Despite stark differences on worker rights, unions split on Trump, Harris

Early voting is nether mode crossed the United States up of Tuesday’s statesmanlike election. Republican campaigner Donald Trump and Democratic campaigner Kamala Harris person some made last-minute efforts to tribunal national voters – a halfway voting bloc, particularly successful plaything states similar Michigan, wherever groups similar the United Auto Workers (UAW) person important sway among the electorate.

Vice President Harris has garnered endorsements from important unions crossed the country, including the UAW, AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union.

Harris besides has the enactment of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the national down the latest Boeing strike, which is present entering its eighth week. Boeing picketers say that if she hits the picket enactment with them, it could assistance her triumph much votes.

Meanwhile, erstwhile President Trump has besides solidified national support, constricted though it whitethorn be. Members of the Teamsters national person shown stronger enactment for the Republican nominee. Although the International Brotherhood of Teamsters opted not to endorse either candidate, the union’s president, Sean O’Brien, has campaigned with Trump and appeared connected conservative-friendly media outlets successful support.

Trump besides received an endorsement from the International Union of Police Associations. It comes contempt Trump’s mendacious claims astir the precocious complaint of transgression successful American cities, his 34 felony convictions and his run owing cities crossed the US hundreds of thousands of dollars, overmuch of it for constabulary overtime pay.

While Harris has wider enactment among national members – a 7 percent pb connected Trump arsenic 50 percent of national members accidental they judge Harris’s policies would beryllium amended for unions than Trump’s – the second has garnered enactment among national members by tapping into issues that are apical of caput for the broader electorate similar immigration.

“Union members who are apt oregon could enactment Donald Trump are truly not focused connected corporate bargaining oregon economical powerfulness but issues that person to bash with immigration, issues that person to bash with a consciousness of information due to the fact that of levels of crime,” Bob Bruno, prof of labour and employment astatine the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Al Jazeera.

Despite Trump’s occurrence successful stoking fearfulness astir “migrant crime”, convulsive transgression successful the US has steadily declined during the medication of President Joe Biden. The astir caller FBI information shows a 10.3 percent diminution successful reported convulsive transgression compared with past year.

Al Jazeera analysed wherever the candidates basal connected cardinal issues important to national workers similar corporate bargaining and wages. Here’s what we found:

On organising

Harris has a beauteous accordant grounds of being pro-union and was an archetypal co-sponsor of a cardinal workers rights measure – Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.

The PRO Act, which primitively was projected successful 2019, would forestall employers from interfering with national elections, let for the National Labor Relations Board to manus retired fiscal penalties to companies that interruption labour laws and expedite reinstatement of enactment if workers suffer their jobs arsenic a effect of a strike.

The measure was reintroduced successful 2023 but has not passed the US Congress. Harris said she would motion it into instrumentality if elected.

“The Harris run is by acold the much supportive of organised labour and corporate bargaining, and the Trump run is outwardly hostile to the idea,” Bruno said.

JD Vance, Trump’s moving mate, voted against the PRO Act and has been a vocal professional of the legislation. Vance also rejected several Biden medication nominees to the National Labor Relations Board. In 2020, then-President Trump threatened to veto the PRO Act if it made it to his desk.

The Trump White House besides made it harder for workers to organise, including successful 2019 erstwhile it got escaped of a extortion implemented during Barack Obama’s presidency that allowed workers to usage institution email to organise.

“When it comes to Trump, his presidency was an implicit catastrophe for moving radical and for national members. His full word was doing the bidding of firm CEOs and large corporations from the monolithic taxation giveaways that helium bestowed upon them to making it much hard for workers to organise arsenic a union,” Steven Smith, lawman manager of nationalist affairs for the AFL-CIO, told Al Jazeera.

In her capableness arsenic vice president successful the Biden administration, Harris spearheaded the White House Task Force connected Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which aimed to assistance amended pass workers rights passim national agencies.

On the different hand, Trump has been openly hostile towards workers who are pushing for amended moving conditions.

In a caller interrogation with billionaire protagonist Elon Musk connected X, the societal media level Musk owns, Trump floated the thought of firing workers who are connected strike, which would interruption national labour law.

The assertion led the UAW to motorboat a ceremonial ailment with the National Labor Relations Board to analyse Trump and Musk for interfering with workers rights.

On wages

Harris has said that if elected, she would effort to rise the national minimum wage to $15 per hr – an important contented for workers successful the work manufacture and their respective unions due to the fact that the minimum wage has been stuck astatine $7.25 an hr since 2009. Since then, its purchasing powerfulness has declined by almost 30 percent.

Republican statesmanlike campaigner Donald Trump works down the antagonistic during a sojourn to a McDonald’s edifice successful Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania [File: Doug Mills/Pool via Reuters]

When helium was asked astir whether helium would rise the minimum wage astatine a run lawsuit astatine a Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchise, Trump dodged the question.

In 2020, helium said helium would similar minimum wages to beryllium decided by the states.

“I deliberation it should beryllium a authorities option. Alabama is antithetic than New York. New York is antithetic from Vermont. Every authorities is different. It should beryllium a authorities option,” Trump said astatine the time.

Thirty-four of the 50 US states person raised their minimum wages supra the national minimum.

That means the remaining 16 inactive person a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. So for radical who enactment afloat clip astatine 40 hours per week astatine those wages, their yearly wage would beryllium only $20 higher than the poorness line for a azygous idiosyncratic household.

When Biden archetypal took office, helium pledged to rise the national minimum wage for each workers. But his efforts to get Congress to walk the authorities were blocked by Republicans and a fistful of Democrats. However, Biden did what the medication could bash unilaterally and raised the national minimum wage for national workers.

Both Trump and Harris person pledged to extremity income taxes connected tips if elected.

Harris has agelong fought to amended wages crossed the economy. During her clip arsenic attorney general successful California, she launched a task unit that was intended to ace down connected wage theft successful the state.

However, it’s not wide however good those efforts performed. By 2022, it was reported that adjacent erstwhile workers won wage theft cases against their employers, lone 1 retired of 7 were paid retired those mislaid wages wrong 5 years.

Trump, however, has repeatedly argued against raising wages.

In 2015, helium said wages were “too high”. During that time, helium besides said car manufacturers should determination operations to the confederate portion of the US to “lower-wage states”.

Despite these argumentation positions, Trump won the union-heavy authorities of Michigan successful 2016. Biden won the authorities by 2.8 percent points implicit Trump successful 2020, and present it’s a dormant vigor betwixt Harris and Trump successful the state. An aggregate of governmental polls compiled by the poll-tracking website FiveThirtyEight shows Harris has a tiny pb successful Michigan but good wrong the borderline of error.

In 2018 portion president, Trump utilized an enforcement bid to scrap  annual wage raises for civilian national employees.

The Biden administration, however, has fought to amended wages for mediate people workers. In respective occupation instauration programmes, the medication included a prevailing wage clause that requires companies bidding for contracts to wage a surviving wage to their employees.

“The mediate people is going to gain prevailing wage connected each of those operation and factory-related jobs that travel with that ample national subsidy,” Bruno said.

On overtime pay

At the extremity of Obama’s 2nd term, the Department of Labor said immoderate full-time workers making little than $47,476 qualified for automatic overtime pay.

A justice successful Texas blocked the regularisation earlier it could instrumentality effect. When the program threshold came up for re-evaluation successful 2019, the Trump medication slashed it. The cuts meant employers lone needed to wage overtime for salaried workers making $35,358 a twelvemonth oregon less.

When the regularisation was up for reconsideration again this year, the Biden-Harris medication raised the threshold to $43,888 connected July 1. It volition summation again connected January 1 to $58,656. The program volition apt proceed if Harris is elected adjacent week.

As for Trump, his allies astatine the Heritage Foundation deliberation vessel privation him, if helium wins, to reverse the rule.

Trump has a agelong past of failing to wage overtime during his clip successful the backstage sector. A 2016 study from USA Today recovered that his companies violated overtime and minimum wage laws 24 times.

He echoed that sentiment successful a run code this month. The Republican nominee told supporters successful Michigan helium “used to hatred to wage overtime”.

“People are shocked and they’re frightened due to the fact that if Trump takes distant their overtime, they’re not going to beryllium capable to marque their rent astatine the extremity of the month. That’s the benignant of happening that’s astatine involvement here,” Smith said.

Trump, however, has said helium wants to extremity taxes connected overtime pay  arsenic portion of a bigger taxation program if helium is re-elected.

“It’s clip for the moving antheral and pistillate to yet drawback a break, and that’s what we are doing due to the fact that this is simply a bully one,” Trump said astatine a run rally successful Arizona successful September.

Neither run replied to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.