GOP senators unanimously confirm anti-worker Scalia for Labor Secretary

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor

The GOP-controlled Senate last week confirmed union-busting lawyer Eugene Scalia as Secretary of Labor.

President Donald Trump nominated Scalia to succeed Alex Acosta after Acosta resigned in July amid an outcry over his role in a plea deal for the multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Scalia is a partner at the Washington law firm Gibson Dunn, where he has defended companies such as Walmart, Ford and UPS against workers’ rights claims. He is also the son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

Scalia was confirmed on a 53-to-44 vote.

‘WORKERS ARE NOT GOING TO FORGET’
Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of labor unions, called Scalia a “lifelong union-buster” and said his nomination goes against Trump’s campaign pledge to stand on the side of workers.

“It’s insulting, it’s dangerous, and workers are not going to forget it,” Trumka said.

Democrats have argued that Scalia’s record as a corporate lawyer has shown him to be “anti-worker.”

In remarks on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said that Scalia has fought to protect the interests of chief executives and the wealthy elite and opposed worker protections throughout his career, describing his nomination by President Trump as a “disgrace.”

“This guy shouldn’t even make it for secretary of commerce, let alone secretary of Labor, which is supposed to protect and defend the working people of America,” Schumer said.

President Trump hailed Scalia as “one of the finest minds and lawyers in Washington.”

(Information from the Washington Post and Labor 411.)