UAW President Shawn Fain filed a formal complaint against Senator Tim Scott with the National Labor Relations Board. The Republican senator from South Carolina is running for president and repeated a quote from former President Ronald Reagan. It triggered Fain.
The complaint was filed on Thursday, the same day that Scott raised $1M for his presidential campaign. I’d say that is an interesting coincidence but I don’t believe in coincidences. The UAW boss doesn’t want a Republican running for president to do well and raise money after making an anti-strike comment against unions.
During a campaign rally in Iowa on Monday, Scott brought up Ronald Reagan and how he handled federal employees who went out on strike. Federal air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981.
“I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike,” Scott said.
“He said, ‘You strike, you’re fired.’ Simple concept to me, to the extent that we can use that once again.”
Heh. I remember when that happened and Democrats went nuts. As a rule, Republicans are not friends of labor unions, therefore, strikes are not welcomed.
Fain claims that Scott violated the National Labor Relations Act. Fain points out that Scott is an employer of his campaign staff, and as such he “interfered with, restrained, or coerced employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the [National Labor Relations Act]” by threatening them “with adverse consequences if they engage in protected, concerted activity.”
“Just another example of how the employer class abuses the working class in America, employers willfully violate labor law with little to no repercussions,” Fain tweeted, referring to Scott’s comments.
“Time for more stringent laws to protect workers rights!!”
The real rub, no doubt, was that Tim Scott raised a lot of money for his campaign off that quote. His campaign confirmed that he raised $1M in 24 hours after hosting events in New York City and Charleston.
Tim Scott is a happy warrior and his temperament is very Reaganesque. That doesn’t sit well with Democrats so a union president trying to distract attention away from the Republican’s campaign by lodging a complaint isn’t very surprising. Tim Scott is edging up in some early primary state polls as we head into the second RNC debate next week.
One friend of the UAW strikers is Senator Josh Hawley. He looks at it as the Big Three automakers wrongly going down the path of climate initiatives, spending billions of dollars on them instead of on workers and their wages. The UAW wants a 40 percent pay increase, 32-hour work weeks, and an end of a tiered wage structure. Hawley is a Republican senator from Missouri. There are 3,600 Missourians on strike at GM’s assembly plant near St. Louis. Hawley voiced his support for them.
“The companies need to come to the table here and pay the workers a fair wage and the truth is they can afford it,” said Sen. Josh Hawley. “They have been making money hand over fist, these companies and they have been pouring billions of dollars into stupid climate initiatives that create jobs in China, rather than in the United States. They need to take all the money that they’ve been spending on that and invest it in American workers and American wages.”
The union strike is expanding to 28 states.
BREAKING: AUTO WORKERS STRIKE TO EXPAND TO 28 STATES
“GM and Stellantis in the eyes of the union are not in a good place, not making enough progress,” @Maggie_Vespa explains.
However, #UAW is “not taking any further action against Ford, the third member of the Big Three.” pic.twitter.com/JLG1AkmjOA
— José Díaz-Balart Reports (@JDBalartMSNBC) September 22, 2023
In Dallas, GM workers will continue to work in its Arlington assembly plant but UAW members of 38 parts distribution center across the country will go on strike, targeting the Big Three automakers.
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