cover of episode Workers for Trump Get QUICKLY SCREWED by his PLANS

Workers for Trump Get QUICKLY SCREWED by his PLANS

2024/11/23
logo of podcast The MeidasTouch Podcast

The MeidasTouch Podcast

AI Deep Dive AI Insights AI Chapters Transcript
People
B
Ben Meiselas
Topics
Ben Meiselas: 本期节目讨论了美国工会领导人在特朗普政策下对工会成员利益的损害。许多工会领导人公开支持特朗普,但特朗普的政策实际上削弱了工人的权利,包括削弱集体谈判、废除国家劳动关系委员会等。Meiselas 认为,这些领导人为了自身的政治利益而牺牲了工会成员的利益,这种行为是不可接受的。他还引用了工会成员在网络论坛上的评论,这些评论表达了对领导层行为的不满和对自身利益受损的担忧。Meiselas 还采访了北美建筑业工会前幕僚长 Mike Monroe,后者指出拜登政府在支持工会方面做得比特朗普政府更好,并详细说明了特朗普政府对工会的具体损害。Meiselas 认为,工会领导人应该诚实地告知工会成员特朗普政策的负面影响,而不是一味地迎合特朗普。 Sean O'Brien: Teamsters 主席 Sean O'Brien 公开感谢特朗普提名 Lori Chavez de Reimer 为劳工部长,并称赞特朗普将美国工人放在首位。这与 Meiselas 的观点形成鲜明对比,后者认为特朗普从未将美国工人放在首位。 Mike Monroe: Monroe 在采访中指出,拜登政府兑现了对工会的承诺,而特朗普政府则没有。他详细列举了特朗普政府对工会的损害,包括破坏学徒制度、未能兑现基础设施建设承诺以及未能保护工会养老金等。 Ro Khanna: 国会议员 Ro Khanna 指出,特朗普政府计划废除国家劳动关系委员会,这将严重损害美国工人的权利,并呼吁教育工人了解这一背叛行为。

Deep Dive

Key Insights

Why are union leaders supporting Trump despite his anti-union policies?

Union leaders are supporting Trump due to social issues like trans rights and immigration, ignoring his history of gutting collective bargaining rights and worker protections.

What specific actions has Trump taken against unions?

Trump has gutted collective bargaining rights, undermined the apprenticeship system, failed to protect pensions, and appointed judges who weakened overtime protections for millions.

How has the Biden administration supported unions compared to Trump?

Biden has protected pensions, invested in infrastructure, restaffed the NLRB, and removed IRAPs, which were assaults on apprenticeship, delivering tangible benefits to union workers.

What is the significance of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in protecting workers' rights?

The NLRB, created in 1935, allows workers to file grievances for illegal firings, retaliation, and wage theft, safeguarding their employment rights through collective bargaining.

What is the Trump administration's plan for the NLRB?

The Trump administration plans to dismantle the NLRB, removing the forum for union members to assert grievances and effectively gutting worker protections.

How do union workers perceive their leaders' support for Trump?

Union workers are aware of the leaders' misleading support and are expressing frustration on subreddits, questioning if the union is more concerned about trans issues than their jobs.

What is the role of social issues in union workers' support for Trump?

Social issues like trans rights and immigration have been manipulated by the right to divide workers, making them support Trump despite his anti-union stance.

Who are some of the billionaires in Trump's cabinet, and what do they represent for union workers?

Trump's cabinet includes billionaires like Howard Lutnick, Linda McMahon, and Elon Musk, who are likely to further gut union protections and worker rights.

What recent NLRB ruling under Biden benefits union workers?

The NLRB under Biden ruled that employers cannot hold mandatory anti-union meetings, a protection that would likely be reversed under Trump.

What is the significance of Elon Musk's challenge to the NLRB's constitutionality?

Musk's challenge aims to eliminate the NLRB, which safeguards worker rights, aligning with Trump's agenda to dismantle union protections.

Chapters
Union leaders are endorsing Trump despite his history of undermining unions and collective bargaining rights, raising questions about their motivations and the impact on their members.
  • Trump's plans to gut collective bargaining rights.
  • Union leaders like Sean O'Brien praising Trump despite his anti-union actions.
  • Union members expressing concerns about being misled.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

With Lululemon, the real gift happens when they're living in it. When you give them the softest loungewear set, the real gift is this, and this, and this. This holiday, Lululemon makes it easy to give a gift that goes beyond. Open the moment. Shop now at lululemon.com.

♪♪♪

One of the key rules when dealing with authoritarians is you never obey in advance. Frankly, I think it should be shortened to never obey because when you talk about in advance means obey at some point in time. Well, union leaders across the country, in my view, many of them, not all of them, many of them are continuing to throw their union members under the bus by promoting Donald Trump, who is going to gut them.

the very essence of unions going to gut collective bargaining rights. I mean, look, take a look on Friday what Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien posted. He writes the following, "Thank you real Donald Trump for putting American workers first." Let's pause there for a second. When has Donald Trump ever once put American workers first?

He never has. Let's go on and read it. Thank you for putting American workers first by nominating representative Lori Chavez de Reimer for U.S. labor secretary. Nearly a year ago, you joined us for a Teamsters round table and pledged to listen to workers and find common ground. I mean,

you do realize the moves that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and others have been making just over the past two weeks. Do you not want to acknowledge them? I mean, you do realize that this fake Doge agency that's being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is basically keen on gutting

all worker protections, gutting the National Labor Relations Board. You do realize that this Doge committee is going to be working in concert with Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House of Representatives. She's going to lead the subcommittee. You think that's going to be helpful for union workers. You do realize about two weeks ago, a Trump-appointed judge in the Eastern District of Texas gut

gutted the right of 4 million Americans to overtime protections. Americans who are making less than about $56,000 would have gotten automatic overtime. But a Trump-appointed judge says that that rule by Biden's Department of Labor was invalid. You do realize, Sean O'Brien and other union leaders, that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos just this week

were arguing before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals where they forum shopped their case that the National Labor Relations Board should not exist. And you do realize that it's almost certainly going to be the Trump administration's policy to just completely

gut the NLRB. You realize that the lawyers representing Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are the exact types of people Donald Trump would appoint to lead the NLRB, taking away all of the collective bargaining rights of unions like

Do you want to talk about that and address that? Or do you prefer to go to Mar-a-Lago with your long red ties and give the thumbs up gesture? Like you do realize what's taking place here. And it's not just Sean O'Brien, the head of the Teamsters. I mean, you have the head of the Longshoremen's Union as well.

engaging in that type of conduct, taking photos with Donald Trump. You have the firefighters union refusing to endorse vice president Kamala Harris. You have the border union endorsing Donald Trump. But I think the union workers are understanding what's taking place here. They've actually created their own subreddit talking about this. Here's what the union workers are posting right now. Is the union more concerned about trans than our job?

Teamster union members who voted for President-elect Donald Trump said it was definitely social issues like trans rights and immigration that made them support the seemingly anti-union candidate. Oh, by the way, I should also mention that the main author of Project 2025 was appointed to head the Office of Management and Business.

budget that's right russell vote who literally wrote project 2025 which also deals with dismantling unions is now running the office of management and budget i think that was important that i got that in there as well just take a look at this subreddit and a lot of union members understand the hustle that's taking place to them right now and they're pissed

Take a look at this one. This is an absolutely nonsense right-wing propaganda talking point. Look at the texts of all the public addresses given by Harris as a candidate and Biden before that. You'll see very little of them talking about trans issues other than very occasional, like, let's be nice to one another.

You'll see plenty about fair pay, labor protections, and more equitable wealth distribution. The right, on the other hand, talk about trans people constantly. As the right controls the shit corporate media that sets the national narratives, they effectively made the race about trans issues, despite that not being the focus of the Harris campaign at all. Divisive rhetoric to get workers to vote against their own interests. Tale as old as time.

Then this next comment is, it's absolutely right-wing made-up issues meant to divide people and stir up moral panic. Trans people are like 1% of the population and harming no one. And then another person points out, it's actually less than 1% of the population. It's the classic GOP platform. Frame all of the issues on a small group.

You're going to piss that group off, but who cares if it's less than 1% of the population and they probably wouldn't have voted for you anyway. You win by getting your voting base to be mad at some non-existing threat that you can eliminate to fix all of their issues. Another comment says,

They went after trans people and Haitians like around a percent of the US population, the 99% who have to show up to work and get scraps from billionaires if they're lucky. They absolutely made sure that was not the focus of the election and billionaire serving outfits like CNN were more than happy to carry their water. They're fighting a culture war while everyone is dying from lack of housing and rising cost of groceries and lack of access to good healthcare.

It's actually less than that. The estimate is about 0.6% of the U.S. population identifies as trans. It's fascism 101. Blame an already marginalized group of society for all the problems. The GOP focused on trans and migrants. In the meantime, it's the GOP and the right.

that are the cause of most of the problems average Americans have. Trickle-down BS, income equality, workers' rights, minimum wage, why anyone believes the GOP is the party for the working class is beyond me. Nothing in the last 40 years backs that up. And despite the union, the NLRB being gutted by Trump, and we have a track record from Trump administration one, what he did to the unions,

Nonetheless, you still have these union leaders who are the union bosses supporting Donald Trump, currying favor with Donald Trump. Well, let me show you here. I interviewed Mike Monroe.

About two years ago or so. And Mike Monroe is the North America Building Trades Union Chief of Staff at that time. And he was telling me, he goes, look, we have tried. Remember, this was like a year and a half. When I did this interview, it was about a year and a half into the Biden administration.

And he said, look, in a year and a half, Biden's kept every promise to us, delivered exactly what we've asked for, and has been the most pro-union president in history. That was a year into the Biden administration. And he said, look at what Trump did. He went through each thing. This is very detailed, but it's important that you get the facts and the data. Here, play this clip. When you have someone like that, like a Trump, just so brutally lie to people, and it's a vicious lie.

Because he's playing with your family's life and your livelihood. You know, for him, it's a gimmick. Infrastructure week. We're building this. We're doing that. To millions of Americans, what that means is, what type of dinner am I going to put on my family's plate? And so when he so savagely lies to people like that, how do we message to people like that?

what that is, what that truly means, and have people not be distracted onto the next scam or the next gimmick. We had four core issues where we were directly engaged, right? And we were told one thing and then nothing materialized, right? As I said, the anti-labor bents, undermining the apprenticeship system that has worked for 100 years, registered apprenticeship system,

infrastructure never materialized. And then he told our leadership, most notably Teamsters and others, that he was going to protect their pensions. None of that happened. And in the first calendar year of President Biden and Vice President Harris's administration, with Democrats control of the House and a narrow majority in the Senate,

They protected those pensions. They've invested in infrastructure. They've restaffed the NLRB, right? They've protected, they got rid of IRAPs, which was the assault on apprenticeship. I mean, in one year that moved and that's what we communicate to our folks about. Cloud out all the noise. These things have tangible benefits to your life, to your family's lives.

And this was done under this administration, despite all the banners and the rallies and the mastering of language and sort of propaganda. Let's look at the results. And that's where we find ourselves. Folks, now more than ever, we've got to stay calm. For me, staying calm, it's a way of life. It's how I synthesize process and ultimately explain data. It's the way I run this network. And there is a lot happening these days. I know.

And if you've had difficulty focusing, look, you're not alone. But may I make a suggestion for you? It's called Calm. It's what I use. It's the number one app for sleep and meditation. And it gives you the power to calm your mind and change your life. Calm knows everything.

that everyone faces unique challenges in their daily lives. We're all different, and mental health isn't about a one-size-fits-all solution. So Calm offers a wide range of content to help you navigate life's up and downs with programs like meditations to help you work through anxiety, sleep stories, sleep meditations, ground exercises, expert-led talks,

Calm puts the tools you need right in your pocket and can help you dedicate just a few minutes each day to a healthier, happier life. So stress less, sleep more, and live a better life with Calm. For listeners of our show, Calm is offering an exclusive offer of 40% off a Calm premium subscription at Calm, C-A-L-M, Calm.

So go to calm.com/midus for 40% off unlimited access to Calm's entire library. That's calm.com/midus. Let me show you this. Here is a Congress member Ro Khanna also reiterating what I just said is that

Trump is going to get rid of the National Labor Relations Board, which is the very forum for union members to assert grievances. That's what you do with

It's like the purpose of the union is so that you can collectively bargain for your rights to make sure you're not screwed over by management. And the National Labor Relations Boards help safeguard those rights. And the very institute that safeguards the employment is going to be gutted. And then you have, you know, these union leaders saying, oh, so great, Donald Trump. Here, play this clip of Congress member Ro Khanna.

Breaking news on the front page of the Washington Post today. The Trump administration is already planning a betrayal of the working class in America by dismantling the NLRB. The NLRB is the National Labor Relations Board. It was created by FDR in 1935 and has protected American workers for almost 100 years. It allows workers to file a

grievance, if they are fired illegally, if their employer retaliates against them, if they have issues of wage theft. And now we learned that the Trump administration has an elaborate scheme to get rid of the NLRB. We need to educate workers about this betrayal. I finally want to show you this right over here. Take a look at Donald Trump's, um,

cabinet right now. Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary, net worth $2 billion. Linda McMahon, Education Secretary, $3.2 billion. Kelly Loeffler, Agriculture Secretary, $800 million net worth. Elon Musk, who's going to be running the Doge, which is going to gut union protections. Elon Musk laughs at firing workers who strike.

$315 billion. Vivek Ramaswamy, $960 billion. Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary, net worth $1.1 billion. Dr. Oz, who's going to be running Medicare and Medicaid services. He talked about privatizing people. $200 million. Chris Wright, Energy Secretary, $150 million.

I just want you to think about all of that. Those are the people. Just think about the ruling by the NLRB in the last week. The NLRB with Biden appointees ruled employers cannot hold mandatory anti-union meetings.

What do you think the NLRB would do that under Donald Trump? No, the NLRB is going to do the opposite. The NLRB is frankly not even going to exist under Donald Trump. Here's the other headline. Amazon and SpaceX are challenging the NLRB's constitutionality in federal court. In other words, Musk is saying the NLRB simply should never exist. So if it's never exist and Elon Musk is Trump's top advisor,

How are you as a union head congratulating Donald Trump for being a pro worker? I mean, it is absolutely insane. And at some point in time, you need leaders to lead and tell people the truth and fight for the union workers. If you want to say, which I don't know why you would ever do this, we are hopeful that there'll be something different this time around.

But for you to affirmatively lie, in my opinion, to your rank and file over and over again and not tell them the facts, you're just spewing into this propaganda machine. Anyway, we'll call it out. I think union workers get what's going on, but we'll keep calling it out here.

Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 4 million subscribers. Love this video? Make sure you stay up to date on the latest breaking news and all things Midas by signing up to the Midas Touch newsletter at MidasTouch.com slash newsletter.