Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trolled Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy after he reached an informal settlement with the National Labor Relations Board following his August anti-union tweets.
“Well, well, well,” said the New York Democrat in reaction to the news on Monday evening. “Remember when we put the CEO of Barstool Sports on notice about tweeting threats to intimidate his workers from unionizing? Looks like he just had to settle with the NLRB over his actions. Reminder: Threatening workers who want to unionize is illegal.”
Well, well, well:
Remember when we put the CEO of Barstool Sports on notice about tweeting threats to intimidate his workers from unionizing?
Looks like he just had to settle with the NLRB over his actions.
Reminder: Threatening workers who want to unionize is illegal 🙂 https://t.co/vPEGbjCH32 pic.twitter.com/F8useTAD7Z
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 21, 2020
In August, Portnoy warned employees that he would fire anyone who attempted to unionize Barstool Sports after a report that workers at rival sports outlet the Ringer were considering unionizing. He shared a 2015 tweet in which he said: “I hope and I pray that Barstool employees try to unionize. I can’t tell you how much I want them to unionize. Just so I can smash their little union to smithereens.”
Portnoy capitalized on the moment, selling T-shirts emblazoned with his face and “union buster” scrawled across the chest. Ocasio-Cortez attacked Portnoy for his comments, tweeting, “ALL workers in the US have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions.”
The NLRB found Portnoy had created a fake Twitter account called “Barstool Sports Union” and used it to lure employees interested in unionizing.
“Would prefer to stay anonymous right now in beginning stages of unionization. DM. Serious inquiries only,” Barstool Sports Union tweeted on Aug. 13, 2019.
“The National Labor Relations Act forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity,” reads a statement on the NLRB’s website.
Barstool Sports agreed to delete the Twitter account and several of Portnoy’s related tweets and videos.
