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Biden’s labor chief on Trump’s return

While Donald Trump says he will fight for American workers, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su is raising fears that Trump will undo many of Joe Biden’s pro-labor policies, including protecting workers from extreme heat and expanding the payment of overtime to millions. more employees.

In an interview with the Guardian, Su said Trump may be falling short in delivering results for workers, given the many anti-worker policies of the first Trump administration and in light of Elon Musk and others billionaires advised him. “It’s one thing to say you’re pro-worker, but it’s quite another to do it,” Su said. “You can’t be pro-billionaire and pro-working class. You can’t be pro-Elon Musk and pro-worker.”

Musk, who has become one of Trump’s top advisers, is fiercely anti-union and is trying to have the National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional. He once said, “I don’t agree with the idea of ​​unions.”

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Su expressed concern that the Trump administration, with all its billionaires and business magnates, would give short shrift to poor Americans and the working class. “When you look at the record of some people in the next administration, and then the lack of representation of working and middle class people, I worry that the perspectives of those who are fighting, of those who rely on that government does not act solely in the interests of the privileged are not well represented – while union busters are.”

Su — who became acting labor secretary nearly two years ago after serving as deputy labor secretary — expressed pride in the Biden administration’s achievements on behalf of workers. She pointed to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, Biden’s strong support for unions, regulations to protect workers’ lungs from silica dust, the increase in factory jobs and the first-ever regulations to protect workers from dangerous heat. (Because Senator Joe Manchin opposed her, she never got a majority in the Senate to confirm her as Secretary of Labor.)

This president has made working people a priority in everything he has done

In other achievements, Su pointed to her behind-the-scenes role in securing good union contracts for Boeing workers and longshoremen on the East and West Coasts. She also cited her department’s enforcement efforts — since Biden took office, it has raised more than $1 billion for workers who have been victims of wage theft.

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“This president has made working people a priority in everything he has done,” she said. “This president has had a very strong commitment to the unions.”

Su warned that the second Trump administration could be as anti-union as the first. “The first time they were here, they had a very anti-union NLRB,” Su said. “To do what they said they were going to do this time, which is to be pro-labor and pro-union, they’re going to have to make a 180-degree turn from what they did last time. .”

Peter Robb, who served as the NLRB’s aggressively pro-business general counsel during Trump’s first term, is leading Trump’s transition efforts for the Labor Council. Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, has received far more support from unions than most Republicans; Several unions supported her last fall when she unsuccessfully ran for re-election to Congress from Oregon.

There are places in this country where vulnerable workers are depending on this department to revive labor laws

Su had some advice for her successor: “The American people need and deserve a strong Labor Department. There are places in this country where vulnerable workers are depending on this department to revive labor law, and there are 15,000 career people who wake up every day and want to do that work. It is very important to have the support of the Secretary of Labor to do that and to use the full authority they have been given to improve the lives of workers. It is also important to be a voice for employees.”

As for Musk’s ambitious plan to make $2 trillion in budget cuts, Su said her department already didn’t have enough money and that further cuts would undermine Musk’s mission. “We do not have the resources we need for this department’s important mission following budget cuts during the last Trump administration,” Su said. She added that the department needed adequate resources “when workers tell us they haven’t been paid the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, when 13-year-olds work in dangerous jobs and 16-year-olds work on hazardous materials, when firefighters employees are looking for after an entire career in which they have saved people’s lives, but they don’t get it.”

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Su fears Trump’s appointees will scrap the Biden administration’s first-ever national regulation protecting workers from extreme heat. Likewise, she worries that the Trump administration will undo a rule that makes it harder for companies to misclassify construction workers and others as independent contractors, often to avoid overtime and other laws.

Su, who won praise for her innovative policies as California labor commissioner, strongly denied that Biden’s loss in November meant voters had rejected his pro-labor policies. Su said policies to boost production, build clean energy and rebuild infrastructure will take years to complete, and many voters have not yet felt the benefits. “We needed more time,” she said.

“President Biden wanted to fundamentally change the playbook of how the economy works for working people,” Su said. “He called the lie the decades-old trickle-down economics deception.”

You cannot support a policy of mass deportation and be pro-labor. These policies make workers fearful and much more exploitable

As Secretary of Labor and California’s top labor official, Su often devoted herself to helping the most vulnerable workers. “Too many workers continue to struggle, and many of them are workers of color and immigrants,” she said. “The rhetoric about immigrants, the outright lies about what immigrants and immigrant communities bring and contribute – those lies are terribly harmful. Anti-immigrant policies are anti-worker policies.”

Su condemned Trump’s talk of mass deportations: “You can’t support a mass deportation policy and be pro-labor. That policy makes workers fearful and much more exploitable.”

When discussing the Los Angeles wildfires, Su — who grew up in Los Angeles County — said immigrant workers usually do the work of cleaning up and rebuilding after hurricanes, fires and other disasters. “A tremendous effort will be needed in light of the devastating fires still raging in my home state,” she said. “The workers who have previously carried out clean-up and reconstruction work will be the ones we rely on, and they, like all workers, must be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

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“A policy of mass deportations,” she added, “will hinder that important work and make the people who do that work more vulnerable.”

If Trump is serious about helping workers, Su argued, he should continue her department’s efforts to aggressively enforce labor laws, whether minimum wage, child labor or occupational safety laws.

“The last administration curtailed the enforcement capacity of the Ministry of Labor. You can’t eliminate and cut [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] and wage-and-hour and mine inspectors and keep workers healthy and safe,” Su said. Trump’s nominees “say we’re going to cut red tape and regulations, but the people who rely on tough regulations are the most vulnerable people in our communities, including working people,” she said.

Su expressed frustration that conservative justices have struck down Labor Department regulations, including Biden’s rule expanding overtime pay to 4 million additional workers. She complained that those who “profit from the gap between rich and poor” have “found a way to thwart progressive and pro-worker actions.”

I think about these people who think it’s a game to strategize and take away this kind of protection. It’s a tragedy

She was talking about a worker she met who said that thanks to Biden’s overtime expansion, she would get a raise that would allow her to pay her rent and have some left over for her daughter. But a federal judge in Texas, a Trump appointee, struck down Biden’s expansion on overtime.

“A lot of what we’re putting in place is basic policies to help people who are struggling to make ends meet,” Su said. “I think about these people who think it’s a game to strategize and take away these kinds of protections. It’s a tragedy.”

Su denounced repeated efforts by Republicans, business lobbyists and conservative think tanks to block attempts to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been frozen at $7.25 for 15 years.

Industry lobbyists continually challenge policies that are good for working people,” Su said. “You can’t say you are pro-employee and support them. It is unconscionable to stand in the way of policies that put more wages in the pockets of workers.”

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