Union busters
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO—the nation's largest
federation of unions—said in a statement the combined records of
Trump and Vance make clear that, if elected, they "would eviscerate unions
and empty workers' pockets just to boost the profits of their corporate friends
and donors."
"Donald Trump has a miserable record of breaking
every promise he's made to working people—from failing to pay his workers and
crossing a picket line to his disastrous four years in the White House,"
said Shuler. "That betrayal would continue if he is reelected—so it's no
surprise Trump chose a vice president who will be nothing more than a rubber
stamp for that anti-worker vision."
Shuler continued:
Sen. JD Vance likes to play union supporter on the picket
line, but his record proves that to be a sham. He has introduced legislation to
allow bosses to bypass their workers’ unions with phony corporate-run
unions, disparaged striking UAW members while
collecting hefty donations from
one of the major auto companies, and opposed the
landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would end
union-busting "right to work" laws and make it easier for workers to
form unions and win strong contracts.
"A Trump-Vance White House," she added,
"is a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare."
Service Employees International Union president April Verrett offered a similar assessment of the Trump-Vance ticket, saying that while Vance "may portray himself as a working-class hero," his "record tells another story."
"The truth is that Senator Vance's loyalties lie
with the Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley billionaires who have
bankrolled his political career," said Verrett. "Together, Donald
Trump and JD Vance will seek to protect the wealthy and corporations while
enacting their insidious Project 2025 agenda. There's a stark contrast between
Biden-Harris, who have backed workers and taken action to lower prices and
raise wages, and Trump-Vance, who side with price-gouging, union-busting corporations."
The unions' statements came as Republican delegates at
the party's convention in Wisconsin—a state that's been described as a
"laboratory" for the GOP's anti-union agenda—formally nominated Trump
as their presidential candidate, shortly after an assassination attempt.
GOP delegates also approved their party's platform,
which includes the vague promise to put "American workers first" but
does not mention the word "union." The nation's union membership
rate fell to an all-time low last
year thanks to a long-running war on labor rights waged
by corporate America and its GOP allies.
The Republican platform contains an ostensibly pro-worker pledge to exempt
tips from taxation, a vow that—according to one
critic—"appears to be a way for Republicans to change the subject if
anyone questions their opposition to raising the minimum wage, which has been
stuck at $7.25 for the past two decades."
Despite backlash from
within his union, Teamsters president Sean
O'Brien delivered a primetime address to
the Republican convention Monday night, praising Trump for his supposed
willingness to "hear from new, loud, and often critical voices."
But other union leaders expressed a much harsher view of
the former president, given that during his first term he stacked federal
agencies and courts with
opponents of organized labor and worked to gut worker protections.
Trump's reelection campaign is backed by at least a dozen billionaires, including the world's richest
man, Elon Musk.
"This ticket isn't pro-worker or
pro-union," said Sara
Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA,
urging workers not to buy the "slick rhetoric" of Trump's running
mate.
"It's the billionaire ticket through and
through," Nelson added.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday
that Musk intends to commit "around $45 million a month" to a new
pro-Trump super PAC. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, seemed to deny the report by posting a meme on his social media
platform.