Labor leaders from swing states across the nation joined Pittsburgh-area U.S. Congressman Chris Deluzio – who has a 100% lifetime score from the AFL-CIO – at a press conference hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday to discuss the potential outcomes of the November presidential election.
With speakers from Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania featuring prominently in the discussion, Deluzio and the others discussed the threat posed if former President Trump returns to office. Deluzio, after explaining that earlier in his career he’d been a labor organizer, touted the gains made under the Biden administration and promised that going forward “workers will suffer a lot under Trump.”
To a person, Labor leaders SEIU President April Verrett, RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum, and Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber each pointed to the destructive promises made in the Presidential Transition Project 2025. A 900-page policy screed promising, among other things, to break the backs of labor unions. A document so radical, that Trump has tried repeatedly to disavow any knowledge of its content.
The way the congressman sees it, the former president’s previous record is enough of an indicator of his future performance. Deluzio predicted that a second Trump term guaranteed “fiscal insanity,” citing Trump’s first term in office, when the Republican nominee slashed the corporate tax rate and exploded the debt. Deluzio pointed out that the companies who saw the greatest gains in Trump’s first term were the most “union busting corporations” and that his policies resulted in – among other calamities – the unnecessary deaths of meat packing workers when Trump employed the Defense Production Act to force symptomatic and contagious employees back to work. Deluzio reminded his colleagues, “Mr. Trump is in this for himself,” not the workers and not the American people.
Steve Catanese, president of SEIU local 668, representing local public sector workers – including those in Bucks County – agrees.
“We’re facing the possibility of going back to the administration that put a Scalia in charge of labor, and anti worker justices on the bench at the Supreme Court,” said Cantanese. “So many anti-labor appointments came down during the Trump administration.”
Catanese – whose member base is both ethnically diverse and majority female – can’t help but see the Trump administration’s anti-labor stance as elemental to their anti-woman, anti-immigrant bias. “They are anti-worker before you even talk about their sexism and racism.”
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In stark contrast to the conference attendee’s concerns over a Republican win in November, the national union organizers voiced hope for a Harris ticket and heralded the accomplishments made in the years since President Biden took over the Whitehouse.
SEIU President April Verrett, who represents 2 million workers, including the 20,000 under Catanese leadership, voiced “deep gratitude for President Biden, the first president to walk a picket line.” Speaking glowingly and encouragingly about Kamala Harris’ all but certain race for the presidency, she declared, “She will beat Trump and finish the job … the weight of history is upon us, and the moment is now.”
Catanese, who cites the vice president’s union credentials since long before Harris’s time in the executive branch, met personally with her – years ago – to discuss labor issues. He cited her genuine concern for “domestic workers, low wage workers, people working in homecare, childcare … really underpaid workers.” He appreciated her desire to expand OSHA regulations for those who have to work outside in extreme heat. “She really gets it. I was honestly impressed with everything I saw from her.”
While labor leaders in the press conference spoke optimistically about the Democratic Party’s chances with Harris at the helm, they called for worker unity and a coordinated effort among the various unions to harness newfound enthusiasm and push Harris over the finish line. Noticeably absent from the national organizations assembled for the press conference which represented workers from both the public and private sector was any collaboration by the Teamsters Union.
Following President Sean O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention, the absence of Teamster representation from yesterday’s show of unity prompted the Bucks County Beacon to ask whether or not O’Brien’s speech at a Republican Convention lent the Trump/Vance ticket legitimacy for their pseudo-populist message.
President Applebaum responded that Trump was, “Not pro-worker, regardless of anyone appearing at his convention.” Applebaum said that four years of Trump-Vance would be disastrous for working families, and pivoted the discussion to the Democratic ticket, “People cannot be confused by the theatrics. VP Harris will continue to work on their stunning legacy. The labor movement will make sure people know that.”
Rick Smith, a Pennsylvania based national broadcaster and member of the Teamsters union – who voted for Sean O’Brien when he ran for president of the teamsters – has devoted himself to amplifying the voices of his brothers and sisters in the union.
Many of those members believe that nothing good can come from labor leadership pretending that the Trump-Vance ticket would be anything but nightmarish for workers.
Smith fears that O’Brien’s naiveté when dealing with Trump might allow the Republican ticket to peel off labor support. “He [O’Brien]’s already said, ‘Teamster versus everybody.’ He’ll be used as a tool for divisiveness.”
Smith wonders what happened to the Sean O’Brien he met marching with Bernie Sanders. A student of politics – and human nature – the broadcaster doesn’t see this ending well for O’Brien. “They’ve gotten him to imply JD Vance is a good guy for labor. I think they’ve already gotten what they wanted from him. They’ll throw him under the bus.”
Karen Downer, President of the Bucks County NAACP was likewise surprised that a labor leader like O’Brien would be fooled by any Trump message. “Maybe they think, ‘Just in case Trump gets in … if I cozy up to him, he isn’t going to come after me.’ Hasn’t he heard of Mike Pence?” Referring to the mob erecting a gallows and Trump admitting later that he thought his otherwise obedient, second-in-command deserved to be hanged.
Downer added ruefully, “We already know what happens to people who don’t do what Trump says.”
For Downer, now is not a time for division or hesitation. She wants people to see Trump for the threat that he is and she’s grateful that yesterday, labor leaders coalesced to inform the electorate. And that they tempered their warnings with a message of hope. “I can understand why the workers are excited. More important [than reminding people about Trump] are the policies she [Harris] will continue. Student loan relief, prescription drug policies, people who need Medicare expansion. Policies that benefit the middle class.”
Lastly, Catanese wants to look forward because he would like the temperature to come down a little. Catanese believe’s Trump’s disrespect for the functioning of government hurt public service workers and that’s motivating them to work for Harris, now. “The members know that they want to be involved with assuring a decent administration, and by that, I mean human decency.”
In addition to increased appreciation for the first responders he represents, when people’s lives are on the line, he’d like more respect shown toward public sector workers, when they negotiate for wages and workplace conditions.
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“We are bargaining a contract in Bucks County right now and we think we’ll get there … but back in the Trump administration we faced worker shutdowns,” instead of discussions. If these negotiations happened during the Trump era, Catanese fears they might not have found a resolution. “Project 2025 calls for the eroding of public services, cutting off funding and sourcing essential services to the lowest bidder,” none of which makes government work well.
Catanese biggest take away from his workers’ enthusiasm with Harris at the top of the ticket and a continuation of the Biden-Harris agenda, is the hope for an administration that prioritizes public services and the workers who deliver them.
