Nikki Haley is slamming Vice President Kamala Harris’ new effort to encourage federal workers to join unions, saying it is “nothing more than a power grab that will crush worker freedom and empower labor bosses.”
“Kamala Harris’ ‘union drive’ is nothing more than a power grab that will crush worker freedom and empower labor bosses,” Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, told Fox News. “When I was governor, we made sure workers’ voices were heard and that liberal union middlemen couldn’t intimidate them.”
Haley was reacting to a measure unveiled Wednesday by Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh that would make it easier for unions to organize federal workers.
The plan would direct federal agencies to provide information to applicants and new employees about unions during their hiring process. The plan would reportedly also allow unions to be part of new employee training sessions.
Harris, during a roundtable Wednesday with workers, said the new policy “will remove barriers in the workplace.”
“We’re going to ensure all current workers are reminded if they are eligible to join unions,” she said. “All of this is part of a broader strategy to make the federal government a model employer.”
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She added that the administration is calling “on all employers to take similar steps.”
Under the new plan, federal agencies would be required to enhance their communications to current employees and provide them with information about their rights to organize and join unions.
During her time as governor of South Carolina, Haley was an outspoken critic of unions, making clear to a number of organizations that they were not welcome in the Palmetto State. Under her administration, Haley said unions were not needed because companies in South Carolina took care of their workers.
Haley, throughout her administration, touted South Carolina as a “right-to-work state,” and said people in the state are “proud that within our borders workers cannot be required to join a labor union as a condition of employment.”
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“We don’t need unions playing middlemen between our companies and our employees,” Haley wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2011. “We don’t want them forcefully inserted into our promising business climate. And we will not stand for them intimidating South Carolinians.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.