Today, Republican Workforce Leaders on the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), sent a third letter to Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee Chairwoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL), reiterating their request for a public hearing to examine the growing corruption scandal within the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union. The latest of three requests comes amid plans for the House to consider legislation that would make union bosses more powerful but less accountable to workers, increasing the risk of union corruption and wrongdoing - like the growing scandal at the UAW. To date, Reps. Foxx and Walberg have not received a reply from the Chairman on either of the previous two letters.
In the letter, Reps. Foxx and Walberg write: “In the time since our second letter was sent to you in November, the two previous UAW Presidents were formally implicated as members of a racketeering enterprise within the union, and the current President—who took over because of the corruption allegations against the former Presidents—has come under federal investigation as well. The racketeering enterprise, highlighted in a new criminal filing against a former UAW Regional Director, embezzled more than $1.5 million in union funds.” The letter concludes: “Instead of investigating the UAW’s egregious wrongdoings, Committee Democrats are ignoring union corruption and lobbying their leadership to pass radical legislation that would overturn all state right-to-work laws—forcing workers who don’t want to join a union to hand over their hard-earned union dues to possibly fund illegal activity.”
Background: Federal investigators have uncovered more than a decade of rampant corruption among the senior ranks of the UAW union, which has included money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, and embezzling workers’ hard-earned union dues for lavish personal expenses. Following reports of this blatant corruption, Reps. Foxx and Walberg sent one letter on September 19, 2019, and another on November 14, 2019, to Chairman Scott and HELP Subcommittee Chairwoman Wilson requesting the Committee hold a public hearing to examine the worsening scandal. Committee Democrats have repeatedly ignored this commonsense request. Reps. Foxx and Walberg sent a third letter renewing their request for a public hearing, arguing the Committee has an important duty to investigate the outrageous breach of workers’ trust by UAW union leaders.
To read the full letter sent to Chairman Scott and Rep. Wilson, click here.
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