Claire McCaskill’s recent vote against promoting Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has received a lot of attention in this election, with most, if not all, of the discussion centered on whom the Senator should have believed, Judge Kavanaugh or Dr. Blasey-Ford.
What many people don’t know, however, is that even before Dr. Blasey-Ford’s allegations surfaced, the AFL-CIO and 12 individual unions asked Senator McCaskill to oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation because of his terrible record as a D.C. Circuit Court Judge on issues affecting Organized Labor and working families. Senator McCaskill deserves our respect and support for taking that record seriously.
Here are a just a few of Judge Kavanaugh’s rulings Senator McCaskill was asked to consider:
• When the D.C. Circuit upheld an OSHA citation against Sea World after an animal trainer died while working with a killer whale, Judge Cavanaugh dissented. He said that OSHA’s role in protecting such workers was “paternalistic.”
• He overturned an NLRB decision that workers were allowed to display pro-union signs in their cars while at work.
• He overturned an NLRB decision that an employer was prohibited from calling the police to issue criminal citations for legal union demonstrations.
• He overturned an NLRB decision that an employer was prohibited from discriminating against union members when hiring.
• He allowed the Department of Defense to eliminate collective bargaining rights.
• He upheld a South Carolina voter ID law that was intended to block access and reduce turnout of people of color.
The Supreme Court is often the last stop when it comes to determining the rights of unions and working people. Apart from Dr. Blasey-Ford’s allegations, Senator McCaskill correctly understood that a vote for Judge Kavanaugh would jeopardize the future of collective bargaining and workers’ rights. She deserves our support.
MIKE LOUIS
President
Missouri AFL-CIO
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