FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2026 — The Merchants Payments Coalition today welcomed the endorsement of the Credit Card Competition Act by four of the nation’s largest labor unions, who called on the Senate Agriculture Committee to “not lose sight” of credit card swipe fees as it considers cryptocurrency legislation set for a vote.
“All unions know that working people are reeling from an affordability crisis on everyday goods,” the unions said. “Reforming credit card swipe fees will curb runaway profiteering by credit card companies and their biggest partners, like airlines. We support this attempt to return more buying power to hardworking Americans.”
“Working Americans want their wages to go further and object to big Wall Street banks siphoning off more and more money without any checks on them, especially as the current environment make it harder for families to get by,” the unions said.
The comments came in a letter to the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee signed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union; the Service Employees International Union and the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union. The groups dwarf most other U.S. labor organizations: With 1.9 million members, SEIU is the second-largest union in the nation while the Teamsters are the fourth-largest with 1.4 million and UFCW the sixth-largest at 1.2 million. RWDSU is an affiliate of UFCW with over 50,000 members.
The committee is scheduled to take up cryptocurrency marketplace legislation during a voting session today. Senators Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill. — the lead sponsors of the CCCA — are no longer expected to seek a committee vote on an amendment they and Senator Peter Welch, D-Vt., introduced that would make the CCCA part of the crypto bill. But the unions said “we ask that your committee not lose sight of the important benefits of reforming credit card swipe fees.”
“Building on the backing of swipe fee reform by President Trump and hundreds of business, consumer and other groups, this endorsement by major unions shows the depth and breadth of support for legislation to finally bring competition to our nation’s broken credit card market,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “These fees drive up the prices of nearly everything American families buy and hit the working class the hardest. It’s time to make America affordable again, and swipe fee reform is a common sense step Congress can take today.”
The unions said swipe fees “hit lower-income workers much harder than others” and cited a Federal Reserve study showing the fees transfer $15 billion a year from low-income consumers to wealthy individuals, with the poorest Americans paying five times more in swipe fees than they receive in credit card rewards. They said swipe fee reform for debit cards passed by Congress in 2010 supported 37,000 American jobs during its first year and that the current credit card measure is expected to result in “direct savings for consumers and increased wages for our members.”
The union endorsement follows a letter to the committee from MPC and nearly 350 merchant trade associations last week asking lawmakers to “choose Main Street merchants and American consumers over Wall Street megabanks and global card networks” by making the CCCA part of the crypto bill. Trump endorsed the CCCA earlier this month, saying it is needed “to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff.”
The CCCA is supported by almost 2,000 companies and a broad group of consumer, labor and pro-competition organizations. This month, consumer, antimonopoly and small business groups sent Congress a letter saying, “Reform is urgently needed … at a time when affordability is perhaps the top issue in modern American economic life.” In addition, the Coalition of Large Tribes, representing over 50 Native American tribes, sent a letter expressing “strong support for the inclusion of the Credit Card Competition Act in any moving vehicle at the soonest opportunity.”
Credit and debit card swipe fees — which have risen 70% since the pandemic and reached a record $187.2 billion in 2024 — are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor. The fees are far too high to absorb, especially for small merchants, and drive up consumer prices by nearly $1,200 a year for the average family.
Visa and Mastercard — which control 80% of the market — each centrally set swipe fees charged by banks that issue cards under their brands, and block transactions from being processed over other networks that could do the job with lower fees and better security. The Marshall-Durbin-Welch amendment would require banks with at least $100 billion in assets to enable cards to be processed over at least two unaffiliated networks — Visa or Mastercard plus a competitor like NYCE, Star or Shazam.
Banks would choose which networks to enable but merchants would then choose which to use, resulting in competition over fees, security and service that is expected to save merchants and consumers $17 billion a year. Rewards would not be affected, security would be improved, consumers would still use the same cards, and community banks and all but one credit union would be exempt.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.