Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – Criticising the U.S. President’s policies, Richard Trumka, president of the United States’ largest federation of labor unions said in a television interview over the weekend, that Donald Trump’s policies hurt American workers. 

Speaking on Fox News, Trumka, who heads the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said, “Unfortunately, to date, the things that he’s (Trump) done to hurt workers outpace what he’s done to help workers.”

In his comments, Trumka, who is a highly influential figure on trade issues in the country, cited changes to the tax code that encourage companies to outsource jobs, the administration’s failure to produce an infrastructure program and its overturning of regulations, including some protecting health and safety.

The AFL-CIO President also questioned the U.S. President’s statement made over the weekend – in which Trump stated that there was no need to keep Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 

In a tweet on Saturday, Trump warned Congress not to meddle with the trade negotiations or he would terminate the trilateral trade pact altogether.

Commenting on Trump’s statement, Trumka pointed out, “It’s pretty hard to see how that would work without having Canada in the deal.”

He noted that the economies of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada were heavily integrated.

A day after Trumka’s televised comments, Trump chose to hit back at the labour leader – but chose the worst timing possible. 

Attacking the labour leader on national Labour Day, Trump tweeted that Trumka had represented his union “poorly.”

Even though Trump Trump would need the prominent Labour leader’s support for the passage of any legislation on trade promoted by the administration – the U.S. President 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.”

In a subsequent tweet, Trump hailed economic growth and added, “The Worker in America is doing better than ever before!”