'You can't be pro-billionaire and pro-working class': Biden's labor chief on return of Trump [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Sat 18 Jan 2025 07.00 EST
Last modified on Sat 18 Jan 2025 07.03 EST
Even as Donald Trump says he will battle for America’s workers, the acting secretary of labor, Julie Su, is voicing fears that Trump will undo many of Joe Biden’s pro-worker policies, which include protecting workers from extreme heat and extending overtime pay to millions more workers.
In an interview with the Guardian, Su said that Trump might fall far short on delivering for workers considering the first Trump administration’s many anti-worker policies and in light of his having Elon Musk and other billionaires advising him. “It’s one thing to say you’re pro-worker, and it’s quite another thing to do it,” Su said. “You can’t be pro-billionaire and pro-working class. You can’t be pro-Elon Musk and pro-worker.”
Musk, who has become one of Trump’s top advisers, is vehemently anti-union and seeking to have the National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional. He once said: “I disagree with the idea of unions.”
Su expressed concern that the Trump administration, with all its billionaires and business magnates, might give short shrift to poor and working-class Americans. “When you look at the track record of some of the people in the next administration, and then you look at the lack of representation of working-class and middle-class folks, I’m worried that the perspectives of those who struggle, of those who rely on government to act not just in the interest of the privileged, are not well-represented – while union-busters are.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/18/julie-su-labor-secretary-biden-trump
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