Sept. 25, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning today issued the following statement in response to GOP presidential candidate South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is being sued by the United Auto Workers for repeating President Ronald Reagan’s actions in dealing with the federal air traffic controllers strike:
“The new leadership of the UAW appears to be more interested in internet clicks than in the welfare of their own membership. Apparently, they are not content to take on the Big Three automakers in an unprecedented industry-wide strike, they also want to take on the legacy of Ronald Reagan who fired federal employees who walked off their jobs illegally, endangering both the American flying public and the national economy. Senator Scott’s response was clearly aimed at federal employees who are ineligible to strike when he said, ‘I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike,’ he said, adding ,’you strike, you’re fired. Simple concept to me to the extent that we can use that once again.’
“If the UAW leadership cannot discern that a Senator, commenting on U.S. employment law that has nothing to do with the private sector, is not only appropriate but necessary, then they have no business being employed by, let alone running a union. It is likely that Senator Scott has caught their ire due to the growing number of non-union autoworkers in South Carolina which the membership starved UAW desperately seeks to attract. Since their heyday in the 1970s, UAW membership has shrunk from 1.5 million to around 400,000 and the new leadership’s desperation for relevance in right to work states is more and more evident as they attempt a Hail Mary negotiation which will only decrease auto production in pro-union states over time. Rather than pretend it is the 1950s and he is powerful UAW head Walter Reuther, the newly elected auto union head should focus on fighting against the Biden climate driven electric car push which will doom a significant portion of the automaking workforce.
“Instead, the UAW puts out a stupid, self-serving National Labor Relations Board claim designed to get a headline in the Greenville, South Carolina press in the hopes of gaining traction for their moribund unionization push.”
For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
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