Colorado Politics: Colorado AFL-CIO to spell out wishes at the Capitol Tuesday
Jan. 23, 2017, by Joey Bunch, ColoradoPolitics.com
What does Colorado’s organized labor want in the first year of President Donald Trump? We’ll find out Tuesday at the Capitol. The Colorado AFL-CIO will talk about its legislative agenda in the West Foyer at 9:30 a.m. to “help Colorado increase economic prosperity and stop national attacks on the rights of working families.”
Trump has exhibited a love-hate relationship with labor, wooing its working-class voters with promises of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. while publicly accusing unions of driving jobs out of the country and publicly criticizing labor leaders.
His pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, is a fast-food executive who has positions unfriendly to organized labor on overtime pay, automation and the minimum wage.
The Washington Post reported in December that the labor leaders “fear unions may be facing their gravest crisis in decades.” The Post reported:
The last time unions faced such an environment was when President Ronald Reagan slashed regulations, named a construction company executive as labor secretary and took on the air traffic controllers union. But, even during that onslaught, unions were in a much stronger position than today — representing 20 percent of private-sector workers compared with 7 percent today.
“Colorado sent a clear message this last election: ‘We overwhelmingly support the minimum wage, we reject Trump’s policies and behavior, and we need to keep Colorado moving forward,'” Colorado AFL-CIO executive director Sam Gilchrist said in a statement.
“Our hard-working families deserve a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, safety in the workplace and access to affordable health care. Colorado’s labor movement is ready to work with our state legislators to pass legislation that ensures our state remains a great place for working families and defeat anything that gets in the way of their success.”
ColoradoPolitics.com will be there covering Tuesday’s announcement live on Twitter followed by a report on this web page.