The Trades Union Congress (TUC) offers its full solidarity and a pledge of steadfast support to the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) in the wake of the US Presidential election.
The AFL-CIO is a federation of 60 unions representing 12 million US workers. Trump’s signalling of clear opposition to workers’ rights and safety regulations poses a fundamental danger to workers and a challenge to the movement as a whole.
Recently President Biden requested the Department of Labour issue its first ever Hazard Alert for extreme heat, due in draft form by the end of January. It is anticipated that the Trump administration will likely abandon or delay and dilute the standard, placing many workers’ lives in danger. Similarly Trump’s first significant action on AI policy is expected to be the reversal of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on AI. Signed in October 2023, Biden’s order aimed to tackle potential threats AI could pose to civil rights, privacy, and national security, while also encouraging innovation, competition, and public sector applications of AI.
During his campaign in December 2023, Trump pledged to revoke this order, a stance echoed in the Republican Party platform in July. The platform criticized the executive order for allegedly stifling innovation and incorporating "radical left-wing concepts" into AI’s development.
Conservative policy makers predict that Trump will try to remove or diminish workplace safety rules and actively attack union membership.
Read more - Our message to unions in the US | TUC
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