Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien got into a heated verbal exchange Wednesday in a Senate committee hearing focused on the right of workers to organize unions.
For nearly an hour, the hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was mostly a tepid affair, with the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders , and ranking Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, taking turns questioning a panel of major union leaders.
“I’m not against unions. I’m not at all,” said Mullin, who owns a plumbing company. “Some of my very good friends work for unions. They work hard, and they do a good job.” “I’m not afraid of a physical confrontation. In fact, sometimes I look forward to it. That’s not my problem. But when you’re doing that to my employees?” Mullin said, adding, “For what? For what? Because we were paying higher wages? Because we had better benefits and we wasn’t requiring them to pay your guys’ exorbitant salaries?”
O’Brien tried to interject to say Teamsters did not force members to pay dues, before declaring, “You’re out of line.” “When I made my company? I kept my salary down at about $50,000 a year because I invested every penny into it,” Mullin said, nodding.An exasperated Mullin stopped and pointed at O’Brien again. “Hold on a second.”“You think you’re smart? You think you’re funny?” Mullin said.
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