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Source: Joel Pett (GoComics)
Support American Unions
Trump—Actively Working To Make Workers' Lives Worse
Undermining Workers’ Pay And Financial Security:
- The Obama-era overtime rule was intended to take effect December 1, 2016, but it was blocked by a federal judge before it had a chance to produce results. Obama's rule would have raised the salary threshold below which workers must get overtime pay. The Trump Labor Department has begun a process to revise the rule to make it cover fewer workers. That means a lot of salaried employees will have to work overtime without getting the time-and-half pay bump.
- The Department of Labor is now proposing to partially roll back new safeguards that would help protect shipyard and construction workers from lung disease.
- Trump executive orders have begun the process for eliminating agency programs and regulations by assigning perceived economic costs to them and discounting the benefits they provide.
Why American Workers Should Support Unions
First, if you want a job with a living wage and decent benefits, then you want a strong labor movement:
- When unions decline, many workers—whether organized or not—see a drop in their standard of living. And driving down wages does not help the American economy, which depends on strong consumer spending.
- In light of the ongoing attack on workers' rights, working people need unions to preserve the gains they have made: Unions struggled for many decades to get laws mandating an eight-hour day, a minimum wage and a ban on child labor.
- Many unions work for more than just good wages and benefits; organized labor has also campaigned for access to affordable health care and for protecting the rights of immigrant workers.
A strong labor movement enriches democracy:
Solidarity
- making more thoughtful purchases the next time you have a choice between buying something made in America and buying something made in a foreign sweatshop.
- not crossing a picket line
- pushing back against local politicians who blame unions for everything
Source: Visual Propaganda: Ideology in Art
Americans' Support for Labor Unions Continues to Recover
Source: Americans' Support for Labor Unions Continues to Recover (Lydia Saad; Gallup)
