President Donald Trump criticized the head of the largest U.S. group of unions on Sept. 3 over comments the AFL–CIO president made in an interview aired on television a day earlier.
AFL–CIO President Richard Trumka told Fox News Sunday on Sept. 2 that Trump’s policies have done more to hurt workers than they have helped.
“Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union poorly on television this weekend,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “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. A Dem!”
Trumka had a few positive things to say about Trump, but concluded that “Democrats support working people more than Republicans have.”
“To date, the things that he has done to hurt workers outpace what he’s done to help workers,” Trumka told Fox News. ”Overall, workers aren’t doing so well.”
Trumka also doubted if the Trump administration’s new trade deal with Mexico can be achieved without bringing in Canada. The AFL–CIO boss said that NAFTA has had “a devastating effect” on America’s workers, but couldn’t see how a renegotiated deal could move forward without Canada.
However, Trump has already announced that the United States and Mexico have reached a tentative trade deal that would replace the NAFTA deal. Senior administration officials explained that if Canada didn’t join the deal by Aug. 31, the Trump administration would send a letter notifying Congress of a provisional deal with Mexico that is open for Canada to join.
Trumka is the face of big labor unions, as the AFL–CIO represents more than 12 million active and retired workers. Trump jabbed at Trumka on Labor Day, hours after sending a message touting his administration’s successes.
“Happy Labor Day! Our country is doing better than ever before with unemployment setting record lows,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sept. 3. “The U.S. has tremendous upside potential as we go about fixing some of the worst Trade Deals ever made by any country in the world. Big progress being made!”
