Trump aims to outlaw unions including USDA’s FSIS, APHIS

President Trump on Thursday issued an executive order that ends collective bargaining in many divisions of the government, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department, on “national security” grounds. The executive order specifically says unionization would not be allowed at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said, “Late last night, Donald Trump continued his campaign against workers, their families, and their financial well-being.”

“In his executive order, he outlawed collective bargaining for more than a million federal workers, stripping them of their ability to negotiate fair wages, fair workplace treatment, and fair working hours. We have unions to thank for weekends and reasonable working hours, and for decades, they have stopped employers from taking advantage of working people.

“So it is no surprise that Donald Trump, who has spent his career cheating and stealing his way to success at the expense of his workers, is attacking the right to organize,” Martin said.

He added, “Trump isn’t just corrupt — he’s a corrupt union-buster. He talks a big game about wanting a new golden age, but if that were truly the case, why would he be so insistent on taking us back to the Dark Ages?

“Democrats will hold our ground and fight for working-class families because we stand with the people who have built this country. We stand in solidarity with unions. I know Trump is incapable of feeling shame — but he should be ashamed,” Martin said. 

–The Hagstrom Report