This weekend marks the 134th observation of Labor Day. As millions of Americans celebrate the day holding barbeques and watching college football, the Koch brothers may as well be grumbling alone in their mansions. The Kochs’ war on labor and Labor Day has gone on for years. They’ve done everything in their power to break up unions and push for legislation that hurts workers and helps billionaires and corporations like Koch Industries.
Just a few weeks ago, Koch backed groups announced “Employee Freedom Week”, an attack on working families poorly disguised as “an unparalleled focus on the freedoms union employees have to opt out of union membership.”
The truth is that the Kochs couldn’t care less about worker freedoms. “Freedom” week was really about making sure employers at big companies have more control over their employees. The Kochs’ selfish agenda will end fair wages and fait treatment of workers.
It’s why they’ve repeatedly pushed right-to-work-for-less laws in states like Missouri, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and more. Charles and David believe that if working families are losing — their bottom line is winning. It’s why the Koch political machine continues to coordinate attacks on working familes.
Koch funded Freedom Partners gave the National Right To Work Committee $1 million over the years. Americans for Prosperity publicly pushed “Employee Freedom Week” and regularly touts what it’s done to advance right to work. They’ve even argued that “One of the quickest ways to boost a state’s freedom ranking is to adopt a right-to-work law.” The LIBRE Initiative, which claims to advocate for Latinos but lobbied against raising the minimum wage, has spread Koch propaganda on labor unions, saying they want to “enrich themselves” rather than protect workers.
Instead of giving working families a break and time to spend together this weekend, if the Kochs had they’re way there’d be no fair wages or paid family and medical leave. The Kochs represent everything that American workers protested during the first Labor Day.