All Hands On Deck
Donald Trump was swept back into the White House on Election Day largely by non-union working-class voters who were somehow convinced that he was the better choice to put food on the table and make ends meet. They somehow forgot about his first term, when Trump did everything in his power to squash workers’ rights, jeopardize their safety, and rewrite the tax code in favor of the super wealthy.
Union members knew better, as exit polling showed Vice President Kamala Harris won voters in union households 55 to 43 percent, pretty close to President Joe Biden’s performance in 2020. In fact, union voters were one of the few groups that did not shift significantly toward Trump and Republicans, who now control the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Trump’s Project 2025: Bad For Unions and Working Families
Why? Maybe because we know that Trump’s ultimate goal is to annihilate organized labor so that the rich get richer and workers continue to spin their wheels. We know what he’s got planned for us now, and it’s not based only on his first term. They actually put their playbook in writing, a massive document called Project 2025. You can read it for yourself.
While we’ve been through conservative waves before, this time it feels different. The Republicans took over Congress in 1994 and put out their blueprint, Contract with America, looking to reduce the size of government, cut taxes, and gut welfare. President George W. Bush got reelected in 2004 and tried to spend his political capital on conservative causes. While Republicans did take a bite out of Labor each time, unions survived because we fought back and called out the anti-union lawmakers for overreaching, eventually voting them out of office. In 2025, however, it is going to take a super-human effort led by Labor to fight back. Trump has surrounded himself with people who want to put the nail in Labor’s coffin, and as a second term President who will never face reelection again, he’s got nothing to lose.
With Republicans in firm control, we can expect a real push for the National Right-to-Work Act. This bill
would repeal the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, which allow employers to require employees to join a union as a condition of employment. Right-to-work laws weaken unions and benefit corporations. States with right-to-work laws have lower wages for workers.
Getting rid of public employee unions is at the top of Trump’s to-do list, as Republicans know that unionized workers earn about 10% to 20% more than their nonunion peers. Union workers also have a higher homeownership rate (71% versus 65% for nonunion), and 60% have a defined benefit pension versus 24% of the nonunion group. Unionized workers with no high school diploma have more than three times the wealth of their nonunion peers.
The problem is that only about 10% of American workers are members of a union, down from about 20% just 40 years ago. If Republicans can cut that number even more, they will be well on their way to making sure that workers continue to live off of crumbs while the rich continue to prosper. That’s why they will continue to kill the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, federal legislation that would make it easier to join a union.
Federal Transit Funding on the Chopping Block?
So, now that they have the chance to finally destroy us, Republicans are going to take their best shot. For ATU members, keep an eye out for legislation that zeroes out federal transit funding. That’s the Project 2025 plan. Without federal funding, transit service would end, and our jobs would be terminated.
First up, though, we can expect Trump to come after the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who are members of a union. ATU and the entire AFL-CIO will of course stand strong with these workers and fight back. Why? Because we are all in this together. If the federal employee unions go down, it weakens the entire labor movement, including ATU members. We cannot allow this to happen.
As Martin Niemöller said in 1946: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”