Scathing report claims nation's oldest labor union 'betrayed' MAGA members through 'shocking' spending
· Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: One of the nation’s most prominent railroad unions is facing new scrutiny after a watchdog report alleged its leadership is quietly working against the political views of its members who support President Donald Trump's agenda.
The report, released by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), claims the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), one of the nation’s oldest labor unions, is run by leaders who are endorsing and promoting Democratic policies and candidates despite a membership base that data suggests largely supports the president.
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The report, which alleges the union "betrayed" its MAGA members, points to the union’s endorsement of the Harris-Walz ticket in the 2024 election cycle, as well as its ties to prominent Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is running for Senate again.
While BLET has touted Republicans in recent years, including earlier this year when it applauded Vice President JD Vance and the bipartisan reintroduction of the Railway Safety Act (RSA), the report highlights repeated criticism of Trump-era policies, including transportation regulations, immigration enforcement and the conservative-backed Project 2025 agenda, alongside praise for the policies of the Biden administration.
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A review of the union's social media account by AAF shows numerous examples of the union opposing various moves by the first Trump administration during his presidential campaign against incumbent Joe Biden, which the report describes as evidence of "woke leadership."
"In the lead-up to the 2024 election, BLET issued 14 tweets that criticized the actions of the first Trump administration while praising the Biden administration's railroad policies," the report says. "The messaging was clearly intended to skew union members toward the Democratic presidential ticket. In these tweets, they attacked nearly every major Trump-era rail policy decision while framing the Biden administration's actions positively."
The union’s public support of Democrats had a financial angle as well, as the report states that the organization spent more than $26 million on political activity in recent years, with the vast majority supporting Democratic candidates and causes to a degree that AAF referred to as "shocking."
According to the report, 99% of the union’s party committee donations went to Democrats.
"For example, in the 2016 cycle, BLET donated $15,000 to the DNC when they were the nexus for GOTV for the Hillary Clinton campaign but never donated a dollar to the RNC," the report says. "In 2024, long after it had become clear that industrial union membership was strongly behind President Trump, the BLET leadership still hadn’t gotten the message, making 24 different donations to Democrat party committees for a total of $53,400 and a mere two donations to Republican committees for a spare $2000."
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According to the report, the divide reflects a broader shift in American politics, with blue-collar workers increasingly backing Trump while union leadership remains entrenched in traditional left-leaning positions.
The report goes beyond the union’s spending on politics and delves into what it calls "waste and abuse" in the form of millions of dollars of member dues being shelled out for travel, hotels and "swag."
"While it’s bad enough that BLET spent over $5,000,000 on hotels and conferences, even more concerning is the fact that the union spent over $2,000,000 on casinos and resorts alone," the report says. "The union appears more concerned with staying at entertaining destination resorts than they do being thrifty with their members’ dues."
Recent polling shows that labor unions like BLET consist of a large number of workers who support Trump, including Teamsters polling that shows a 60/40 breakdown in favor of Trump and exit polling from the 2024 election that shows working-class voters without a college degree went 56% for Trump and 42% for Harris.
The report also points to leadership compensation as part of the disconnect, noting multiple top officials earning over $200,000 annually, with the union president and vice president each making more than $300,000.
"The men pulling America’s freight voted for President Trump because they believe in secure borders and putting American workers first," AAF President Tom Jones said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"But their union bosses are busy living large on member dues and carrying water for the Left. They’ve turned a blue-collar brotherhood into a woke political machine that’s doing everything it can against the Trump-Vance agenda, and likewise, against everyday railroad workers. Every BLET member should be asking where their hard-earned dollars are really going."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a BLET spokesperson said: "We do not comment on false press releases by dark money groups who have no accountability to the truth."