On May Day, Over 50 Ways Trump Has Hurt Workers
May 1, 2018
As we honor the contributions of workers this International Workers Day, here’s a look at more than 50 of the many ways Trump has hurt workers so far during his presidency:
- Trump ended DACA, sabotaged every bipartisan fix, and rescinded TPS for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Together, these actions could force more than a million working people back into the shadows.
- Most Americans haven’t seen any benefit from the Trump tax.
- The Trump tax raises taxes on individuals by a cumulative $83 billion in 2027, and raises taxes on average for everyone earning under $75,000 by 2027.
- The Trump tax actually promotes outsourcing.
- In many cases, the Trump Tax actually incentivizes corporations to lay off workers.
- Republicans have touted one-time bonuses for workers – not the longer-term wage increases they promised – that amount to less than three percent of what corporate shareholders are reaping from the Trump tax.
- Companies that Trump and Republicans touted for giving one-time bonuses to employees have been simultaneously laying off their workers.
- Corporations are using tax savings to massively benefit shareholders and executives while barely increasing wage growth.
- Nearly half of the economic growth from the Trump tax will flow to foreign investors rather than Americans over the next decade.
- Corporations are using their massive windfalls to benefit their wealthy shareholders in record numbers, and most have no plans for those benefits to trickle down to workers.
- The Trump tax gives the richest one percent of Americans an average tax break of about $33,000 this year, while lower-income Americans an average tax break of just $40 – that’s more than 800 times more.
- Treasury proposed scrapping a requirement that companies disclose the pay ratio between chief executives and employees.
- Trump’s Labor Department rescinded a rule meant to fight worker misclassification and protect workers from being cheated out of their wages.
- Trump’s Labor Department proposed eliminating protections against employers from pooling, and potentially stealing, workers’ tips.
- Trump’s NLRB overturned a rule that would have made it easier for franchise workers to collectively bargain with big corporations.
- Trump’s Justice Department reversed the government’s long-standing position on union fees, setting the stage to undermine public-sector unions.
- Trump’s Labor Department stopped publicizing fines against companies accused of violating workplace safety rules, eliminating a major tool for workplace safety enforcement.
- Trump’s budget cut funding by nearly half for Adult Employment and Training Activities, which serve veterans, Native Americans, and young people who have dropped out of high school.
- Trump’s budget would cut $407 million in spending on Jobs Corps centers for disadvantaged youth.
- Trump’s budget would freeze funding for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants for adult, youth, and dislocated worker training at FY 17 levels.
- Trump’s budget cut funding for National Dislocated Worker Grants, which offer support for those who lose their jobs in natural disasters or factory closures.
- Trump’s budget cuts Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding, which states use for employment services and job training.
- Trump’s budget got rid of USDA’s Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program, which help spur job creation and economic growth in rural areas.
- Trump’s budget has no specific proposals for creating jobs for those who want them but can’t find them.
- Trump’s budget eliminates $11 million in grants for OSHA programs.
- Trump’s budget eliminates an OSHA program that provides training and education on workplace safety and health hazards
- Trump signed a bill that rolled back OSHA worker safety regulations that aimed to track and reduce workplace injuries and deaths.
- Trump rescinded a rule that gave OSHA authority to issue citations and levy fines against companies for failing to record illnesses, injuries, and deaths.
- The Trump administration delayed action on a rule that would require employers to electronically report workplace injuries so they can be posted for the public.
- The Trump administration rolled back Obama-era changes that required OSHA to disclose workplace deaths and injuries.
- The Trump administration delayed a rule intended to sharply lower occupational exposure to beryllium, a widely used mineral linked to a deadly lung disease.
- The number of workplace safety inspectors sharply declined under Trump as his administration dragged its feet on filling OSHA vacancies.
- Trump repealed the “blacklisting rule,” which had required federal contractors to disclose labor violations.
- Trump’s budget proposed eliminating the Chemical Safety Board, which investigates major industrial accidents.
- Trump proposed gutting the Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs’ budget from $86 million to $19 million, which helps ensure American workers can compete on a level playing field.
- The Trump administration planned to disband the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which has policed discrimination among federal contractors for four decades.
- Trump’s budget proposed that the Labor Department’s compliance division be folded into the EEOC, even though it historically only acts on complaints instead of systematically conducting audits.
- Trump’s Justice Department sided against workers in a Supreme Court battle over employers enforcing arbitration agreements that prevent workers’ ability to join together in collective lawsuits or arbitrations.
- The Trump administration delayed implementation of the Fiduciary Rule, aimed at protecting retirement savers against brokers’ conflicts-of-interest.
- Trump proposed cuts to key economic development programs for rural areas and farm workers.
- Despite Trump’s “Hire American” rhetoric, his properties have requested permission to bring in hundreds of foreign workers.
- Trump’s infrastructure plan does not provide adequate financing and could increase costs for working families.
- Trump’s executive order targeting Medicaid, nutrition assistance, housing assistance, and other safety net programs would make it harder for low-wage workers to feed their families and search for higher-paying jobs.
- Trump repeatedly supported Republican plans to repeal Obamacare that would have led to fewer employers offering health insurance to their workers.
- Republican ACA repeal plans would threaten the flexibility that the ACA gave middle- and working-class Americans to change jobs or careers without worrying about how they would stay insured.
- The Trump administration tried to make it easier for employers to refuse to offer contraceptive coverage in their employees’ health insurance plans.
- The Trump administration is in the process of expanding the availability of association health plans, which have a long history of fraud and abuse that have left employers and employees with hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills.
- Trump halted an Obama-era rule that would have required large companies to report what they pay employees by race and gender to help shrink the wage gap.
- Trump’s moves would make it easier for corporations to pay women less.
- Trump revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order that ensured companies with federal contracts complied with labor and civil rights laws.
- Trump’s executive order reversing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order could make it harder for workers to report sexual harassment and fight gender discrimination.
- Trump’s Labor Department planned to relax Obama-era pay discrimination policies and let businesses shape investigations of federal contractors.
- After lobbying from Wall Street, Trump signed a repeal of an Obama-era measure designed to help workers without 401(k) plans save for retirement.
- The Trump administration abandoned an Obama-era rule that would have expanded overtime pay eligibility to millions more workers.
- Trump blocked an Obama-era rule that would have made it easier for farmers to sue big agricultural companies.
- Trump’s DOJ said employers could fire employees based on their sexual orientation, directly contradicting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- The Trump administration reversed a 2014 memo that protected transgender workers from discrimination.
- Trump’s Labor Department reissued guidance on the Fair Labor Standards Act that could allow employers to avoid paying overtime and complying with other labor protections.