Every politician uses the “bully pulpit.”
But President Biden and congressional Democrats are giving new meaning to the term with an unprecedented campaign to threaten job creators and workers into unionizing.
Last week Sen. Bill Cassidy, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, blasted an especially egregious example, but this whole-of-government propaganda effort deserves more attention.
Cassidy called out President Biden’s Department of Labor for “weaponizing its enforcement power against business,” specifically by ratcheting up rhetoric against job creators while loosening regulations on unions.
Yet such actions are par for the course in an administration whose leader promised to be “the most pro-union president” in history.
Biden and his congressional allies are publicly accusing companies of intimidating workers, yet they are the ones engaged in propaganda-driven intimidation.
The threat is clear: Let unions control workers, or the attacks will keep coming from the highest levels of government, regardless of what workers want.
The White House is setting the tone for key agencies.
Consider the National Labor Relations Board, which exerts control over companies and workers.
The NLRB is taking on cases and pushing policies that betray a deep pro-union, anti-business bias, even though it’s supposed to be a neutral party.
For instance, the NLRB general counsel recently accused businesses of “hinder[ing] our economy and our democracy” merely for letting workers know their rights.
Elsewhere, the general counsel announced a new effort to stop workers from getting vital information about unionization from their employers during all staff meetings.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board described the NLRB general counsel as intending to “turn the labor board into a spear for unions against employers.”
The same is true of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which hears employment discrimination cases.
Over and over, the EEOC is chastising businesses, yet in cases where unions are accused of impropriety or found guilty, the EEOC’s language is tame, apologetic, or even praiseworthy.
Consider two settlements announced days apart by the EEOC.
One involved a union, the other a business, yet both centered on sexual harassment and saw similar five-figure penalties.
The EEOC derided the business by calling its conduct “unacceptable” and “unlawful,” and said it was “sending a message to employers.”
Just days later, the EEOC announced it was “pleased” that the union agreed to its settlement and had “hope” to “avoid such incidents in the future.”
It pays to be the bully’s friend.
But the bullying isn’t restricted to the executive branch. It’s equally evident in Congress — especially the Senate, where Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is on a one-man crusade against non-unionized businesses and workers.
As chair of the Senate’s primary labor committee, Sen. Sanders has called hearing after hearing to pressure companies into unionizing.
The goal is clear in the hearings’ names, which include “Should Taxpayers Subsidize Poverty Wages at Large Profitable Corporations?” and “No Company is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks,” among others.
They usually follow the same script, with management of major nonunion businesses sitting in silence while the senator verbally assaults their companies.
He also routinely invites union leaders to pile on, airing their grievances while giving job creators and workers little chance to respond.
The whole time, the cameras are rolling, turning the hearings into national spectacles.
That’s the point.
Sanders, like the Biden administration, is sending a message to job creators and workers nationwide: Unionize, or else.
And in case the message gets missed, in between hearings, the senator continually threatens employers and accuses them of opposing unionization, creating more opportunities to publicly air union demands and increase their chances for organizing workers.
Whether it’s the Biden administration or Bernie Sanders, the pro-union bullying is as inappropriate as it is unprecedented.
It’s hard for businesses and workers to oppose unionization when the federal government is beating the drum against you.
When you know the most powerful politicians in the country have painted you with a target, it’s tempting to go along to get along.
That’s true even when workers know unionization isn’t in their best interest.
And if the rhetoric isn’t enough, the Biden administration is pushing through reams of policies that further tilt the playing field in favor of unions and against workers and job creators.
This abuse of the bully pulpit has to end: It’s hurting job creators and workers, who deserve the freedom to make their own decisions.
And the short-term favoritism toward unions also endangers the economic growth and opportunity that benefit everyone in the long run.
Now more than ever, the bully pulpit is being used to boost a special interest — and harm everyone else.
F. Vincent Vernuccio is president of the Institute for the American Worker.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
