Josh Hawley is a fraud who ‘doesn’t give a damn about Missouri workers’

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

Wentzville, MO – Republican Senator Josh Hawley visited UAW Local 2250 workers on the picket line Monday, Sept. 25, at the GM plant in Wentzville, where he hypocritically tried to cast himself as ‘pro-worker” while his record tells otherwise.

“It’s no surprise that in an election cycle where Josh Hawley will face off against an actual champion for Missouri workers, he suddenly finds his way to a picket line,” said Jake Hummel, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO. “A champion of the ‘right-to-work’ scam, Josh Hawley, has always sided with massive corporations at the expense of American workers’ jobs. He’s a fraud who doesn’t give a damn about Missouri workers and only shows up when the camera flashes. That’s why we’re committed to helping Lucas Kunce beat him at the ballot box, just like we beat back his ‘right-to-work’ scam in 2018.”

Before joining the Senate in 2019, Hawley said he supported a so-called “right-to-work” law that would have allowed Missouri workers to reap the benefits of a union-negotiated contract without having to pay union fees to support bargaining, and he opposed a statewide minimum wage hike. Missouri voters rejected “right-to-work” and approved the minimum wage hike in 2018.

Hawley has a 12 percent lifetime score from the AFL-CIO and a zero percent agreement rating in the most recent United Auto Workers Labor Union scorecard.

When asked about the scorecards, Hawley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he is “pro-worker,” adding, “What organizations rate me doesn’t matter to me.”

ADVOCATE FOR ANTI-WORKER POLICIES
Labor and local political leaders have rallied behind Democrat Lucas Kunce in his bid to unseat Hawley in next year’s election.

A 13-year Marine veteran, national security expert and antitrust advocate, Kunce has promised to be a warrior for working people in the U.S. Senate.

He has earned support from Labor unions across the state and received the endorsement of the Missouri AFL-CIO earlier this year.

“Hawley has spent years advocating for anti-worker policies like ‘right-to-work,’ which was resoundingly rejected by Missouri voters in 2018,” Kunce’s campaign said in an email to supporters.

“These workers don’t need a phony politician like Hawley showing up just when it’s convenient for his re-election campaign. They deserve a real warrior for working people — someone who recognizes that American workers were the force that built the middle-class way of life in our country and someone who will stand with them as they continue the fight for the fair pay, benefits, and workplace protections they deserve.”