The 'Two Tests' AFL-CIO President says Will Hold Trump's Policies Accountable

During an interview with Neil Cavuto on the FOX Business Network, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations President Richard Trumka said President Trump’s performance so far with regard to labor unions has been “a mixed bag.”

“What he did on TPP was good. The things he’s trying to do with infrastructure are good – there’s a lot of those things. Then, on the other side you know, he put some people in who are pretty anti-union – tried to put them in positions. One of them got defeated, Puzder got defeated.”

Trumka went on to add that he likes Trump’s new pick for labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, “much more” and believes “he deserves absolute serious consideration.”

During the presidential election, the AFL-CIO voted to endorse Hillary Clinton. In a press release, Trumka said that Clinton “demonstrated a strong commitment to the issues that matter to working people.”

Now that the dealmaker-in-chief is in the Oval Office, Trumka said the AFL-CIO will be “behind him” as long as he does what is good for the “economy and workers.”

“He had a message where he wasn’t going to let Wall Street run wild, and he said the American economy works best when it works for American workers. Now, they want him to put that into action. If he does that I think he’s going to find support from all workers quite frankly, because the rules are rigged against us. We want the rules rewritten; if he’ll do it we’ll help him.”

Trumka added that whatever policies the administration enforces, the AFL-CIO will put them to “two tests.”

“Does it comport with our values and is it good for working people? If it is, we’re going to work for it. If it isn’t, then we’re going to be against it. We’ll tell him exactly where we are on every issue.”

When it comes to the strong opposition from the Democratic Party over many of Trump’s proposed policies and plans, Trumka said everybody needs to take a little step back and focus on fixing the problems – but at the same time “we’re going to call balls and strikes.”

“If he does something that’s good for the economy and workers, we’re going to be behind him. If he does something that weakens workers, is bad for the economy, then we’re going to oppose him. And, we’ll not let the thing get personal as far as we’re concerned.”