Trump v. Trumka

With help from Rebecca Rainey

TRUMP V. TRUMKA: President Donald Trump couldn’t let Labor Day pass without hitting back at AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka for saying on Fox News Sunday that the president hadn’t done enough for American workers. “Wages have been down since the first of the year, and gas prices have been up since the first of the year,” Trumka said, “so workers really aren’t doing that well.” Increases in full-time weekly median earnings lagged inflation during the first and second quarters of 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and also during the fourth quarter of 2017. Average year-over-year wage growth, meanwhile, has remained mostly flat relative to inflation.


“Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union poorly on television this weekend,” Trump tweeted. “Some of the things he said were so against the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself, that it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!”

Related reads:

— “Hillary Clinton targets Kavanaugh's record on labor cases,” from CNN

— “Fact Check: Trump’s imaginary wages, trade falsehoods,” from the AP

— “Under Trump, Labor Protections Stripped Away,” from Boston Globe

WE’RE BACK! It's Tuesday, Sept. 4, and this is Morning Shift, POLITICO's daily tipsheet on employment and immigration policy. Send tips, exclusives, and suggestions to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @tedhesson, @IanKullgren, @RebeccaARainey,and @TimothyNoah1.

TRUMP WOOS UNION LEADERS ON NAFTA: Despite Trump’s tussle with Trumka, “the Trump administration and its top trade negotiator have been openly wooing labor union leaders and rank-and-file workers as it tries to renegotiate NAFTA — and by some measures, it’s working,” POLITICO’s Adam Behsudi writes. “Labor leaders who for decades have been firmly in the Democratic Party’s camp say they’re open-minded toward Trump and many leaders have been given White House access as the deal has been renegotiated.

“Politically, Trump and his allies know that the president needs to keep the blue-collar vote, which has been slipping since he took office. Labor union member support for Trump has dipped 15 points from March 2017 to March 2018, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in May …. On the surface at least, the revamped deal with Mexico has tried to tackle one of labor’s biggest complaints: the temptation for companies to move manufacturing to low-wage countries.” More here.

TRUMP’S WAR ON WORKER SAFETY: Pledging to cut regulations “massively” in 2017, Trump made a point of exempting regulations that protected workers’ health. “But almost two years in, the Trump administration has done the opposite, rolling back worker safety protections affecting underground mine safety inspections, offshore oil rigs and line speeds in meat processing plants, among others,” POLITICO’s Ian Kullgren writes. More here.

MICHIGAN WEIGHS WAGE, TIP CREDIT HIKE: Michigan restaurant workers fear that an initiative on the state’s November ballot to the increase minimum wage might actually hurt them, Breana Noble reports for the Detroit News. “Many restaurant owners say the increased labor costs could hurt — perhaps even shutter — their operations. And many workers said they fear getting fewer hours or losing their tips.” More here.

SHERIFFS HEAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE: A group of 45 sheriffs will travel to Washington tomorrow to talk about immigration and border security. The sheriffs will join Republican Reps. Mo Brooks (Ala.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lou Barletta (Pa.) and Steve King (Iowa) in a media event on Capitol Hill, according to the New Bedford Standard-Times. After, they’ll head over to the White House to advocate for immigration legislation, although what specifically they’ll be supporting is not clear.

“The purpose of this visit is to express the urgency of Congress passing legislation immediately on the enforcement and security aspects of immigration reform,” Frederick County, Md. Sheriff Chuck Jenkins who is attending the roundtable said in a news release, according to the Herald Mail. “It is our intention to tell Congress that their failure to deal with this issue for more than 20 years has made our communities less safe, and has undermined our promise to the people who elected us to keep them safe.”

THIS WEEK:

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee begins confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Keep an eye out for questions about dissenting opinions from Kavanaugh in which he denied undocumented workers the right to bargain collectively and declined to hold Sea World responsible for a deadly attack on one of its employees by an Orca whale. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in Hart 216. Watch a live stream here.

Wednesday:

— Trumka will join House Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) to release a Democratic plan to help the American worker. They’ll be alongside Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). The event starts at 9:30 a.m. in 421 Cannon.

— The Senate HELP Committee will hold a hearing on the impact of Trump’s “zero tariffs” policy on U.S. auto workers. The witness list includes John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Association of Global Automakers; Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute; Stephen Moore, an economics fellow for the Heritage Foundation; and Bryan Riley, director of the Free Trade Initiative. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Dirksen 430. Watch a livestream here.

— A House Education and the Workforce panel will hold a hearing on apprenticeships. The witness list includes Sharon Johnson, CEO of the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Development Board in Harrisonburg, Pa.; Carol Reynolds, CEO of United Industrial Services in Louisville, Ky.; Mark Kessenich, president of the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership in Milwaukee; and B.J. Dernbach, deputy assistant secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The hearing begins at 10:15 a.m. in Room 2175 of the Rayburn building.

Friday:

— The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the August jobs numbers. A Bloomberg panel of economists predicts 198,000 new jobs, an unemployment rate down slightly at 3.8 percent, and an uptick in wages to 2.8 percent over the previous year.

— Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute scholars will release a report on paid family leave. The report will expand on one released last year that proposed eight weeks at 70 percent wage replacement. The latest report will focus on paid leave for family medical reasons. The event starts at 1:30 p.m. at AEI headquarters, 1789 Massachusetts Avenue NW.

JUDGE SIGnALS DACA VICTORY: “A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, [on Friday] declined to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which extends federal protections to undocumented workers who arrived in the U.S. as children,” POLITICO’s Timothy Noah writes.

“In refusing a request from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen diverged from his actions three years ago, when he blocked by preliminary injunction an attempt by President Barack Obama to extend DACA-like protections to a larger group that included the undocumented parents of legal residents. That case, too, was filed by Paxton and attorneys general in several other conservative states.“ More here.

RUBIO SLAMS ‘FUTURE OF WORK’: Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday criticized politicians and think-tank types for latching on to the trendy — and he says, disingenuous — phrase: the “Future of Work.”

“It’s a buzz phrase that that doesn’t do American workers justice,” Rubio said in a video posted on Twitter. “Just telling hard-working Americans scrambling for a paycheck against the shifting forces of globalization to learn to code, that’s not an answer. That’s what a lot of our financial and cultural elites think the future of work means.”

In the video, Rubio promises to “build on the successes of tax reform by ensuring the benefits are invested in the the skills and paychecks of American workers, not the pockets of foreign shareholders.” Watch it here.

TRUMP’S UNEVEN REVIVAL: Trump’s economy is indeed helping the people who voted for him — but not everywhere, Campbell Robertson and Jim Tankersley write in the New York Times. “Mr. Trump rode to office in part by promising economic revival to sputtering towns across America,” the pair writes. “Economic growth has accelerated since he took office, from the final year of President Barack Obama’s administration, and Mr. Trump frequently claims credit for it.

“But the growth under Mr. Trump has not helped everywhere. It has lifted wealthy areas, like St. Charles County, which were already growing before he took office. And it has left the most economically troubled swaths of the country, the ones that Mr. Trump promised to revitalize, waiting for their share of the good times.” More here.

COFFEE BREAK:

— “The searing photos that helped end child labor in America,” from the Washington Post

— “Teachers have been walking out all year. Now they’re walking straight to the ballot box,” from the Los Angeles Times

— “Iowa economy: low unemployment, but no wage growth,” from the Sioux City Journal

— “New Mexico unions are smaller, but they still have a voice,” from the Santa Fe New Mexican

— “D.C. board won’t penalize company at center of massive wage theft case,” from the Washington Post

— ”Under Trump, labor protections stripped away,” from the Boston Globe

— “How Trump Betrays ‘Forgotten’ Americans,” from Stephen Greenhouse

THAT’S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT.

Follow us on Twitter Rebecca Rainey @rebeccaarainey