HEARING RECAP: Owens Slams Antisemitic Union Leaders

WASHINGTON — Education and Workforce Vice Chair Burgess Owens (UT-04) participated in a Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions hearing titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism.”

Click here or above to watch.

Rep. Owens opened his remarks by condemning union leaders for prioritizing antisemitic and anti-Israel agendas instead of representing their members’ real needs.

Rep. Owens: “It is really disgusting that some unions are spending their time advancing antisemitic and anti-Israel priorities instead of addressing immediate needs of their members. … Do your job, stop the antisemitic activity among your ranks. You’re paid a very good salary to protect your members against hate. You’re failing to do so now and your cowardly silence is deafening.”

Rep. Owens asked Mr. Glenn Taubman, Staff Attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, if workers in forced-union states could be compelled to pay dues to organizations that promote hate, even something as extreme as a union run by KKK supporters. 

Mr. Taubman: “If you are in the 25 or so states that have forced unionism and you have a KKK union, you’ll pay them or you’ll be fired. … The bottom line is, the default position is pay that union or you will be fired.”

Click here or above to watch.

Rep. Owens also highlighted testimony from Mr. David Rubinstein, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, who described the barriers he faced in seeking a religious accommodation from his union.

Mr. Rubinstein: “Cornell University promised that I could religiously object by doing no more than tick a box on a form. And yet that form never materialized. … Even after I complied with invasive demands, they pushed for further intrusive information. At that point, I had no choice but to file legal charges.”

The full hearing is available to watch here. 

###