Preview: How Trump turned his back on workers

It’s no secret that many union members voted for Donald Trump in 2016 with hopes that he would live up to his promises to support workers and “drain the swamp.”

What he’s done has been just the opposite, turning his back on workers with executive orders and the appointment of union busting attorneys to the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, and putting his cronies in charge of federal agencies so they can push their “wealth for the 1%” agenda on the rest of us.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently compiled an extensive report outlining the Trump administration’s 50 most egregious attacks on working people, including:

• Attacking workers’ wages, preventing millions of workers from receiving overtime by lowering the overtime threshold, proposing a rule to allow employers to capture workers’ tips, costing workers more than $700 million annually, and blocking a minimum wage increase.
• Opposing extension of the $600 increase in unemployment (UI) benefits and additional aid to state and local governments during the pandemic. The lack of fiscal relief is projected to cost 5.1 million jobs due to the expiration of expanded UI benefits, and 5.3 million jobs due to insufficient federal aid to state and local governments.
• Failing to protect workers’ health during the pandemic. OSHA under Trump has failed to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act or issue any rules to protect workers from the virus.
• Systematically promoting the interests of corporate executives and shareholders over those of working people, failing to protect workers’ safety, wages and rights.
• Undermining workers’ collective bargaining rights, including obstructing workers’ rights to fair union elections.
• Putting forward anti-worker nominees and appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court, Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board.

“President Trump claimed he would fight for workers, but his actions and policies have cost workers wages, undermined their right to organize unions, and failed to protect their health and safety on the job,” said Lynn Rhinehart, EPI’s senior fellow and co-author of the report. “This report shows the real record and exposes Trump’s repeated attacks on workers.”

Before you decide to cast a vote to re-elect Trump on Nov. 3, we urge you to read the full report in our Oct. 15 Special Election Edition so you’ll have the FACTS before casting your vote.

Look for “50 Ways Trump Has Failed Workers” in the Oct. 15 edition of the Labor Tribune.