In the throes of this virulent Covid-19 pandemic, with tens of millions of workers desperately seeking unemployment relief, President Donald J. Trump is so … reassuring. The economy will rebound: Jobs, jobs, jobs. Soon, very soon, things won’t just go back to normal. They’ll be better than ever. Way better.
A letter to the editor mandates brevity. So let’s just take a quick peek, the tip of the iceberg, at some of the ways that Donald Trump and his Administration have treated American workers.
In 2019, the Trump Administration appointed as Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, an attorney with a history of opposing rights for disabled workers, defending corporations against financial oversight and labor regulation, and contesting measures to increase worker safety.
To date, among other things, the Trump administration has:
- Rolled back the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule that withheld taxpayer dollars from contractors who violate basic labor and employment laws.
- Encouraged employers to report workers who refuse to return to their jobs because they fear contracting COVID-19.
- Targeted for destruction job safety rules for toxic chemicals, mine examinations, and child labor protections.
- Enacted a ‘Joint Employer Final Rule’ that exposes more workers to wage theft.
- Put on hold the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)-1 pay data rule from the Obama era that intended to identify and fix pay disparities in America’s workplaces.
- Proposed making it legal for employers to take workers’ hard-earned tips.
- Rolled back a rule that required employers to keep accurate records of workplace injuries and illnesses.
- Proposed to roll back an Security Exchange Commission rule that mandated disclosure of CEO-to-employee pay ratios.
- Passed a “tax reform” bill that motivated companies to send jobs overseas. According to the AFL-CIO in Trump’s first year in office 93,000 jobs were outsourced.
- Permitted employers to fire workers in retaliation for union activity.
- Delayed a rule that protects retirement savers by requiring financial advisers to provide advice untainted by conflicts of interest.
So one would think that American workers, active and retired, will pay President Trump and his Administration back in full on Nov. 3?
We’ll see.
Jane Casler
Marblehead
