by Christen Smith
A Coca-Cola driver in Houston, Pennsylvania says leaders of his local Teamsters union threatened to fire him if he didn’t join the organization and pay dues.
And now, he’s taking them to federal court.
“I don’t support Teamsters politicking. My job definitely shouldn’t hinge on whether or not my hard-earned money is funding it,” said Josh Hammaker, who filed the complaint with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month. “It’s bad enough I have to pay any money to Teamsters officials just to keep my job, but the NLRB should at least prevent union officials from automatically taking political funds from an employee’s wages by default and instead place the responsibility on the union to obtain the employee’s consent.”
Hammaker says Teamsters Local 585 violated his constitutional right to opt out of membership and avoid paying dues that can support political activities. However, the union contract stipulated that joining was mandatory.
Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said the behavior is all too common in collective bargaining states.
“Like the rest of top Big Labor bosses, Teamsters kingpins oppose popular Right to Work laws so they can extort dues from unwilling workers and use that money to fund a radical political agenda that is completely out of touch with the priorities of most rank-and-file employees,” he said. “The solution to this problem is ensuring all union payments are completely voluntary, so union officials cannot have workers fired solely for refusing to pay dues or fees.”
The lawsuit points to what critics say is a slush fund for Democratic candidates bankrolled by automatic payroll deductions of union dues, many of whom rank-and-file members don’t support.
The Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative policy group based in Harrisburg, said government unions spent $33 million in 2023 and 2024 supporting political action committees and other causes, of which just 5.2% backed candidates from other parties.
Foundation research shows that membership dues bankrolled more than half of the $227 million unions have spent on political endeavors since 2007. According to the report, the organizations spent the money on voting drives, lobbying, mailers, and PAC contributions to sidestep claims that the money doesn’t directly support political candidates.
In August, the Freedom Foundation filed an ethics complaint against the Pennsylvania State Education Association – which represents 177,000 current and retired educators – that says the union concealed a $1.5 million campaign contribution to Gov. Josh Shapiro by routing it through unauthorized political funds and the Democratic Governors Association, violating state and federal campaign finance law.
In a statement to The Center Square, the association spokesman Chris Lilienthal denied the allegations. Investigations remain ongoing.
“PSEA, through its Fund for Student Success, made a lawful contribution to DGA, into an account that was permitted to accept union contributions,” he said. “None of those funds were used to make direct contributions to the Shapiro campaign.”
Andrew Holman, a foundation policy analyst and author of the report, said that in a swing state like Pennsylvania, it’s “impossible” for 9-in-10 members to agree completely with their union bosses’ political priorities.
“Government unions don’t even try to hide their blatant partisanship,” Holman said. “Unfortunately, it is union members who suffer when they learn how union bosses are spending their dues.”
In the 2024 election, for example, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate – bucking a two-decade streak of Democratic support – because of its members’ differing views.
A straw poll conducted that same year showed 60% of the union’s rank-and-file members supported Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. During the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien reiterated the sea change.
“The American people aren’t stupid,” he said. “They know the system is broken. We all know how Washington is run. Working people have no chance of winning this fight.”
The Teamsters represent 1.3 million workers – from newspaper reporters to zookeepers to police officers and everything in between – across the country. It was Republican congressional support guaranteeing sick leave for unionized rail workers, however, that inspired O’Brien to endorse Trump – even if he was called “traitor.”
“I want to be clear: at the end of the day, the Teamsters are not interested if you have a D, R or I next to your name,” he said. “We want to know one thing: what are you doing to help American workers.”
Regional chapters of the union stood behind Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates. Holman’s research found that the same held true in Pennsylvania, where unions spent $2.1 million on state and local races that helped maintain the party’s one-seat majority in the state House of Representatives.
“With a long-standing record of transparency issues within these unions, many members remain in the dark about what their dues are actually funding,” Holman said.
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Christen Smith is a regional editor at The Center Square.
Photo “Teamsters 585 HQ” by Teamsters 585.
The post Coca-Cola Driver Says Pennsylvania Teamsters Extorted Money for Political Use first appeared on The Arizona Sun Times.