Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to champion US workers.
asserted
Trump → vow → workers
Shortly before Labor Day last year, he said: “Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker and “promote great-paying blue-collar jobs”.
asserted
policy → say → jobs
But in the year since last Labor Day, Trump has taken many actions that have hurt US workers and unions, with some labor experts saying they’ve been stunned at how anti-worker Trump has been.
asserted
Trump → take → workers
In the months after Trump returned to office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) cut workplace inspections by 20%, compared with Joe Biden’s last year in office.
asserted
Administration → return → office
Even though Trump campaigned as a champion of coal miners, his administration has repeatedly delayed implementation of a rule to limit silica dust, which has afflicted and killed many coal miners with black lung.
asserted
which → campaign → lung
The United Mine Workers union has urgently called for “immediate enforcement” of the stalled silica dust rule.
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union → call → rule
With regard to wages, workers haven’t been doing so well under Trump.
asserted
workers → do → Trump
While the White House boasts that wages have risen, the problem for workers is that prices – pushed up by Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war – have risen faster than wages over the past year, helping fuel the affordability crisis.
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prices → boast → crisis
In a move that will cut pay for many low-wage workers, the Trump administration has proposed eliminating federal minimum wage and overtime protections for 3 million often low-paid homecare workers who take care of seniors and the disabled.
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who → cut → seniors
Despite several court rulings to slow or stop this anti-union effort, Trump has pushed aggressively ahead with his unprecedented campaign to strip 1 million federal employees of their ability to bargain collectively – a move that Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation, called, “the largest single act of union-busting in our history”.
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Shuler → slow → history
Trump has moved to end collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of workers at the Transportation Security Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies.
asserted
Trump → move → Agriculture
In another unprecedented move, Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, the pro-union chair of the National Labor Relations Board – the first time a president has fired an NLRB member.
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president → fire → member
Trump has since named numerous pro-business officials to the labor board.
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Trump → name → board
“Trump’s actions make him by far the most anti-union president in our modern history,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants and a leading progressive voice in the labor movement, said in an interview.
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Nelson → make → interview
White House officials take sharp issue with critics who say Trump is anti-worker.
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Trump → take → critics
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said: “President Trump will always put American workers first, which is why he signed the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, secured trillions in investments into our country, and negotiated historic trade deals to reshore our manufacturing industry and protect American jobs.
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he → say → jobs
Thanks to President Trump, American workers are prioritized over illegal aliens and foreign-born workers once again.”
asserted
workers → prioritize → aliens
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive thinktank, said she was stunned by some of Trump’s anti-worker actions, especially by his order last year chopping the minimum wage that federal contractors must pay their employees, to $13.30 an hour from $17.75.
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contractors → say → 17.75
That move caused some workers to lose over $9,000 a year in pay.
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workers → cause → pay
This year, Trump rescinded a Biden-era regulation that made overtime pay available to more salaried workers.
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pay → rescind → workers
As a result, 4.3 million workers will no longer qualify for time-and-a-half overtime.
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workers → qualify → overtime
(Two federal courts in Texas had ruled against Biden’s overtime regulation.)
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courts → rule → regulation
In his years as president, Trump has never pushed to raise the $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage, which has greatly eroded in value since it last increased in 2009.
asserted
it → push → 2009
“The Trump administration is systematically weakening policies and institutions that give workers a voice, that give workers protections and that hold employers accountable,” Shierholz said.
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Shierholz → weaken → protections
“He’s been doing that from day one, and since then it has absolutely continued and accelerated.
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it → do → day
You see attacks on every kind of worker protection from safety and health to wage and hour protections.
asserted
You → see → protections
Policy after policy after policy goes directly against the interests of workers.”
asserted
Policy → go → workers
Trump has helped some groups of workers by getting Congress to enact no tax on tips and a significant cut in taxes on overtime pay.
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Congress → help → pay
The White House boasts that Trump also helped cuts taxes for working families, but Trump’s critics say those cuts overwhelmingly favor the ultra-wealthy, while giving just modest cuts to workers.
asserted
cuts → boast → workers
President Biden had proposed a landmark regulation to protect workers against extreme heat, but the Trump administration, pushed hard by corporate America, is seeking to seriously weaken Biden’s effort to require rest breaks for workers and access to water and shade when it is very hot.
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it → propose → water
The Trump administration also wants to undo Biden’s plans to codify extreme heat as a workplace hazard.
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administration → want → hazard
This past February, after intense lobbying by corporations, the Trump administration moved to scrap a Biden-era rule and make it far easier for employers to classify workers as independent contractors, be they construction workers or Uber drivers.
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they → move → contractors
This move will significantly lower many employers’ labor costs by removing any obligation to pay minimum wage and overtime and to contribute to those workers’ Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance benefits.
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move → lower → benefits
Although Trump boasts that the US economy is in the best shape ever, monthly job growth under Trump is down significantly compared with Biden.
asserted
growth → boast → Biden
Young workers are having a hard time finding jobs, while Trump has been an outspoken cheerleader for AI and datacenters, which are fueling huge fears about many jobs disappearing.
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jobs → have → fears
Trump promised to use tariffs and other means to make American manufacturing great again.
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manufacturing → promise → tariffs
But ever since Trump returned to office, the US has lost 35,000 manufacturing jobs, partly because of all the chaos and uncertainty Trump’s tariffs created, although in the past few months there have been modest gains in factory jobs.
asserted
tariffs → return → jobs
The Trump administration has shown hostility to unions in a way that shocked many Americans.
asserted
that → show → Americans
As part of an investigation into opposition to ICE’s operations in Minnesota, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security got hold of financial records from two leading unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America, saying that this was part of an inquiry into “domestic terrorism financing”.
asserted
this → get → financing
Further showing how much Trump officials dislike and distrust organized labor, Trump’s prosecutors even told a grand jury that the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main union federation, representing 15 million American workers and retirees, and several unions were part of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct the efforts of ICE agents in Minnesota.
asserted
CIO → show → Minnesota
…and 2 more, not listed.
