Tag Archives: Donald Trump

If You Think Trump Is Good For Union Members, Read This

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The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) issued a report earlier this month that details numerous ways in which President Donald Trump, through his appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), has weakened worker protections and rights, and given employers ever more power.

In a press release dated October 16, 2019, the EPI said

Examples of harmful actions the Trump NLRB has taken or proposed include:

  • Undermining collective bargaining rights by giving employers more power to make unilateral changes without consulting with the union, gerrymandering bargaining units to undermine organizing drives, and withdrawing recognition from existing unions
  • Stripping tens of thousands of student workers and Uber drivers of their right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act
  • Narrowing the definition of “joint employer” – which makes it harder for temporary and contract workers to bargain with the firms that control their wages and working conditions
  • Giving employers more power to prevent workers and union organizers from organizing and protesting on the employer’s property, even when employers let other groups on their property to solicit

“The Trump NLRB has systematically rolled back workers’ right under the NLRA and they show no sign of slowing down,” said Lynn Rhinehart, one of the report’s authors. “Congress has a responsibility to hold the NLRB accountable for their actions, and policymakers should pass legislation to restore and strengthen workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain.”

You can read the entire report and decide for yourself.

UNPRECEDENTED_The Trump NLRB’s attack on workers’ rights

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. EPI believes every working person deserves a good job with fair pay, affordable health care, and retirement security. To achieve this goal, EPI conducts research and analysis on the economic status of working America. EPI proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how they affect those workers.

 

“We can never back down from our values” – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

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Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the 2016 Presidential Election

Donald Trump has been elected president. America is a democratic nation, and the voters have spoken. The AFL-CIO accepts the outcome of this election, and offers our congratulations to President-elect Trump.

More than anything, this election is an indictment of politics as usual.

For too long, the political elites have embraced economic policies that hold down wages, increase inequality, diminish opportunity and ship American jobs overseas. Voters in both the primary and general election have delivered a clear message: enough.

The President-elect made promises in this campaign—on trade, on restoring manufacturing, on reviving our communities. We will work to make many of those promises a reality. If he is willing to work with us, consistent with our values, we are ready to work with him.

But make no mistake, we can never back down from our values. The presence of racism, misogyny, and anti-immigrant appeals caused damage in this campaign and we must all try to repair it with inclusion, decency and honesty.

As we move forward, the labor movement is committed to defending our American democracy. Ultimately, the fundamental duty of America’s President, symbolized by swearing to uphold our Constitution, is to protect and preserve our democracy and the institutions that make it real.  We hope to work with President Elect Trump to help him carry out this solemn responsibility. Regardless, America’s labor movement will protect our democracy and safeguard the most vulnerable among us.

This election is a statement about our broken economic and political rules. Therefore, the work of the labor movement continues with fresh urgency. The change voters cried out for in this campaign can be found by standing together in unions. The election is over. But we are more committed than ever to helping working people win a voice on the job and in our democracy.

We will never stop striving to represent everyone, fighting for basic human dignity, expanding our diversity and growing our ranks to give working people a strong, united voice.