President Trump’s Picture Not the America for Most Workers

AFL-CIO ^ | January 31, 2018 | AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

[mdittmar]

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in response to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, which he attended last night:

Last night, President Trump painted an everything-being-great picture of America that while optimistic, is not the reality for most working families. That may be how his friends are living, but the working men and women we represent aren’t seeing the same America; and his policies are making it worse. The truth is many of the things he says are undermined by the actual policies he supports.

While he’s rightly acknowledged problems in trade, America’s workers are still victim to corporate-designed deals, and last night he offered no solutions to make NAFTA benefit working people. While he recognizes the crisis of outsourcing jobs, his tax bill actually encourages corporations to do it. While he promises to put America back to work building infrastructure, he actually wants to spend more on a border wall than investing in all of America’s infrastructure for an entire year. And he uses hardworking Dreamers and TPS recipients as a bargaining chip to do it. And slashing regulations, one of his biggest applause lines, really means working people are denied wages and workplaces are less safe.

But, here's the truth: No matter who's sitting in the White House or what they're saying on TV or what they're tweeting, working people are moving forward. We are united around an agenda to secure our economic future—fighting for the freedom to have a voice on the job, share in the wealth we help create and live better lives.

[mdittmar]

but the working men and women we represent aren’t seeing the same America

Thanks Dick;)

[Bryanw92]

>>We are united around an agenda to secure our economic future—

—by putting our employers out of business!

[Morpheus2009]

Does this guy think everyone can be their own boss? Silly man.

[Steely Tom]

Don’t believe what you see, it’s a lie. Your eyes, your common sense is deceiving you.

Listen to what I say instead.

[Dave911]

This bozo has no clue what the effects of anything are on the “workers” he purports to represent, nor does he care. His only motivation is to keep those dues rolling in to support the lifestyles of himself and his cronies.

[Sedona13]

This Stalin wannabe is such a moron.

[mass55th]

He’s just another Union dick getting fat from traveling, and partying on the members’ union dues. I had to belong to a Union. They took the money from my paycheck whether I was a member or not. But the Union never did a damn thing for me. Anything I achieved, I did on my own...without the help of the Union. They can all go to Hell.

[miss marmelstein]

Yeah, thanks to lousy unions which cratered America’s creativity and workforce.

[heights]

But letting in Million of Cheap Labor Slaves to lower wages is? This is why Unions are dying...

[rktman]

$1,000? Meh! Bread crumbs. Right “dick”?

[Nifster]

Precisely

Trumke and his thug union bosses went out of style with one party mechanical voting machines

[SpaceBar]

There are numerous parallels between labor unions and socialism. The emphasis on the collective over the individual for starters. Concentration of power in the handlers is another.

[hardspunned]

Ask the coal miners of the UMW ,who comrade Trumka used to lead, who looked out for their interests better, Trump or Trumpka?

[ebshumidors]

Get rid of that union tax and you’d be better off. More money in your pocket.

[Hadean]

but the working men and women we represent aren’t seeing the same America

These guys don't speak for, let alone represent, anyone but themselves. I'm in a local union and it's a joke. They take their dues every week and throw us under the bus most of the time. Most of us voted for Trump.

[CIB-173RDABN]

What is good for Unions is not the same as what is good for America.

Any organization that uses violence and laws to force people to join and pay into is an enemy of the people.

I am happy to see Union membership declining.

[Deplorable American1776]

When I was in Connecticut, I was employed in a union shop and I hated paying money to the local president of the Union. The local president lived in a mansion on 35 acres. One day, I asked him why if he was a socialist he had a house on 35 acres. He told me that he earned it, I told him he stole the money from the victims of union shops. A few weeks later, my transfer to a store in Florida got approved. 😀

[bgill]

As if union workers aren’t some of the highest paid workers in the US.

[Regulator]

Trumka?

The guy leading the charge to legalize millions of illegals to take the jobs of his dues payers?

Who aids and abets the continuing immigration of millions to do the same legally?

That Dick, Trumka?

Yeah. That guy. Real champion of the working class.

[Pearls Before Swine]

No, he thinks he can be everyone’s boss.