AFL-CIO hits Rubio over union endorsement

The AFL-CIO knocked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for backing the push for Amazon unionization at an Alabama plant while simultaneously opposing a federal bill aimed at offering protections for employees trying to unionize.

“Positive words for workers organizing at Amazon are welcome, but positive actions for workers organizing everywhere distinguish true champions from political pandering,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement Friday.

“If you oppose the PRO Act, then you’re not pro-worker and you’re not pro-union,” Trumka added.

Rubio became the first major GOP lawmaker to back the unionization fight at Amazon’s Bessemer, Ala., plant in a USA Today op-ed Friday.

The piece did not defend the nascent union effort because of its push for worker rights. Rather, Rubio’s argument focused on Amazon being an ally “of the left in the culture war.” At one point he said that “adversarial relations between labor and management are wrong.”