Donald Trump Presidential Announcement,
With just four days until the election, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is being reprimanded by federal authorities for breaking the law. According to the Huffington Post, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Trump is in violation of federal law by refusing to recognize a newly formed worker's union at his Las Vegas hotel.
Last year, employees at Trump International in Vegas voted 238 to 209 to join the Culinary Workers Union. The workers, which mostly consist of Filipino and Latino workers, decided to unionize after being poorly treated at his hotel. According to the Culinary Workers Union they are making $3 less per hour than other unionized employees on the Vegas strip.
After spending more than half a million dollars trying to dissuade his employees from unionizing and failing, Trump decided to go a different route. The GOP nominee claimed the union election was invalid and accused the union of unfairly influencing the election results (basically the same thing he is doing now with his presidential campaign). Officials looked into the self-proclaimed billionaire's allegations but ruled that they were without merit and certified the election results.
Despite the union being certified, the Trump team has refused to sit down at the bargaining table with the union and negotiate fair pay for the workers for more than a year. Their insistence that they are above federal labor laws caused the National Labor Relations Board to step in and order Trump to cease and desist its stonewalling and start bargaining.
Shortly after the ruling, Geoconda Arguello-Kline, the union’s secretary treasurer, released a statement slamming Trump for his despicable behavior:
“The National Labor Relations Board has consistently told Donald Trump and his company that the union election wasn’t rigged and that he must sit down and negotiate with the Culinary Union. Mr. Trump is breaking federal law and Trump Hotel Las Vegas is operating illegally. Mr. Trump should accept the federal government’s order to negotiate and treat his workers with respect.”
Ironically, Trump has spent months trying to convince union workers that he is the only candidate who will do right by them. Last year, the Republican spoke to Newsweek and proclaimed,"I have great relationships with unions." He has also promised American workers that he is going to bring all of the jobs home to America and get rid of our trade agreements because they are "disasters." Apparently, like most of his policies, he believes that if he repeats these lies enough times, reality will fall away and his words will become true.
Sadly, his lies seem to have fallen on a lot of gullible working-class ears. In September, Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com reported that 68 percent of blue-collar workers have said they will support Trump in the election next week. And even though he has tried desperately to stop his own employees from unionizing, the biggest police union in the country (Fraternal Order of Police) and the ICE union have both endorsed him in an "I got mine, screw you," move.
Culinary Workers Union member Joshua Armstead, however, is not impressed:
“If you want to be president of the United States, and you want to make America great again, you as an employer have an obligation to sit down with your employees,” Armstead said. “If he refuses to do that, he has no business being president of the United States.”
Thankfully, the feds have seen past Trump's bullshit and are stepping in to protect the rights of his employees.
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