Minnesota Labor Leaders Hail Rep. Omar’s Leadership, History on Labor Issues, Condemn Opponent’s History at Union-Busting Law Firm
MINNEAPOLIS—Today organized labor leadership from around the 5th District held a press conference about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s history of advocating for working families and unions, and her opponent’s time representing employers as a partner at the union-busting law firm Jackson Lewis. Speakers also discussed Rep. Omar’s support for Medicare For All, and her opponent’s opposition to it, and Rep. Omar’s use of local, progressive print shops for her direct mail, and her opponent’s use of a GOP mailing firm in California.
The press conference included speakers from the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Teamsters Joint Council 32, UNITE HERE Local 17, Minnesota Nurses Association, and AFSCME Local 3800.
You can watch the full press conference by clicking here, or below.
This press conference comes in the wake of a HuffPost story, reported by Daniel Marans, about Antone Melton-Meaux’s time as a partner at Jackson Lewis, one of the most notorious management-side, union-busting law firms in the nation. As Marans writes:
“Melton-Meaux skirted one of HuffPost’s questions about the nature of his work for Jackson Lewis….[a Melton-Meaux campaign spokesman] did not respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification about whether Melton-Meaux’s status as a partner meant he got a share of firm-wide profits…. In addition, HuffPost obtained details of three cases in which Melton-Meaux represented large companies being sued by former workers….Though the cases did not involve efforts to undermine a union organizing drive or other forms of concerted labor activity, in all of them, Melton-Meaux aided powerful companies in cases involving workers with serious claims of wrongdoing.
“Law partners, as opposed to more junior attorneys, are generally entitled to share in their firm’s profits. If Melton-Meaux’s compensation was based on his firm’s overall performance, he might have benefited from the firm’s anti-union consulting cases even if he did not work on them directly.
“Jackson Lewis advertises its expertise in helping companies remain “union free” through the technically legal closed-door propaganda meetings and veiled threats that companies have increasingly used to wear down unions since the 1980s”