'We're Teamsters, we're Republican and we vote -- but not for anti-worker politicians'

Republican Teamsters warn PA's GOP lawmakers: 'We're Republican and we vote'

Dozens of Pennsylvania Teamsters are standing with York County legislators to denounce H.B. 1507 as a bill that hurts all union members and working people.

Fred Wilson, president of Teamsters Local 776, in Harrisburg, Pa., said the bill is nothing more than a flat-out attack on workers' rights. It would prevent employers from honoring employees' voluntary request to deduct dues automatically from their paychecks. Said Wilson:

Attacking middle-class families should never be a partisan issue.

Local 776 president Fred Wilson speaks

Many York County Teamsters are Republican, and their message to state lawmakers is that they're Teamsters, they're Republican, they vote and they will not support Republican lawmakers who vote for H.B. 1507 and against working people.

York's mayor, C. Kim Bracey, and state Rep. Kevin Schreiber joined the Teamsters to discuss the damage H.B. 1507 would do to middle- and working-class families.

According to the Teamsters press release:

“Paycheck Deception is the product of the Koch Brothers, the same guys who have been weakening workers’ rights throughout the country to hurt the struggling American middle-class and outsource our jobs overseas,” Wilson said... 

“HB 1507 has one purpose and only one purpose – to weaken unions and to lower our wages,” said Danny Grace, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 830 in Philadelphia. 

All of the speakers urged Democrats and Republicans to defeat HB 1507 and work together to create jobs for a struggling middle class and not play politics with workers’ wages. 

A non-partisan issue, representatives from Teamsters Local 776, which includes more than 2,800 registered Republicans, stood tall with the rest of the speakers in calling for the defeat of the bill.