 
 
"Today we will hand the microphone over to those who are not truly represented by their unions. We will discuss how the law protects their political and religious convictions, and how lawmakers could provide additional protection. 
 
"We might not all agree on the appropriate role of unions in society, but I believe we can all agree that they should use their resources to promote the workplace interests of their employees and treat each worker who relies on them with equal dignity and fairness."

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