GOPs fatal attraction to unions is the start of a bad romance

The strangest flirtation in Washington is the ongoing courtship between a subset of Republicans and the Teamsters union.It could also be among the most economically destructive.This May Day-November relationship is built around mutual neediness: Union membership is trending down.Only 6% of today’s private-sector workers belong to a labor union, down from 10% in the mid-1990s.Some DC Republicans, most notably Missouri Sen.Josh Hawley, reckon that if they tilt federal labor rules even further in the Teamsters’ and other unions’ favor to help them make up those losses, the unions will be moved beyond words and help the party win more elections.Hawley in particular sees overlap in the Teamsters’ interests — particularly their ongoing crusade against self-driving cars — and his personal brew of grievance-tinged nationalism that broadly treats automation as a threat against the American worker.The two sides consummated the romance in 2024, when Teamsters head Sean O’Brien spoke at the GOP’s national convention and the union steered a nominal amount of campaign cash to a couple dozen Republican candidates.But are they in it for the long haul?Labor unions including the Teamsters in 2019 compiled their political wishlist into the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act.That sweeping legislation would have made it more difficult for people to work as independent contractors (and easier to unionize them instead), and would have voided state right-to-work laws, allowing unions in Texas, Florida and elsewhere to start forcing workers to pay them or lose their jobs.The PRO Act was so radical that it never became law, even when labor-friendly Democrats controlled Congress.Enter these Republicans.Instead of offering flowers and chocolates, they aim to impress labor by slicing up the PRO Act and feeding it piecemeal to the rest of the GOP.The Faster Labor Contracts Act, sponsored by Hawley and Rep.

Donald Norcross (D-NJ), is the first portion.It would allo...