AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka made an appearance on this weekend's Fox News Sunday, and dared to tell the truth about the harm Trump has done to workers since we've been unfortunate enough to have him occupying the White House, and apparently that didn't sit too well with Dear Leader:
With most of the political world taking an extended breather before a busy week ahead, President Trump has spent Labor Day weekend engaging in two of his favorite activities: golfing and venting his spleen online.
On Monday morning, he went after Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, over an appearance Trumka made on Fox News on Sunday.
In an interview with Chris Wallace, Trumka said, of Trump, “unfortunately, to date, the things that he has done to hurt workers outpace what he’s done to help workers.” Trumka very reasonably cited Trump’s policy to scuttle new overtime benefits for federal workers, his failure to push forward a promised infrastructure plan, and the massive tax cuts for the rich he championed as evidence of his negligence toward everyday workers.
Trumka also said that the reimagined North American Free Trade Agreement Trump has been touting would have to include Canada in order to earn his organization’s endorsement.
If there's one thing you can count on from Trump's cheerleaders over on his favorite propaganda network, it's that when he goes on the attack, they're going to be right there with him, so what better way to celebrate Labor Day than to bring on a flack from the right wing, Koch-funded, union busting "Liberty Justice Center" to parrot Trump's attacks on Trumka, and push their talking points on "right to work" laws, which really should be called the "right to bust a union" since they want to allow free riders such as Mark Janus in the video above to reap the benefits of being in a union without paying either dues or fair share fees.
Here's more on Janus from AFSCME, who he helped to sue on behalf of Governor Hedge Fund, Bruce Rauner, from Illinois: Mark Janus Quits Public Service Job to Serve Big-Money Special Interests:
We now know how the story ends for Mark Janus.
Recruited to lend his name to a lawsuit – Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 – originally filed by Bruce Rauner, the billionaire governor of Illinois, and bankrolled by big-money special interests to attack public sector unions, Janus is abandoning his public service job. He announced he is quitting his state job as a child support specialist to join the Illinois Policy Institute as a “senior fellow.”
“Once again it’s clear that this court case was never about Mark Janus, but about billionaires like Bruce Rauner and big-money corporate funders launching a political attack on the freedom of working people to speak up together through a strong union,” said AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall. “While IPI tries to dupe workers into quitting their union, AFSCME members will continue doing what they’ve always done: providing important public services and building their union to speak up for themselves, their families and communities.”
Janus v. AFSCME was nothing but a blatant political attack to further rig our economy and democracy against working people. It was decided last month in favor of big-money corporations and special interests and against working families by a 5-4 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
But AFSCME members across the country are ready to fight back. We will continue to serve our communities with pride and will never quit on our union.
And now he's got a nice comfy gig over on Fox News state-run TV as well. I'm sure both pay much better than the job he had working as a child support specialist for the state of Illinois.
