WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, who periodically touts his pro-union bona fides, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign donations from massive corporations that have engaged in union-busting activities, financial records show.
Since 2017, Suozzi’s (D-NY) political operation has pocketed nearly $467,900 from corporate giants such as Amazon, Delta Airlines, Walmart, Boeing, Google and more that have found themselves in the crosshairs of labor.
Additionally, over the summer, Suozzi’s campaign team spent $585 dining at the popular Le Diplomate, a plush Washington, DC restaurant that dozens of his Democratic colleagues have boycotted due to a labor dispute.
“I’ve always been pro-union. My grandfather was in IBEW [International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers], put the lights on top of the Empire State Building. I see the American dream through the unions,” Suozzi said back in August.
“The problem in our country now is that people are not making enough money,” he added. “I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on or what your politics are. That’s what we have to get back to in America. Hard work gets rewarded with a decent life.”
New York is home to the second-highest percentage of union workers of any state in the country, with over 20% of its population making their living through organized labor.
Throughout his tenure in Congress, Suozzi has introduced multiple pieces of legislation aimed at promoting unions, such as the Pro Act to protect workers’ rights to organize without reprisal. Suozzi recently re-upped the Pro Act in March.
In April, Suozzi joined a letter with almost two dozen of his Democratic colleagues blasting President Trump’s executive order to exempt federal agencies with national security responsibilities from collective bargaining.
“This action is the single most anti-worker and anti-union presidential action since Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981, and it must be reversed immediately,” Suozzi and other lawmakers fumed in the letter.
The Long Island rep has also enjoyed the backing from scores of unions such as Long Island Federation of Labor, RWDSU Local 338, Laborers 66, Sheet Metal Workers Local 28, DC9 Painters Union, NYSNA and more.
But many of the companies that donated to Suozzi’s campaign coffers have a history of stomping on labor.
This includes $12,000 worth of donations from the Delta Airlines Corporate PAC. Last year, 146 lawmakers sent a letter to Delta, ripping the airline over its anti-union practices after it allegedly threatened to fire employees who were organizing. Suozzi did not join that letter.
The New York Democrat’s campaign war chest also got $13,000 from UnitedHealth Group’s Corporate PAC. One of UnitedHealth’s subsidiaries has used an anti-union team, dubbed “the People Team,” to scare off unionization efforts, per Jacobin Magazine.
Google’s NETPAC has funneled $8,500 to Suozzi’s coffers, but the tech behemoth infamously fired employees in 2018 who led union organization efforts.
Perhaps most notable are $7,000 from Walmart’s Corporate PAC, $1,000 from Amazon’s Corporate PAC and $10,000 from The Kroger Company’s Corporate PAC, all of whom have faced high-profile accusations of union-busting activities.
Other contributions from alleged union busters include: $10,000 from Home Depot’s Corporate PAC, $6,500 from the MetLife Inc. Corporate PAC, $19,000 from Lockheed Martin’s Corporate PAC, $7,000 from The FedEx Corporation’s Corporate PAC and $19,500 from the Boeing Company’s Corporate PAC, among others.
“Two-Faced Tom Suozzi has long purported to be a friend of the unions and the working class, but his campaign coffers reveal the truth: He is a greedy, self-serving fraud,” Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole told The Post.
“Suozzi has turned a blind eye to egregious union-busting behavior for years, all to advance his own political career and out-of-touch agenda.”
The NRCC is aggressively fighting to unseat Suozzi, as his 3rd congressional district is widely seen as one of the most competitive House races in the country. The Cook Political Report election handicapper rates it as a lean Democratic seat.
When asked about his campaign accepting donations from union busters, a senior adviser ripped into it as a “bulls— story concocted by Washington DC Republican hacks.”
“Instead of pitching stories to the press, they should get back to Washington and work with Congressman Suozzi to prevent healthcare costs from skyrocketing and end this shutdown,” campaign adviser Kim Devlin told The Post.
Overall, corporations have pumped some $1,453,450 into his campaign bankroll, according to an analysis shared with The Post.
Suozzi is a co-chair of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus and returned to the lower chamber in 2024, succeeding Long Island’s former Rep. George Santos.
