AFL-CIO Chief Lashes Trump Administration For Hurting American Workers

The president of the AFL-CIO union federation told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that the Trump administration has “done more things to hurt workers” than to help them.

Richard Trumka, head of the group that includes 55 different unions, said wages are being swamped by rising health care and housing costs, and that President Donald Trump is botching his trade war with China.

Trump has also opposed every effort to increase the minimum wage and has stripped safety standards that used to protect workers, Trumka said.

“I’ve tried to call balls and strikes with him,” he said, referring to Trump. “When he does something that’s good for workers, I say so. When he does something that’s bad for workers, I say so. And I have to say, unfortunately, while he may not even know what his administration is doing, they’ve done more things to hurt workers than they have to help them.”

Trumka said union voters helped put Trump in the White House.

“He came to our members and said, ‘I’m going to change the rules of the economy,’ and they believed him. And, quite frankly, I wish he would have changed the rules of the economy,” Trumka told Wallace.

“Unfortunately, the rules he’s changing has hurt them. He’s opposed every increase in the minimum wage. He’s changed the regulation to take overtime away from a couple of million people. ... He’s rolled back health and safety standards [for] workers.”

Trumka said “real wages are down” because they’re increasingly being gobbled up by “housing costs and health care.”