Josh Hawley Workers Champion?

United States Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s ever shifting policies regarding working families took a turn for the positive when he came out in support of the striking workers.  He was excellent in grilling Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun during a senate hearing over a number of issues including safety by pointing out the 787 falsified inspection records, whistleblower intimidation stating they “literally fear for their lives”  and even called him out for his $32 million dollar salary accusing Boeing of putting profit over employee welfare and safety and highlighting the company’s repeated lowball proposals which the union has overwhelmingly rejected.

This isn’t the first time Senator Hawley showed support for striking workers, I’ll admit that I was very skeptical of him when he showed up in 2023 at the UAW picket line against General Motors in Wentzville, MO.

Not only has Sen. Hawley surprised me by standing with the Boeing workers and calling out Boeing’s CEO, he has also sponsored Senate Bill 844 “Faster Labor Contracts Act” which currently has eight cosponsors and would require contract negotiations begin within 10 days of a union’s election certification, require mediation if no agreement is reached in 90 days, and encourages good faith bargaining.

While I appreciate Senator Hawley’s recent support for working families was silent when President Trump tore up the union contracts for Federal workers, voted for Trump’s nomination for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer who as Labor Secretary has recently announced a plan to rescind 63 worker protection regulations saying they are “costly and burdensome” which aligns with Boeing profit over worker welfare which Senator Hawley rightfully called their CEO out on.  Under her direction the DOL also stopped enforcing a Biden-era rule what made it more difficult for company to misclassify workers as independent contractors and cut DOL funding by 35% which would cut the workforce and affect worker safety and corporate accountability.

If Senator Hawley really wanted to show his support for working families he would sign on as a cosponsor to the Protect the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) and stand up to Trump’s treatment of federal workers and demand they receive pay during the shutdown and that Trump honor the union contracts protecting federal workers.