Trump uses lockdown to make life harder for millions of workers | Stephen Greenhouse

FFor many Americans, a government shutdown is a traumatic experience, but in the current shutdown, Donald Trump—labor’s supposed champion—has done his best to make things more painful for millions of workers and their families.

As part of his effort to outmaneuver the Democrats on the shutdown, the US president has repeatedly treated workers like pawns by using a cruel calculation that the worse he makes things for workers, the more pressure there will be on Democrats in Congress to cry foul and end the shutdown on his terms. Not only are many of Trump’s shutdown steps blatantly anti-labor, but legal experts say many of them violate federal law.

Take, for example, the Trump administration’s surprise decision to effectively cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) starting Saturday. This is the food stamp program used by millions of workers and their families – in aggregate 42 million people, price Residents of the United States.

The administration said last Friday that it would not allow the Agriculture Department more than $5 billion The emergency fund will be used To ensure nutritional benefits continue after November 1st. Nutrition experts and photo recipients warn against this It will lead to increased hunger In the richest country in the world. The administration cut funding by emphasizing that emergency funds could only be used for natural disasters, and did so even though it said just before the shutdown began that emergency funds could only be used for natural disasters. An emergency fund can be used To finance Snap interest.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker criticized the move, saying that working families “are on the verge of… Going without food assistance “Because Trump and Republicans in Congress want to score political points and refuse to reach a deal,” Pritzker added. “They can find the money to pay the masked federal agents who wreak havoc in our communities, but they can’t help those in need put food on the table.”

Cutting food stamps would hurt millions of low-wage workers as well as seniors, veterans, and many other vulnerable Americans. “People are receiving Snap in every part of the country “In every state,” said Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. “It’s great to sit on billions of dollars that could be used for food assistance for people who need help and refuse to release it.”

Last Tuesday, 24 states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asserting that cutting off Snap was illegal. David Soper, a federal budget expert at Georgetown University, told the New York Times that “there is nothing in the law that imposes that limit” on using emergency funding only for natural disasters. He added: “This [funding cutoff] He is blatantly outlawed.

The government shutdown began on October 1, after Democrats blocked legislation to fund the government unless Trump and Republicans agreed, as part of any deal, to take an important step to help working Americans — expanding subsidies that help 22 million Americans pay for Obamacare. Trump refused.

Cutting Snap is just one of the anti-labor moves Trump has made during the shutdown. He alarmed 670,000 federal workers by threatening not to provide them with back wages. After previous government shutdowns, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have furloughed They are almost always received retrospectively Pay for the time the lockdown lasted. Not only that, but during Trump’s first term Signed the Fair Treatment of Public Employees Actwhich was understood to guarantee back pay for federal workers furloughed during the shutdowns.

But during the current shutdown, Trump suddenly rolled back that legislation and delivered an unwelcome blow to 670,000 furloughed workers. Warn them that there is There is no guarantee They will receive back wages for the additional four weeks they were furloughed.

This was widely viewed as “Strong arm tactic“To pressure Democrats in Congress to agree to reopen the government and drop their demand to extend Obamacare benefits. Senator Patty Murray of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called this Trump tactic illegal and”Another baseless attempt “To try to intimidate and intimidate workers,” she wrote on

In a draft memoThe Trump White House has indicated that only workers it considers essential — such as military personnel and air traffic controllers — may automatically be entitled to back wages. In a slap at the 670,000 furloughed workers, Trump told reporters that back pay was inconsistent for federal employees, saying: “Depends on who you’re talking aboutThere were “some people who really didn’t deserve to be taken care of.”

In another anti-labor move, Trump and Russell Vaught, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, used the shutdown to announce… Permanent layoffs of 4,000 federal workers. They did so after Trump described the shutdown as “An unprecedented opportunity“To revamp government and shrink ‘democratic agencies.’” In previous shutdowns, furloughed workers were not laid off, but rather returned to their jobs when the government reopened.

On Tuesday, San Francisco Federal District Court Judge Susan Elston extended the injunction Temporarily preventing layoffs. She described it as capricious and a form of “political retaliation”, and said that layoffs in the middle of a lockdown are “Unprecedented in the history of our country“.

Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents 800,000 federal and state government employees in Washington, D.C., He described the layoffs as illegal. “Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns,” Kelly said. He added: “It’s disgraceful The Trump administration used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide vital services to communities across the country.

We should not be at all surprised that Trump pursued new anti-labor policies during the shutdown, considering that he has Dozens of anti-labor policies During the nine months he spent in office. Despite his repeated promises to help miners, Trump Stop implementing the regulation Which protects coal miners from the devastating and often fatal lung disease. To the anger of labor leaders, Trump moved to strip their collective bargaining rights More than a million federal workers. he Eliminated minimum wage requirements that federal contractors pay their employees at least $17.75 per hour; As a result, many full-time workers will see their wages reduced More than $9,200 per year. Trump has fired the head of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), leaving the nation’s largest labor agency without a quorum to protect workers from illegal corporate anti-union tactics.

Meanwhile, Trump has reduced regulations on oil companies and crypto billionaires to help them increase profits. Liz Schuler, president of the main labor union in the United States, said that Trump “talks well about being pro-labor, but he does the exact opposite.” “This is a government of and for CEOs and billionaires.”

For weeks now, Trump could have easily ended the shutdown by providing a clear favor to the American working class. But he refused to do so because he did not want to be seen as bending in any way in his confrontation with the Democrats. Trump could end the shutdown within an hour or two by telling congressional Republicans: “Let’s support the working class by extending Obamacare subsidies.” That would be a boon to millions of workers because without the extension, Obamacare premiums would be as high More than doubled on average For 22 million Americans.

All of this shows that Trump has acted coldly, brutally and calculatingly towards working-class Americans during the lockdown. Any president who truly cares about American workers, and any president who wants to alleviate their anxiety and pain, would do the opposite of what Trump did during the shutdown.

• Stephen Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on work and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues