Having a lifetime sinecure in the Senate means that Chris Coons is free to be whoever he wants to be in the Senate. Unburdened from ever having to face a legitimate Republican challenger means that he is free to be his true self. Chris Coons’ true self is horrible.
Already Battling Coronavirus, Workers Will Vote June 17 on Whether to Decertify Their Union at a GOP Megadonor’s Poultry Plant
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 is fighting for its life — literally and figuratively.
Representing almost 800 workers at a poultry plant in Selbyville, Delaware, Local 27 is at the center of a coronavirus hotspot that has afflicted an unknown number of its members. Those workers — including Latinx and Haitian immigrants, some of them undocumented — not only lack appropriate protection, the union says, but the virus is also now part of a strategy to break the union in a vote next week.
The union’s opponent is a massive poultry company called Mountaire, which is owned by GOP megadonor Ron Cameron, and denies the union’s allegations.
At every turn, however, the union appears to be without allies. It has lost one battle after another with the Trump administration. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), for instance, rejected a complaint about workplace safety because Mountaire said everything was fine.
And the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered a June 17 vote that could end more than 40 years of union representation there. Plus, the right-wing anti-union group The National Right-to-Work Legal Defense Foundation is now helping Mountaire, for free.
Despite the Democratic Party’s historic alliance with labor, however, even Delaware’s congressional delegation has not taken up UFCW 27’s cause.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who is facing a primary in September, has extensive ties to both Mountaire and its law firm. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Coons has taken more than $225,000 from lawyers who work for Young Conaway, the law firm now trying to bust the union. Local 27, by contrast, has given Coons $12,500, none of it in this election cycle. And now, in the nearly non-existent ranks of Local 27’s defenders, Coons is nowhere to be seen.
When The Young Turks asked about the donations, and what actions Coons has taken on the union’s behalf, campaign spokesperson Sean Coit provided TYT with a statement:
“Throughout his career, Chris has always fought for Delaware workers, and that’s why he’s been endorsed once again this year by Delaware’s leading organized labor organizations, including the Delaware Building Trades. Chris has also been proud to receive support from families, businesses, and communities throughout Delaware, and his campaign has received donations from thousands of Delawareans up and down the state.”
Jess Scarane, Coons’ opponent in the September Democratic primary, told TYT, “I stand with UFCW workers today and every day as they fight to protect their union from decertification. Chris Coons’ silence is deafening.”
Kerri Evelyn Harris, who challenged Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) in the 2018 primary, did not comment on Coons specifically, but told TYT, “We’re not standing with labor the way we should be standing with labor.”
She said, “We have people in the poultry industry right now who are literally putting their lives on the line, and while we use labor rights in our platform, when it comes time for us to stand up on that platform for them, we’re relatively absent.”
Referring to Coons’ efforts on behalf of Mountaire, a major employer in Delaware, Scarane said, “It’s outrageous that while poultry workers are fighting for basic rights and workplace protections, Coons only pushes to funnel more money to the very corporations that are oppressing and abusing these workers.”
Defending a bill to exempt poultry firms such as Mountaire from emission-reporting requirements, Coons said in 2018, “Strong environmental protections must be balanced with an approach that makes sense for farmers.”