Trump Attacks Workers with Spring Regulatory Agenda

Washington, DC—Following is a statement from Christine Owens, Executive Director, National Employment Law Project:

“In his first speech as President of the United States, Donald Trump pledged that every decision he made would be to benefit the nation’s workers.  Key actions his administration has taken during the first six months of his presidency already create a trail of broken promises to working people.  And today’s release of the administration’s Spring Regulatory Agenda reflects yet again just how hollow the president’s promise has been.

“Far from protecting workers, the Trump labor department’s regulatory roadmap is a plan to cut pay for working people, endanger their health and safety in workplaces across numerous industries, and take away vital safeguards that enable consumers to make informed investments to build and protect their retirement savings. Initiatives on the president’s agenda include proposals to reopen the overtime, beryllium, injury and illness tracking, and conflict of interest (or fiduciary) rules, gutting protections for workers and retirement savers who need every dollar they can get and count on OSHA to make sure their jobs are safe and healthy. The rules this agenda attacks and rights it seeks to take away from working people grew out of dozens of stakeholder meetings with DOL and OMB, hundreds of thousands of public comments, and careful review of reams of economic analysis.  Nothing in this voluminous record compiled over several years has changed enough in since election day 2016 to reopen the record for a wholesale review and revision now.

“Actions speak louder than words.  And today’s action, the Spring Regulatory Agenda, shows yet again that even though the president said he’d put working people first, his administration is acting to elevate corporate and financial industry interests, boosting corporate profits and enriching corporate insiders.  Working people are last, not first, as the president initially promised – an especially cruel irony during the administration’s so-called ‘Made in America Week.’”