Trump and Pence's Union-Busting Is Nailed Into the GOP Presidential Platform
AFT Local 1360
Donald Trump brags that he has “tremendous support within unions.” He claims, “The workers of this country are going to vote for me, [because] I’m going to create jobs.”
Jobs? Trump, the narcissistic, neo-Know Nothing GOP presidential nominee, has yet to reveal anything remotely resembling a comprehensive jobs plan. Meanwhile, he's paying workers in China and other low-wage countries to make his line of duds and other products.
Unions? Trump says he prefers "right to work" states to non-right to work states like Kentucky. He chose a running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who is gung-ho for RTW. (So are Kentucky Tea Party Republicans, Gov. Matt Bevin and Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton.
Trump is cool with U.S. companies exiting one state for another. In other words, he’s down with bosses busting unions in non-right to work states and moving to right to work states.
At the same time, Trump has battled to keep his Las Vegas hotel workers from organizing a union.
Meanwhile, Trump and Pence are running on a GOP national platform that promises:
We will restore the rule of law to labor law by blocking ‘card check,’ enacting the Secret Ballot Protection Act, enforcing the Hobbs Act against labor violence and passing the Raise Act to allow all workers to receive well-earned raises without the approval of their union representative. We demand an end to the Project Labor Agreements; and we call for repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act, which costs the taxpayers billions of dollars annually in artificially high wages on government projects. We support the right of States to enact Right-to-Work laws and encourage them to do so to promote greater economic liberty. Ultimately, we support the enactment of a National Right-to-Work law to promote worker freedom and to promote greater economic liberty. We will aggressively enforce the recent decision by the Supreme Court barring the use of union dues for political purposes without the consent of the worker.
There’s more from the platform that Trump's people helped nail together:
We salute the Republican Governors and State legislators who have saved their States from fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing public employee unions. We urge elected officials across the country to follow their lead in order to avoid State and local defaults on their obligations and the collapse of services to the public. To safeguard the free choice of public employees, no government at any level should act as the dues collector for unions. A Republican President will protect the rights of conscience of public employees by proposing legislation to bar mandatory dues for political purposes.
“Many a truth has been spoken in jest,” is an old expression.
“A union member voting Republican would be like a rabbit voting for hunting season to open,” former Kentucky Labor Secretary and Machinists union official J.R. Gray joshed when he was chair of the House Labor and Industry Committee and one of labor’s best friends ever in the state legislature.
It’s still true with the union-despising Trump–Pence and Bevin–Hampton teams.
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This was reposted from the AFL-CIO.
