WASHINGTON — After the wave of protests that swept across college campuses last spring, Republican lawmakers have trained their focus on antisemitism in labor unions.
A congressional hearing this week, titled "Confronting Union Antisemitism," was convened by outgoing Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), subcommittee chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, who lost his reelection bid in a contested GOP primary last month.
"For some reason many union leaders would rather double down defending a terrorist organization than focus on local worker issues," Good said at Tuesday's hearing referencing unions that passed resolutions deemed antisemitic.
Republicans called on several witnesses to amplify their agenda, including members of professional and student unions who say they feel powerless in addressing their concerns.
"I've tried to use the law as it exists and at every turn the law has failed me," said William Sussman, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Glenn Taubman, an attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, decried the influence of unions during his testimony. He told the committee it's gotten worse since the war between Israel and Hamas.
"It is heartbreaking for me, as a Jewish American and a Zionist, to have my phone ringing off the hook every single day since October 7th by students, workers, teachers, legal aid lawyers, and doctors saying — asking me how to get out of this?" Taubman explained.
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While Democrats universally condemned antisemitism during the hearing, they accused their Republican colleagues of cloaking the committee investigation as a back-door tactic for targeting unions.
"From the civil rights movement to marriage equality and protections for undocumented workers, unions have been on the forefront of social and socioeconomic progress," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) defending the influence of unions in the workplace and society.
"I'm disappointed that my Republican colleagues are convening this hearing to question a union exercising its First Amendment rights," she added.
Anne Marie Lofaso, a professor at West Virginia University's College of Law, voiced concern about recent congressional subpoenas issued to retrieve internal union communications related to resolutions expressing support for Palestinians and calling for an end to the war.
"Any time Congress issues a subpoena, it's going to have an effect of repressing that institution because it's a scary body," Lofaso told the committee.
Some GOP committee members directly challenged the notion that the hearing was an attempt to target unions.
"I would state that it's not anti-union, it's anti abuse of their power," said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI).
While lawmakers debated the merits of the investigation, one witness called by Republicans summarized her goal in appearing before the panel.
Ilana Kopmar relayed a personal account of how a professional legal union of which she was a member was engaging in antisemitic tropes and discriminating against Jews.
"I'm not here to weaken the union but to strengthen it," said Kopmar.
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