Tim Ryan, Ohio Democrat, has drawn a lot of positive attention because of his attack on Republicans. He excoriated them for focusing on unimportant matters like the effort to cancel Dr. Seuss than the bill at hand.
In response, thousands of people have cheered him for attacking the Republicans… rather than focus on the bill at hand.
So, for what was he actually advocating?
It was the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. This bill would hand a devastating blow to American business, but it would also directly attack the American worker.
The bill would override Right-to-Work laws, which allow workers who don’t want to be in a union to work in a unionized business without paying dues. Let me cite some experience here: I have been a member of two unions. The first one, which I had to join to stock shelves in New Jersey, I was not even informed what it was; it was simply “the union”. I worked, and they took my money. In Texas, I willingly joined the Communication Workers of America and I was a shop steward. I saw first-hand the corruption and waste involved, and I tolerated it to have input into what the union was doing… even though it included things like all expenses paid Vegas trips every year for the highest ranking union members.
My experiences over more than twenty years gave me ample reasons to both like and dislike unions. On bulk, I believe they are negative influences on modern society. This is particularly seen right now in their efforts – which are looking to be successful – to convince the Biden administration to continue many disastrous Trump-era tariffs, including the steel tariffs which are set to trigger devastating retaliatory tariffs from the EU if not revoked.
It would also eliminate the ability for an employer to use a potential employee’s immigration status as a condition of employment. This undermines a key argument used extensively by the Democrats about immigration: that employers are partially (in some eyes, wholly) at fault because the employers shouldn’t be hiring illegal immigrants. This is designed to undermine existing immigration law.
There’s also the matter of the organizing in the first place. Growing up in New Jersey, I heard many anecdotes about the chicanery and threats sometimes required to unionize a business; during my time in the CWA, I heard many similar stories. All were cast in very positive light, as if the illegal and coercive techniques were something of which members should be proud. This bill renders illegal most activities which are traditionally used to push back against those actions. It would prevent businesses from calling mandatory-attendance meetings where they could then discuss potential negatives of unionizing, for example; it would also allow unions to move organizing votes to their own property, effectively granting them full control over the final vote tally.
The bill isn’t just bad, it’s terrible. It’s a massive boost to unions which have been seeing participation drop as people have been allowed to choose for themselves whether they want to join. It doesn’t help the American worker, it attacks the American worker – and the Democrats in the House are pushing it, hard.
Just because one position is bad, it doesn’t mean the contrary position is good. In some cases – like this one – it may be worse. Every action, every bill, every argument needs to be considered on its own merits.
Attacking Republicans for being shallow, duplicitous and obstructing is fun to watch… but when the people doing it are attempting to attack individual rights and damage the country, they should not be cheered, merely condemned in turn.
