Statement on the Texas Republican Redistricting Plan

LIUNA Midwest Region has counted the great state of Texas as a part of our Region for nearly two decades. In that time, Texas Republicans have shown themselves to be not only anti-Union, but seemingly downright hostile to workers and their rights.

Since the 1990s, Texas has been a Right to Work (for less) state and has prohibited strikes and collective bargaining for public employees. Just last year, Republicans in the Texas legislature passed the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (House Bill 2127) – the so-called “Death Star” law – that prohibits local ordinances mandating water breaks and paid sick leave for workers.

Now, Texas Republicans want to take their anti-worker agenda nationwide. They have proposed a scheme to redraw the Texas Congressional map in such a blatantly gerrymandered fashion as to give Republicans an extra five seats in the very narrowly divided U.S. House of Representatives. Additionally, the five seats they are targeting are currently held by some of the strongest pro-union voices in the House of Representatives.

Let me be clear, this is not just a Texas issue. With those five extra seats, MAGA Republicans will have a much clearer path to push their anti-Union and anti-worker agenda on the rest of the country. We have already seen what they are willing to do with just the slimmest majority in Congress, and with even just a little bit more daylight, you can bet they will come after Davis-Bacon, PLAs, OSHA, the NRLA, and every other law and protection that Unions have established for working men and women for more than a century. We have fought too hard for the rights we have to go back to the days of worker exploitation for which the Texas Republicans seem to long.

Make no mistake, this attempt at such a belligerent power-grab will have negative consequences that go far beyond Texas, will continue their efforts to weaken protections for American workers and families, and it must be stopped.