Politics

AFLCIO president weighs in on president Trump's SOTU speech

by Robert Randle
02/01/18
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Donald Trump, even as a candidate talked about how much he cares for the blue collar American worker in the manufacturing sectors in “Rust Belt” states, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says president Donald Trump has “actively hurt” U.S. Workers. Trump “joined with corporations and their political allies to undermine the right of workers to bargain collectively and made our workplaces less safe. Trump wants to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, but would include only $200 billion in federal funds – with the rest coming from states, cities and private-public “partnerships.”

Critics fear that most of the private-public money would wind up in Wall Street’s pockets, rather than fixing the nation’s roads, bridges, railroads, airports and Internet infrastructure. Tax credits would go to private developers and investors, who will line their pockets by issuing bonds for toll roads through rich communities, while refusing to fund new water pipes in poor neighborhoods. Let's look at a run down of the SOTU speech: 

TRUMP: Created 200,000 manufacturing jobs.
FACTS: 93,000 manufacturing jobs have been outsourced.

TRUMP: New tax plan ($1.5T tax cut).
FACTS: The law will make it tax-free for employers to create overseas subsidiaries.

TRUMP: I did away with more regulation than any other president.
FACTS: Trump eliminated regulations that protected workers health and safety. Companies lose 150 workers daily lost to occupational injuries and disease. Trump proposes a budget to slash safety research dollars that eliminate safety and health training for workers. Employers are not “required” to record injuries anymore (or that the occurrences/incidents are not reported as such). Delays standards to protect worker health and safety like silica or mine safety inspections.

TRUMP: Rising wages for American workers.
FACTS: Actually Trump's plan lowered wages by taking away OT or the way employers calculate it for about 5 million workers.

TRUMP: $200B for infrastructure projects ($20B for 10 years).
FACTS: The Society of Civil Engineers say that over 3 trillion dollars are needed to repair our old infrastructure and create a new system well into the next century.

Robert Randle
776 Commerce St Apt 701
Tacoma, WA 98402
February 1, 2018
[email protected]