Democrats Want to Insert Their Union Cronies at the Top of America’s Aerospace Companies

A bill being pushed by congressional Democrats would usurp business leaders at the head of aerospace and defense companies in the United States––and insert union bosses instead.

The so-called “Safety Starts at the Top Act,” introduced in the House last week by Congressman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) as H.R. 10077, would force aerospace companies to give away two seats on their board of directors to union representatives. Last year, Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), introduced the Senate version of the bill (S. 1268).

The bill would apply to any business that is an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) holder and has at least $15 billion in annual gross revenue. The ODA program includes trusted companies that have received designated authority from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform certain examinations and inspections, rather than having every decision micromanaged directly by government agents.

Democrats have long sought to impose European-style board requirements on American companies to appease their union donors, and this is just the latest attempt.

Proposed legislation in recent years from Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has attempted to reshape corporate boards through government mandates in order to give seats away to union bosses. The “Safety Starts at the Top Act” goes even a step further by pointing to specific unions whose bosses must be put in power under the law.

While European countries like Germany have imposed these kinds of government mandates on their own companies, the U.S. free market system has long stood in opposition to the practice. Forcing union bosses onto boards politicizes the boardroom, creates conflicts of interest that violate fiduciary duty, runs the risk of violating antitrust law, and makes companies less able to respond to potential crises.

Congress should reject these attempts to usurp the free market and spread harmful European-style mandates as a handout to union bosses––especially when it comes to crucial industries like aerospace and defense. The safety of Americans at home and abroad relies on it.