Candidates and Unions

In June, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Party’s candidate for governor, added to his already extensive list of union endorsements, drawing support from the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association.  Shapiro used this opportunity to promote his support for unions in general, and promised to veto any bill that reached his desk that would reduce the right to collective bargaining. Such laws are called, ironically in GOTV's opinion, “right to work” laws. These statutes give workers at unionized workplaces the ability to opt out of union membership and out of paying union dues.

The right to work issue is a particularly clear point of contrast between Shapiro and his Republican rival, Doug Mastriano, who said during the primary campaign that he supports, and would sign, a right to work law. This past spring, Maastriano said he looked forward to signing such legislation, not because it would benefit workers, not because it would boost Pennsylvania's economy, but rather because he believed it would expand the current Republican majority in the state legislature in November.

Proponents like Mastriano say right-to-work is an important guarantor of personal liberty at the workplace. Unions despise these measures, seeing them as destroying the ability to bargain collectively for an entire workforce, thereby leading eventually to lower wages and fewer benefits.

Not only Attorney General Sapiro but also the national Democratic Party support organized labor. As President Joe Biden said in Philadelphia recently, the middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class.

Thankfully, the Democratic candidate for Governor recognizes that.