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AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka Blasts Trump’s ‘Assault’ On American Workers

By Elisabeth Parker
Published on: 17:33 PST, Sep 4, 2017

While most of us spent Labor Day swimming, barbecuing, and partying, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was busy blasting President Donald Trump on CNN.

The president campaigned as a friend to U.S. workers. But Richard Trumka, whose union represents more than 12.5 million of them, says otherwise. During his appearance on Jake Tapper’s The Lead, he said Donald Trump “hasn’t really done a lot to help workers.” Instead, he insists the White House has done the opposite. “He’s assaulted just about every health and safety regulation out there, whether it’s from beryllium or silica,” the union boss declared.

“He attacked the overtime regulations, he attacked regulations for consumer protection.”

The rolling back of safeguards that protect workers and the public isn’t just happening in Richard Trumka’s imagination. It was confirmed by the Oval Office’s Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. On July 20, he held up a pile of papers he said were printouts of new rules from Barack Obama’s administration and told reporters he’s dumping hundreds of present and planned protections for workers, consumers, the environment, and our public health.

The Washington Post explains the Trump administration is also “pulling or suspending 860 pending regulations.” Four-hundred-sixty-nine are being canceled while another 391 will be suspended in limbo to await further evaluation. The article also reminds us that during his campaign, the president vowed to roll back “80 percent of all federal regulations” claiming all those rules make companies unable to create jobs.

White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney [Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Images]

Richard Trumpka objects to Donald Trump’s stance on labor, DACA, and Charlottesville.

Richard Trumka also had nothing but scathing things to say about Donald Trump’s plans to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs, as covered earlier by The Inquisitr. “It will have a tremendous effect,” he declared. “It will make our work places less safe, less fair, it will make it more difficult for us to come together to raise wages for everybody.”

As for the 800,000 young people affected by the Dream Act, he noted they “make contributions every single day… Making them exposed to being fired at will is cruel, is very, very wrong for the economy, it’s the wrong thing to do.” He then vowed to fight for them in the workplace and in Washington, D.C. so what they bring to our economy would be “celebrated, not assaulted.”

Richard Trumka also denied that Dreamers are taking good jobs from U.S. citizens, noting they tend to work in sectors where “the unemployment rate is very low.” He then added he’d like to see Congress enact legislation to give them a path to citizenship. Morning Consult reports their polls reveal 78 percent of American voters — including 73 percent of those who voted for Donald Trump — agree and have supported the president’s earlier decision to keep DACA in effect.

Here’s the video with Richard Trumka unloading on Donald Trump’s labor policies.

And here’s the segment where he talks about Donald Trump’s announcement that if Congress doesn’t enact a law, he’ll end DACA.

https://www.facebook.com/theleadcnn/videos/1680941745249525/

CNN also reported last week labor leader said he left the White House’s manufacturing council out of disgust for what he called the president’s “spirited defense” of white supremacists’ actions in Charlottesville. As he explained at a Christian Science Monitor roundtable, whose audio he forwarded to CNN, the pro-labor faction he thought he agreed with “turned out to be racist,” while the pro-Wall Street faction’s influence increased.

“You had two factions in the White House. You had one faction that actually had some of the policies that we would have supported on trade and infrastructure but turned out to be racist. And on the other hand, you had people who weren’t racist, but they were Wall Street. And the Wall Streeters began to dominate the administration and have moved [Trump’s] agenda back to everything he fought against in the election.”

When asked “what it would take” to get him “back to the table with the White House,” Richard Trumka answered he’s been in touch with them all along. “But it’s not a matter of talking,” he explained. “It’s the symbolism of being on the council. After he [Donald Trump] had that spirited defense of Neo-Fascists and white supremacists, that was above and beyond.” Adding that he wants a president who can “unite the country” instead of “polarizing it. he said he hopes Donald Trump can “become that person.” Why? Because “it would be good for America.”

[Featured Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]

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