HARTFORD, CT — As Labor Day approaches, labor leaders and elected officials drew attention to what they’re calling an “unprecedented attack” on labor unions and workers by the Trump administration.
US Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, was joined by labor leaders at the Legislative Office Building Friday morning to denounce recent moves made by President Trump.
Blumenthal said that Labor Day has a special meaning in America, because workers have had to fight to advance the rights and the welfare of working Americans. He said that struggle has always been one of progress, until the Trump administration.
“What we’ve seen over these last seven months is an unprecedented assault on workers’ rights, compensation, safety, and well being,” he said. “It is unprecedented in the history of the United States of America that so many rights and protections have been rolled back, lawlessly and recklessly, to the detriment not only of the working people directly affected, but also their families and other workers who are going to be affected eventually.”
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday, claiming national security exclusions from a nearly 50-year old executive order, stripping collective bargaining rights from employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the National Weather Service and others.
The order builds on an earlier order he issued in March which removed collective bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of workers using the same exemption. Affected agencies included the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Justice and many others.
The senator said that the Trump administration has rolled back occupational safety and health reporting standards, eliminated minimum wage and overtime protections, as well as affirmative action requirements, and removed collective bargaining requirements for federal employees.
“Eliminating collective bargaining rights is not only illegal, it’s immoral,” Blumenthal said. “And this administration is sustaining this attack on American workers, hoping that on this Labor Day, Americans will be so busy with barbecues and beaches, they won’t pay any attention.”
Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said that every worker advance over the last hundred years, including the eight hour workday, weekends, overtime pay and Social Security were “won in blood” by union members.
“This Labor Day, the labor movement is under attack,” he said. “President Trump is attempting to silence workers because he knows when workers have a voice, they’ll push back against his authoritarian agenda. But he’s not going to win this fight, because the American people know that union workers in the labor movement don’t just stick up for ourselves, but fight for everyone.”
Representatives for the state’s teacher’s unions were also present. Leslie Blatteau, divisional vice president for the Connecticut branch of the American Federation of Teachers, thanked educators and care providers for doing the labor that allows parents to go to work, and demanded that schools be fully funded.
“These are not radical demands,” she said. “[Schools] are the pathways to opportunity and the building blocks of a just society. That’s why we are collectively demanding that all elected officials stand with workers and students, not billionaires. Because our members, who have served in our city for decades, should be able to retire in dignity. Active teachers should be able to maintain a work-life balance and not face burnout. Our new teachers should be able to afford to work one job, rent or buy a home in the city where they work and be able to put down roots in a community and retire in that same place.”