Chamber of Commerce Secretly Trying to Take Down Labor Appointee

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Ah, the use of front groups by the Big Business lobby. Always so much fun. Here’s the latest example, spotted by the Center for Responsive Politics’ Public Integrity’s blog, PaperTrail, when it investigated this online advertisement against Labor Secretary-designate Hilda Solis:

 

Clicking on the ad takes you to a petition against Rep. Solis’ nomination, which is hosted on the website of Americans for Job Security.” While it’s hard to find anyone these days who would be against job security, the claim that Solis is “anti-worker” doesn’t seem to jibe with endorsements from the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and other unions.

 

As it turns out, Americans for Job Security is actually a spin-off of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s most robust business affiliation that has traditionally worked to elect conservative, pro-business politicians and judges is one of the strongest anti-union voices in American politics. The group also lobbied heavily against the Employee Free Choice Act legislation that Solis co-sponsored in 2007 as a member of Congress.

The Chamber of Commerce also says it is committed to “address[ing] energy, security, and climate change challenges,” but in reality, it orchestrates a campaign of misinformation on the issue of climate change that seeks to kill the most drastic (and likely most necessary) legislation in favor of business-friendly alternatives. I don’t doubt that the Chamber does a lot of good work, particularly for small businesses. But on issues like labor and global warming, it is part of the problem.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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