Politics or Policy? Explaining Marco Rubio’s Pro-Union Push

His motivations are quite different from those of Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden.

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One Amazon fulfillment center’s push to unionize in Bessemer, Alabama, is attracting the attention of members of the top echelon of American politics. Today, plant employee Jennifer Bates will testify before the Senate Budget Committee at the invitation of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The workers at the Alabama plant are getting endorsements from President Joe Biden and even Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. However, the political motivations are different on each side of the aisle. A Democratic president supporting unionization is hardly a surprise, but, at face value, a GOP endorsement of the measure is. Until you realize that Rubio’s incentives are more politically based than policy-oriented.

But first, what’s actually happening in Bessemer?

With the fulfillment center employing more than 5,800 people, this is the biggest push for a union Amazon has seen from a group of employees. Voting opened in early February and will close on March 29.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Octávio Lima

    It is disappointing that a man who had such promise and good positions, that now is using his perch as a Senator to ask people to punish companies for not having the opinions he wants. The past five years will be known as the years when the Republican party abandoned the idea of freedom, including the freedom to be wrong and have wrong opinions and positions.

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  2. MikeS

    Rubio's statement is a progressive two-fer: a broadside against a private party's freedom of speech and a boost to unionization. What self-respecting conservative could vote for him? Not me.

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  3. Sara

    Dear Dispatch, is it possible you could cover the current civil war in Haiti and President Jovenel Moise's refusal to step down? I have a friend sending me videos from Haiti that she is receiving from family but when I Google I cannot find anything about this in the US media and it is happening in our backyard.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    I read the original USA today editorial. Yes, there is some class warfare going on here, but there is also something else.

    𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣’𝙨 𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.

    𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧.

    Rubio is basically telling Bezos to lie in the bed he's made. Sometimes people don't think it through.

    Rubio is not pro union.

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    1. John Smith

      Thank you for posting this, it adds context that I did not get from the dispatch article.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Earl King

    To the author: To be fair they also are not asking for boycott's. It is very difficult to force companies to behave a certain way. The Left, cancel culture has been very effective. Corporations caving. IS Amazons behavior at censoring products for sale abhorrent? Yes. Does it make me pause about giving them money? Yes. Have I stopped? No...But somebody smarter than me is going to have to come with a way to be as successful as the left. Unions were solely limited too wages and benefits as safety issues have largely been taken care of...You'll now begin to see Unions demanding more cultural appropriate items. So so company supports Israeli apartheid so stop doing business with them. Do not invest our pension in oil and gas...that kind of stuff....Not that wages are not a big deal....but with the guaranteed income Democrats want to put out.....they won't be as important as the woke agenda.

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    1. Susan Huckaby

      I cannot wrap my core conservative head around telling a private company what they can and cannot sell. I can't make the case in any way that Amazon is 'censoring' anything -- if this was the government removing books and not allowing anyone to sell it, making it illegal to possess, then that would be the violation. Do you want to read the censored books? IF so, were you unable to find them? If you say you can't, you didn't look very hard...they're available at multiple other retailers.

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        Earl King

        I’m am deeply sorry I am not following what you are asking me. However that have chosen not to offer books that offend some people. They are making an editorial decision. That is sled censorship. BTW neither PEpe LePew nor Dr Suess should be causing such discussion. Com’on people grow up!

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        1. Susan Huckaby

          You mentioned Amazon is censoring — I don’t believe Amazon could censor if they wanted to do so. They are a private company and can sell or not sell at will. You can purchase from them or not. I agree people should grow up — I’m at a loss that anyone would spend time lamenting wherever all the outrage is over Seuss, Potato Head or a cartoon. If a private company wants to pull a book, sell a book or not, I’m fine with that.

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            Earl King

            In 2019 Amazons share of book sales was 61%. I have no idea what it is today....but we used to break up uncompetitive monopolies. Maybe not so much anymore. I am guessing after Covid, their share is higher. If they make decision not to sell a book they are entitled too...but doing it for censorship of thought or opinion or political reasons is wrong....If you don't get that I have nothing I can say.

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    Pat Riot

    The Republican party is now a post-ideology, post-policy party. This is going to be hard for commentators to grasp: Republicans are not only no longer Conservative (haven't been for a decade), but they are not even *anything*.

    Republicans have figured out that millions of Americans will vote entirely on a *feeling*, and that **everything else doesn't matter**.

    That's why Republicans could both vote in lockstep against the recovery bill *and* then celebrate it's passage with their constituents as if they supported it all along. They are happy, it seems, to cede all economic ideology and policy goals to the Democrats.

    Note how this lines up with the Republicans tacking away from the college educated: they are targeting extremely low-info voters would not know or understand the difference between socialism and capitalism for instance (see: the way the Republicans currently use the word, "socialism").

    Marco Rubio's motivations are to win the next election. For him, if that means being Bernie Sanders, then who cares? His voters won't even begin to understand nuance like this, they only understand owning the libs.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Connelly

      This might be the most insightful comment of yours on a Dispatch article that I’ve read.

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    2. KyleGF

      Precisely. The American Compass folks who see this as a moment where they can win ideologically are sorely mistaken. The "pro worker" republicans, like Hawley and Rubio, will completely shift their politics the second it becomes politically advantageous for them. Rubio already has done it: see his shifts from 2013 to 2020.

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    Mick.Staton

    Rubio wants to punish companies that don't toe his political line. How very woke of him.

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      Pat Riot

      But he wants to do so with the power of the government. How very socialist of him...

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  8. Shaybult

    Well written and a nice summary of what's going on with this particular union drive. But im not sure we needed anyone to "explain" Marco Rubio's position - it seems very obvious that it's all about politics, not principle. He essentially said as much.

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  9. Very Old Grumpy Guy

    I am not a Rubio fan, at all. However, I think he is sincere in this pro-union statement. He is all-in on the American Compass driven, pro-worker movement within the right. While he may get a two-fer in this case- yay unions boo Amazon (a perceived foe)-he is, this one time apparently showing some spine and integrity.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

      In the USA today editorial from which Rubio's thoughts were taken, he is very clear he thinks adversarial unions are not a good thing.

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      1. Very Old Grumpy Guy

        1) If there is no need for negotiation between a union and an employer, there is no need for a union. 2) This still represents a break with Republican orthodoxy which has been focused on destroying unions since - forever?

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          Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

          Employees need a voice, and if they don't feel they are being heard, then a union can give them that.

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    2. Shaybult

      I have to disagree. Marco Rubio is not pro-union. He pro-sticking-it-to-companies-he-disagrees-with. And if he's all-in with American Compass it's because someone told him that would poll well, not because he has any actual beliefs in that direction.

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      1. Very Old Grumpy Guy

        Both you and Jen could be right. He is identified by the American Compass crowd as a "pro worker" Republican. The proof will be if he ever supports a union at some identifiable "Republican" company - like Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, etc. It is also cowardly to bring up ideological concerns about Amazon. I forget which part of the conservative manifesto we lay out how great crony capitalism is. I want to be clear that I don't like him either. But he may actually be trying to become an actual entity, now that Trump won't take his seat.

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        1. Shaybult

          Maybe, but trying to be an actual entity and having any actually-held beliefs and principles isn't the same thing.

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          1. Very Old Grumpy Guy

            When y'all are right, y'all are right!

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    3. Very Old Grumpy Guy

      Sorry - to expand on the thought - Rubio is actually using the "wokeness" of Amazon as a justification for "doing the right" given he is on board with American Compass. I still believe the main driver is his AC leanings. But Rubio is still mostly a spineless coward. So he must come up with a politically correct reason to "do the right thing".

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        Jen

        I followed Rubio pretty closely when he was running for president in 2016. I don’t remember him being so so pro-union or populist back then. This seems more like he stuck his finger in the wind, felt which way it was blowing and went that way. Of course it dovetails with the culture war certain segments of the GOP base want to fight. They’re perfectly fine with Republicans punishing companies they think are too ‘woke’. In this case Rubio got a two-fer - can claim to be pro-union while going after ‘woke’ Amazon. Personally I think it’s too cute by half and most people see it for what it is. Sadly I fear we will see more and more of this cynical politics from Republican senators who are thinking of running in 2024 (or are up for reelection in 2022).

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