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On the record: Bush's anti-worker bias isn't hard to find

Date Posted: July 9 2004

Why are the building trades unions and the rest of organized labor supporting Democrat John Kerry for U.S. president?

Mainly because there is a three-and-a-half year record by President Bush that shows a bias – and arguably an animosity – towards U.S. workers in favor of his supporters in the corporate world. And Kerry, with his record in Congress, has consistently shown support for U.S. workers.

Many voters will make up their mind about the president, pro or con, based on the candidates’ stand on gun owners’ rights or abortion, or this year, how Bush has handled the war on terror and the war in Iraq. All are legitimate issues, and the public’s perception of Bush’s record as a wartime president will probably determine whether he wins re-election in November .

But through the years, building trades union leaders have consistently asked members to examine how the economic records of candidates impact their lives. And President Bush’s record clearly shows that supporting the American worker is not part of his agenda.

Overtime pay takeaway. The Bush administration published regulations in April 2004 to deny overtime pay protections to millions of U.S. workers. The changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) enable employers to reclassify many workers and make them exempt from time-and-a-half overtime pay. The Bush administration has opposed legislation passed five times by both the House and the Senate that would have stopped overtime takeaways.

Outsourcing jobs. With hundreds of thousands of America’s workers losing jobs because corporations are exporting them, the Bush administration supports outsourcing even more U.S. jobs, according to its own 2004 annual economic report to Congress. “Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade,” said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.

On March 30, Republican Treasury Secretary John Snow said sending jobs overseas is a good thing for the American economy. Up to 14 million white-collar jobs are predicted to move overseas in the next few years – and those jobs aren’t coming back.

Job loss. America’s workers today are facing the biggest jobs crisis since the Great Depression. The nation’s economy has shed a net three million private-sector jobs since Bush took office – the largest job loss since the administration of President Herbert Hoover. Not only are millions of U.S. workers looking for jobs, but the long-term unemployment rate – when workers have been jobless for six months or more – is the highest in more than 20 years.

Unfair tax policies. The Bush Administration called its tax cut package, which took effect in July 2003, it’s “Jobs and Growth Plan.” The administration’s projection of new jobs was wrong, a net loss of two million has resulted. Twenty eight months into the official economic recovery, most states still have not recovered the jobs they lost or gained the jobs needed to keep up with population growth. Bush has made sure the tax cuts worked for his wealthy friends. The top 1% of wage earners in America received over 40% of the tax cuts.

John Kerry’s record:

  • He has compiled a 91% lifetime AFL-CIO voting record on important working
    family issues.
  • Kerry voted to protect workers’ overtime rights from the Bush administration’s
    assault on the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  • Kerry voted to protect millions of retirees from the loss of their employer-provided prescription drug coverage.
  • He co-sponsored Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1925) to strengthen workers’
    rights to organize into unions and bargain collectively.