John,

Courageous workers across the country are banding together to fight for higher wages, better benefits, and improved workplace conditions either through an existing union or by starting one from scratch. From Amazon workers to Starbucks and beyond, this worker-powered movement is changing the landscape for working people in our fight for fair wages and collective bargaining rights.

In response, corporations have launched aggressive anti-union campaigns—often including the illegal tactics of threatening, harassing, and firing workers—to stop people from joining or starting a union.

President Biden and Congress need to send a clear message: No taxpayer dollars will go to criminal union-busting corporations.

Major corporations—from Tesla, Nike, and FedEx to Google, Disney, and AT&T—suck up billions of dollars each year in tax dollars through subsidies and direct investment by federal, state, and local governments. Amazon ranks 11th on the Good Jobs First subsidy tracker—receiving more than $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars—and Bezos right now is lobbying Congress for billions for his space company. Starbucks benefits from more than $4 million, and Apple gets $1.7 billion from taxpayers.¹

At the same time, Starbucks, Amazon, Tesla, Apple, Verizon… the list of corporations where workers are reporting labor violations to the NLRB only gets longer every day.^2,3,4 Obviously, the current disincentives to breaking the law aren’t good enough. It’s time to hit them where it counts—their bottom line.

President Biden could issue an executive order denying federal contracts to corporations deemed to have broken the law by the National Labor Relations Board. Congress could pass legislation to pause, limit, or completely scrap subsidies and stop federal tax dollars from being spent. And the departments and agencies in the Biden administration could update the Federal Acquisitions Regulation process, already in place to determine whether or not a contractor is suitable to receive a federal contract, to include compliance with labor law.⁵

Tell President Biden and Congress: Taxpayer dollars should not go to multibillion dollar corporations that violate labor laws.

Taking taxpayer dollars is big business for corporate America and it seems time and time again like this money is just given away with no strings attached. It doesn’t have to be that way.

As workers rise up to fight for better wages, benefits, and safer working conditions, it’s absolutely critical that our leaders in D.C. stand with them.

In solidarity,

Rashida

¹ Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker
² Starbucks hit with sweeping labor complaint including over 200 alleged violations, CNBC
³ Amazon accused of violating U.S. labor law after union supporters' arrests, Reuters
⁴ Amazon faces a second union vote at an Alabama warehouse next month after the NLRB found the company interfered with the first election, Business Insider
⁵ Obama-era executive orders on federal contractors are important tools to raise wages and boost living standards, Economic Policy Institute