China is gaining influence over America’s labor unions through its ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), conservative think tank Independent Women warned on Thursday.
Independent Women said the DSA, which seeks to replace American capitalism with socialism, has increasingly targeted labor unions as a way to recruit supporters and develop new leaders. The group describes unions as a “key vehicle for the DSA to gain control of the means of production in key industries and then redistribute resources and wealth.”
Independent Women also warned that Beijing is using its relationships with DSA members to expand its influence over American politics, businesses, and public policy.
“The DSA has infiltrated labor unions to stir up discord, undermine American businesses, and eventually gain control of our critical industries,” Patrice Onwuka, vice president for Economic Policy, told The Daily Wire. “Even worse, the DSA is aligning with the Chinese Communist Party to give them new influence over the American workforce, economy, and politics. If we’re not careful, government command-and-control agents will replace the prosperity and mobility with government servitude and misery.”
The organization argues that those efforts could weaken critical American industries while benefiting China, the country’s largest trade competitor.
The DSA is using a “Rank-and-File Strategy” to organize teachers and workers at companies including Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple around socialist causes, according to Independent Women. Like the DSA, unions push for economic, social, and political leverage while fighting for better working conditions. Independent Women pointed to Boeing as a key example of the strategy in action. In 2024, more than 33,000 Boeing employees went on strike after machinists in the Seattle area rejected a contract offer that included a 25% raise, falling short of the union’s demand for a 40% wage increase over the following three years.
DSA chapters near Seattle immediately jumped in on the strike and had members among the Boeing’s union workers’ protests. The chapters started Signal chats with the workers to share news and advice and even arrange meetings. One DSA organizer wrote, “Boeing should probably be owned by and accountable to the public. … Having a militant base and a socialist base in aerospace unions is a key step towards any just transition.”
The recent success of democratic socialist candidates in congressional primaries in New York, Michigan, Colorado, Florida, and other states could give organized labor new political allies at a time when union membership remains near historic lows.
Today, unions have only a third of the members that they had when their membership peaked in 1945, when over 34% of workers belonged to unions. In the 1900s, unions successfully negotiated a 40-hour workweek standard and improved working conditions across America’s manufacturing industries.
Union popularity started to decline, however, when their successes became less noticeable, and Americans opted out of giving a middleman a portion of their salary through union dues. In a 2025 survey, over 85% of American workers demanded greater transparency into how union dues are spent. Typically, unions take about 1-3% of a worker’s base wage each month to fund union operations.
Independent Women is now zeroing in on socialist organizing within American labor unions and the DSA’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party, warning that the issue could carry serious national security implications.
“The deliberate effort to build ideological power inside American labor unions, gain leverage across strategically important industries, and cultivate relationships with the Chinese Communist Party has implications far beyond domestic politics,” Meaghan Mobbs, Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women, told The Daily Wire. “Our adversaries are extraordinarily skilled at identifying and exploiting fractures inside free societies, particularly when those fractures weaken public trust, economic strength, political cohesion, or national readiness. Americans deserve to understand how these networks operate, where foreign interests intersect with domestic movements, and what that means for our national security.”
Members of the DSA have taken a trip to China funded by the CCP, according to DSA meeting notes cited by Independent Women. In the notes, members described their Chinese contacts and plans for future trips. They spoke about China’s “strong democracy” and have plans to publish articles, books, and documentaries about their positive experiences in China.
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