Early voting is beneath means 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 court docket union voters – a core voting bloc, particularly in swing states like Michigan, the place teams just like the United Auto Employees (UAW) have important 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 Staff 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 may assist her win extra votes.
In the meantime, former President Trump has additionally solidified union assist, restricted although it might 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 shops 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 hundreds of {dollars}, a lot of it for police time beyond regulation pay.
Whereas Harris has wider assist amongst union members – a 7 % lead on Trump as 50 % 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 seemingly or may assist Donald Trump are actually not centered on collective bargaining or financial energy however points that should do with immigration, points that should 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, advised Al Jazeera.
Regardless of Trump’s success in stoking concern about “migrant crime”, violent crime within the US has steadily declined throughout the administration of President Joe Biden. The newest FBI knowledge exhibits a ten.3 % decline in reported violent crime in contrast with final yr.
Al Jazeera analysed the place the candidates stand on key points essential to union employees like collective bargaining and wages. Right here’s what we discovered:
On organising
Harris has a fairly constant report of being pro-union and was an authentic co-sponsor of a key employees rights invoice – Defending the Proper to Arrange (PRO) Act.
The PRO Act, which initially was proposed in 2019, would forestall employers from interfering with union elections, permit for the Nationwide Labor Relations Board handy out monetary penalties to corporations that violate labour legal guidelines and expedite reinstatement of labor if employees lose their jobs because of a strike.
The invoice was reintroduced in 2023 however has not handed the US Congress. Harris stated she would signal it into regulation 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 concept,” Bruno stated.
JD Vance, Trump’s operating 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 employees to organise, together with in 2019 when it removed a safety carried out throughout Barack Obama’s presidency that allowed employees to make use of firm e-mail to organise.
“In relation to Trump, his presidency was an absolute catastrophe for working folks and for union members. His complete time period was doing the bidding of company CEOs and massive companies from the huge tax giveaways that he bestowed upon them to creating it tougher for employees to organise as a union,” Steven Smith, deputy director of public affairs for the AFL-CIO, advised Al Jazeera.
In her capability as vp within the Biden administration, Harris spearheaded the White Home Activity Pressure on Employee Organizing and Empowerment, which aimed to assist higher talk employees rights all through federal companies.
Then again, Trump has been overtly hostile in the direction of employees who’re pushing for higher working circumstances.
In a current interview with billionaire supporter Elon Musk on X, the social media platform Musk owns, Trump floated the concept of firing employees who’re on strike, which might violate federal labour regulation.
The declare led the UAW to launch a proper criticism with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board to research Trump and Musk for interfering with employees rights.
On wages
Harris has stated that if elected, she would attempt to increase the federal minimal wage to $15 per hour – an essential subject for employees 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 virtually 30 %.
When he was requested about whether or not he would increase the minimal wage at a marketing campaign occasion at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchise, Trump dodged the query.
In 2020, he stated he would favor minimal wages to be determined by the states.
“I believe it ought to be a state possibility. Alabama is totally different than New York. New York is totally different from Vermont. Each state is totally different. It ought to be a state possibility,” Trump stated 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 employees. However his efforts to get Congress to move the laws have been blocked by Republicans and a handful of Democrats. Nevertheless, Biden did what the administration may do unilaterally and raised the federal minimal wage for federal employees.
Each Trump and Harris have pledged to finish earnings taxes on suggestions 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 job pressure that was meant to crack down on wage theft within the state.
Nevertheless, it’s not clear how properly these efforts carried out. By 2022, it was reported that even when employees received wage theft instances towards their employers, just one out of seven have been paid out these misplaced wages inside 5 years.
Trump, nonetheless, has repeatedly argued towards elevating wages.
In 2015, he stated wages have been “too excessive”. Throughout that point, he additionally stated auto producers ought to transfer operations to the southern a part of the US to “lower-wage states”.
Regardless of these coverage positions, Trump received the union-heavy state of Michigan in 2016. Biden received the state by 2.8 share factors over Trump in 2020, and now it’s a useless warmth between Harris and Trump within the state. An mixture of political polls compiled by the poll-tracking web site FiveThirtyEight exhibits Harris has a small lead in Michigan however properly inside the margin of error.
In 2018 whereas president, Trump used an govt order to scrap annual pay raises for civilian federal staff.
The Biden administration, nonetheless, has fought to enhance wages for center class employees. In a number of job creation programmes, the administration included a prevailing wage clause that requires corporations bidding for contracts to pay a residing wage to their staff.
“The center class goes to earn prevailing wage on all of these building and factory-related jobs that include that enormous federal subsidy,” Bruno stated.
On time beyond regulation pay
On the finish of Obama’s second time period, the Division of Labor stated any full-time employees making lower than $47,476 certified for automated time beyond regulation pay.
A decide in Texas blocked the rule earlier than it may 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 employees making $35,358 a yr or much less.
When the rule was up for reconsideration once more this yr, the Biden-Harris administration raised the brink to $43,888 on July 1. It is going to enhance once more on January 1 to $58,656. The plan will seemingly 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 present discovered that his corporations violated time beyond regulation and minimal wage legal guidelines 24 instances.
He echoed that sentiment in a marketing campaign speech this month. The Republican nominee advised supporters in Michigan he “used to hate to pay time beyond regulation”.
“Individuals are shocked and so they’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 hire on the finish of the month. That’s the type of factor that’s at stake right here,” Smith stated.
Trump, nonetheless, has stated he desires 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 stated at a marketing campaign rally in Arizona in September.
Neither marketing campaign replied to Al Jazeera’s requests for remark.