U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson Does NOT Stand with Workers

After weeks of dysfunction, on October 25th the U.S. House of Representatives Majority elected Mike Johnson as the new Speaker of the House. Unfortunately, Rep. Johnson is, if anything, even worse for workers than Kevin McCarthy--Johnson is one of the most extreme anti-worker, anti-union politicians in the House.

CWA has pulled some key info on Johnson's record below. You can find out how your representative voted (and whether they supported this anti-union, anti-worker extremist) here.

Johnson called the PRO Act "an outdated way of thinking."

Johnson is a co-sponsor of the National Right-to-Work Act, a bill that would force states that currently have fair share laws in place to implement so-called "right-to-work" laws that force unions to represent workers who don't pay any of the costs of that representation and that are designed to divide workers and weaken unions.

Johnson's anti-labor record is so extreme that he actually endorsed overturning the provision of the National Labor Relations Act that bans "company unions" that companies like T-Mobile have used to try and convince workers that they are represented on the job even without collective bargaining.

Johnson supports a bill that would exempt almost half of all businesses from the NLRA altogether, meaning that workers at those companies would have no protections or rights to collectively bargain at all.

Johnson proposed a budget that would raise the retirement age, lower COLAs for Social Security beneficiaries, and more to cut the programs by over $2 trillion, while leaving seniors holding the bag.

Johnson endorsed a bill to eliminate prevailing wage laws like Davis-Bacon that protect against a race-to-the-bottom in wages.

Johnson supports a bill that would allow companies to negotiate separate compensation agreements with individual employees to get around collective bargaining agreements--undermining the whole point of collective bargaining.

Johnson backed a bill that would deliberately throw red tape in the process to slow union representation elections and mandate that they not take place for at least 35 days after filing. The purpose of this bill is to allow companies more time for their anti-union campaign and to demoralize workers to prevent them from maintaining a pro-union majority.

Johnson was a strong supporter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election and a lead backer of the infamous January 6th coup attempt.

Johnson supported banning majority sign-up as a form of organizing a union.

Johnson endorsed the creation of so-called "IRAPs," or "Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs." These programs were set up under the Trump Administration to allow companies to form apprenticeships with no support from unions or pathways to advancement.

Johnson voted against the PACT Act, a bill that provides additional health care protections for veterans who were exposed to burn pits or Agent Orange.

Johnson supported a bill to require frequent union recertification elections, draining union resources and facilitating decertification efforts.