Early voting is below manner throughout the US forward of Tuesday’s presidential election. Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris have each made last-minute efforts to courtroom union voters – a core voting bloc, particularly in swing states like Michigan, the place teams just like the United Auto Employees (UAW) have vital sway among the many citizens.
Vice President Harris has garnered endorsements from essential unions throughout the nation, together with the UAW, AFL-CIO and Service Workers Worldwide Union.
Harris additionally has the assist of the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Employees, the union behind the most recent Boeing strike, which is now coming into its eighth week. Boeing picketers say that if she hits the picket line with them, it might assist her win extra votes.
In the meantime, former President Trump has additionally solidified union assist, restricted although it could be. Members of the Teamsters union have proven stronger assist for the Republican nominee. Though the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters opted to not endorse both candidate, the union’s president, Sean O’Brien, has campaigned with Trump and appeared on conservative-friendly media retailers in assist.
Trump additionally obtained an endorsement from the Worldwide Union of Police Associations. It comes regardless of Trump’s false claims in regards to the excessive fee of crime in American cities, his 34 felony convictions and his marketing campaign owing cities throughout the US tons of of 1000’s of {dollars}, a lot of it for police time beyond regulation pay.
Whereas Harris has wider assist amongst union members – a 7 p.c lead on Trump as 50 p.c of union members say they imagine Harris’s insurance policies could be higher for unions than Trump’s – the latter has garnered assist amongst union members by tapping into points which might be high of thoughts for the broader citizens like immigration.
“Union members who’re doubtless or might assist Donald Trump are actually not centered on collective bargaining or financial energy however points that need to do with immigration, points that need to do with a way of hazard due to ranges of crime,” Bob Bruno, professor of labour and employment on the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, instructed Al Jazeera.
Regardless of Trump’s success in stoking worry about “migrant crime”, violent crime within the US has steadily declined throughout the administration of President Joe Biden. The latest FBI information exhibits a ten.3 p.c decline in reported violent crime in contrast with final 12 months.
Al Jazeera analysed the place the candidates stand on key points essential to union staff like collective bargaining and wages. Right here’s what we discovered:
On organising
Harris has a fairly constant document of being pro-union and was an authentic co-sponsor of a key staff rights invoice – Defending the Proper to Manage (PRO) Act.
The PRO Act, which initially was proposed in 2019, would stop employers from interfering with union elections, enable for the Nationwide Labor Relations Board handy out monetary penalties to firms that violate labour legal guidelines and expedite reinstatement of labor if staff lose their jobs on account of a strike.
The invoice was reintroduced in 2023 however has not handed the US Congress. Harris mentioned she would signal it into legislation if elected.
“The Harris marketing campaign is by far the extra supportive of organised labour and collective bargaining, and the Trump marketing campaign is outwardly hostile to the thought,” Bruno mentioned.
JD Vance, Trump’s working mate, voted towards the PRO Act and has been a vocal critic of the laws. Vance additionally rejected a number of Biden administration nominees to the Nationwide Labor Relations Board. In 2020, then-President Trump threatened to veto the PRO Act if it made it to his desk.
The Trump White Home additionally made it more durable for staff to organise, together with in 2019 when it removed a safety carried out throughout Barack Obama’s presidency that allowed staff to make use of firm e mail to organise.
“On the subject of Trump, his presidency was an absolute catastrophe for working individuals and for union members. His total time period was doing the bidding of company CEOs and large companies from the large tax giveaways that he bestowed upon them to creating it tougher for staff to organise as a union,” Steven Smith, deputy director of public affairs for the AFL-CIO, instructed Al Jazeera.
In her capability as vp within the Biden administration, Harris spearheaded the White Home Job Power on Employee Organizing and Empowerment, which aimed to assist higher talk staff rights all through federal companies.
Alternatively, Trump has been overtly hostile in the direction of staff who’re pushing for higher working situations.
In a latest interview with billionaire supporter Elon Musk on X, the social media platform Musk owns, Trump floated the thought of firing staff who’re on strike, which might violate federal labour legislation.
The declare led the UAW to launch a proper criticism with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board to analyze Trump and Musk for interfering with staff rights.
On wages
Harris has mentioned that if elected, she would attempt to elevate the federal minimal wage to $15 per hour – an essential challenge for staff within the service trade and their respective unions as a result of the minimal wage has been caught at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Since then, its buying energy has declined by nearly 30 p.c.
When he was requested about whether or not he would elevate the minimal wage at a marketing campaign occasion at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchise, Trump dodged the query.
In 2020, he mentioned he would like minimal wages to be determined by the states.
“I believe it ought to be a state choice. Alabama is completely different than New York. New York is completely different from Vermont. Each state is completely different. It ought to be a state choice,” Trump mentioned on the time.
Thirty-four of the 50 US states have raised their minimal wages above the federal minimal.
Which means the remaining 16 nonetheless have a minimal wage of $7.25 an hour. So for individuals who work full time at 40 hours per week at these wages, their annual pay could be solely $20 increased than the poverty line for a single individual family.
When Biden first took workplace, he pledged to lift the federal minimal wage for all staff. However his efforts to get Congress to cross the laws have been blocked by Republicans and a handful of Democrats. Nonetheless, Biden did what the administration might do unilaterally and raised the federal minimal wage for federal staff.
Each Trump and Harris have pledged to finish revenue taxes on ideas if elected.
Harris has lengthy fought to enhance wages throughout the economic system. Throughout her time as legal professional basic in California, she launched a activity drive that was supposed to crack down on wage theft within the state.
Nonetheless, it’s not clear how effectively these efforts carried out. By 2022, it was reported that even when staff gained wage theft circumstances towards their employers, just one out of seven have been paid out these misplaced wages inside 5 years.
Trump, nevertheless, has repeatedly argued towards elevating wages.
In 2015, he mentioned wages have been “too excessive”. Throughout that point, he additionally mentioned auto producers ought to transfer operations to the southern a part of the US to “lower-wage states”.
Regardless of these coverage positions, Trump gained the union-heavy state of Michigan in 2016. Biden gained the state by 2.8 proportion factors over Trump in 2020, and now it’s a useless warmth between Harris and Trump within the state. An combination of political polls compiled by the poll-tracking web site FiveThirtyEight exhibits Harris has a small lead in Michigan however effectively throughout the margin of error.
In 2018 whereas president, Trump used an government order to scrap annual pay raises for civilian federal workers.
The Biden administration, nevertheless, has fought to enhance wages for center class staff. In a number of job creation programmes, the administration included a prevailing wage clause that requires firms bidding for contracts to pay a residing wage to their workers.
“The center class goes to earn prevailing wage on all of these development and factory-related jobs that include that enormous federal subsidy,” Bruno mentioned.
On time beyond regulation pay
On the finish of Obama’s second time period, the Division of Labor mentioned any full-time staff making lower than $47,476 certified for computerized time beyond regulation pay.
A decide in Texas blocked the rule earlier than it might take impact. When the plan threshold got here up for re-evaluation in 2019, the Trump administration slashed it. The cuts meant employers solely wanted to pay time beyond regulation for salaried staff making $35,358 a 12 months or much less.
When the rule was up for reconsideration once more this 12 months, the Biden-Harris administration raised the brink to $43,888 on July 1. It is going to improve once more on January 1 to $58,656. The plan will doubtless proceed if Harris is elected subsequent week.
As for Trump, his allies on the Heritage Basis assume tank need him, if he wins, to reverse the rule.
Trump has a protracted historical past of failing to pay time beyond regulation throughout his time within the personal sector. A 2016 report from USA At this time discovered that his firms violated time beyond regulation and minimal wage legal guidelines 24 occasions.
He echoed that sentiment in a marketing campaign speech this month. The Republican nominee instructed supporters in Michigan he “used to hate to pay time beyond regulation”.
“Persons are shocked they usually’re scared as a result of if Trump takes away their time beyond regulation, they’re not going to have the ability to make their lease on the finish of the month. That’s the type of factor that’s at stake right here,” Smith mentioned.
Trump, nevertheless, has mentioned he needs to finish taxes on time beyond regulation pay as a part of a much bigger tax plan if he’s re-elected.
“It’s time for the working man and lady to lastly catch a break, and that’s what we’re doing as a result of it is a good one,” Trump mentioned at a marketing campaign rally in Arizona in September.
Neither marketing campaign replied to Al Jazeera’s requests for remark.
