Trump’s New Top Labor Official Is Expected to Advance an Anti-Labor Agenda

Republicans' approach to labor is thru employers and any reward for effort labor might experience is a by product of their employers decision to share the rewards of success; IOWs trickle down is not claimable by any politician, its out of their hands and no doubt they're aware of it giving them deniability for when it doesn't happen. An employer can recognize when he has a worker hostage to their need to feed themselves and aware of being easily replaced …"what the market will bear". Thing is, the position isn't replaceable or it wouldn't exist so the placeholer ought to share in the rewards of success. Many do, we don't have to remedy that case, its the ones who aren't treated with the intention of sharing the success. Examining the republican voting record will reveal to you that the only way you can believe they have labor in their plans is as Supply Side trickle down by products. They're anti Union, which is code for anti Labor. If you're helping Labor to share in the success but holding them back, you're nothing but a Syndicate that doesn't represent a vast majority of Americans, but it does get the fattest campaign contributions boomeranged back to you so you can keep your career afloat. Its downright traitorous and right in front of our under enlightened noses for decades. Republicans' treatment of labor is "sit down and shut up". Unions are the natural reaction of the need to be treated fairly when that doesn't happen.

You gotta give Trump supporters credit. Trump supporters treat the government the way they themselves feel that they have been treated. Me, I like pain better than opioids. I don’t blame the government. Always enjoyed seeing National Guard helicopters coming to the rescue when no other private agency will. I don’t sing a hillbilly eulogy. Whiners all. Trump supporters haven’t been treated poorly by the government yet. It’s coming, however. So good!

Why was this man chosen? Perhaps because Simon Legree was not available.

Whether a law or constitutional amendment is required there must be change that limits how long someone can serve as an "acting" agency head. Without such a change a president can have people serve indefinitely at his whim without that violates the meaning and spirit. Not having hearings to approve the appointment prevents members of Congress asking Mr. Pizzella what policies he intends to establish to foster and support the mission of the Labor Department, established under their auspices, for the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits that are the mission of the agency he is to lead.

In my decades of business experience, most unions go overboard and often make demands that ultimately jeopardize the jobs of the workers they were meant to protect (think UAW). Unions also spend too much time protecting shirkers and rascals that hurt the stability of the employers they rely on. That said, Mr. Trump might want to think about the idea that his view of "when America was great" was a time when American workers earned a living wage that let them afford good housing, a new car, and provided healthcare. Many of his policies seem at odds with the basic wage structure that made America great.

Sounds like this guy is the quintessential conservative republican, always working behind the scenes to make the World as horrible for his fellow man as possible, unless your very rich of course. While Trump tweets, golfs and watches Fox and Friends the real operators of the Government are Mulvaney, Pence, McConnell and Company. It's the ultimate nightmare for working people of this Country.

So much for the American laborer. If only the base could open their eyes, and understand this blatant promotion of plutocracy. Is this worth owning the libs?

The Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory, is exempt from the federal minimum wage and immigration laws and it sells products under a “Made in the U.S.A.” label.....is the Republican dream of feudalism and modern slavery. Large textile manufacturers set up production on the islands. Migrant workers from China and the Philippines work long hours for low pay and lived in squalid, crowded dormitories. A 1997 federal government report said that nearly the entire private-sector labor force of the commonwealth consisted of “essentially indentured alien workers” and that foreign women were often coerced into prostitution, and that those who refused were sometimes raped or tortured. It was Mr. Pizzella’s job to present a kinder, gentler image of the N. Marianas to Republicans. Allen Stayman, an Interior Department official involved in investigating conditions on the islands, said Mr. Pizzella “was in charge of showing the Potemkin village.” One person on a trip to the commonwealth organized by Mr. Pizzella recalled meetings with senior officials of the local government in which the officials discussed their interest in making the commonwealth a laboratory for conservative policies like school vouchers. The lobbying efforts were effective. Legislation that would have applied the minimum wage and immigration laws to the commonwealth died in the House in the 1990s. Patrick Pizzella is a monster who can't stand the non-rich. Republican Reverse Robin Hoods love him.

Gee what a surprise! trump IS a republican after all.

As usual, the Times' double talk obscures the interests of labor unions with interest of workers. These are often not the same.

Trump just picked Dr. Fox to head the Bureau of Hen Houses

How could you possibly be "draining the swamp" when everyone in your cabinet is a swamp creature? Putting former lobbyists in charge of agencies they used to work against shows what a corrupt con man Trump is. I hope Democratic presidential candidates highlight this during their campaigns. Trump supporters are unaware of what's going on because they get their news from right-wing propaganda outlets like Fox.

As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men, For they are women's children, and we mother them again. Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses! —James Oppenheim This is the poem that linked the name Bread and Roses strike to the Lawrence textile strike of 1912. The conditions the workers endured were horrifying and they included many names that, like Mr. Pizzella, ended in vowels. He should be ashamed. The fact that he has lobbied to allow workers to make far below minimum wage should be a nonstarter for his appointment. But in this trumpian world he is the perfect labor secretary, one willing to overturn any policy protecting workers’ rights. A quick internet search resulted in this description of what the department of labor is supposed to do: “The Department of Labor (DOL) fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits…” Pizzella has stated that he wants to do the opposite. His nomination should be rejected.

Trump is the toxic divide and conquer anti-labor politics that was incubated in Wisconsin under Scott Walker - only on steroids. And you know what? - Wisconsin got rid of Walker! And an America that cares about working people can get rid of Trump!

Wow, it really is D-listers all the way down.

So what else is new. Trump has appointed oil men as Secretaries to both Interior and Environment, a complete neophyte to Energy, an avowed charter school supporter in defending public schools as Education Secretary, a surgeon for Housing, an aircraft executive for both the FAA and Defense. So why not nominate someone who is anti labor to be Labor Secretary. Left to his own devices, Trump will pick people completely unsuited, ill equipped, ignorant, and with interests and career profiles completely contrary to the positions they are now asked to fill. Much like the President himself.

And they say Trump is a fighter for the working man. Which is of course a fallacy. But what is true is that a single narrative has not emerged from the Dems that crushes the con and exposes the fallacy. Trump throws soft ball pitches and the Dems just can’t connect. Dems need a fighter who is also a statesman,

We have to learn anew how to read the names of agencies and programs at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Especially the federal government. Newspeak—the kind George Orwell so eloquently criticized—is here. The Ministry of Truth, in the Orwell novel, 1984, is the example. But that was fictional. Today we have an actual EPA dedicated to polluting the environment; “scientific” studies that are not scientific in method or scope; and now, a Department of Labor designed to dismantle the protections line workers have won over the last 100 years or so. We fought wars to defend ourselves from these dangers. But the attacks on our democratic institutions are coming from both the right and from within. Who really saw that coming? If the Trumpican party wins, then we will be the new land of liberty (meaning, of course, oppression).

Why not just change the name to "Department of Exploitation?"

Another example of the sometimes shocking naivite of the Obama administration. Hasn't history taught us that you don't appease so-called "movement conservatives" like Pizzella and his ilk. You stand up and fight them with every ounce of strength you have because there is no alternative. Civilization itself is hanging in the balance.

If Donald Trump could appoint a Fire Chief he would appoint an arsonist.

Gosh, I never realized the swamp would be drained into the cabinet.

It is understandable why Trump would appoint an anti-labor person to this position but why did President Obama appoint Pizzella to the Federal Labor Relations Authority in 2013 according to Wikipedia. He shouldn't have been appointed to anything related to labor issues or policy given his background with Reagan and the so-called "right-to-work" movement. What was going on behind the scenes? Was this a "GOP seat" or something else? Did labor not protest? "Patrick Pizzella (born May 19, 1954)[5] is an American government official, currently serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Labor. He was formerly a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority appointed by President Barack Obama. Pizzella worked as a political field staffer for Ronald Reagan's 1976 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, then spent four years, from 1977 to 1980, as executive director of right-to-work committees in New Mexico and Delaware.[7] " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Pizzella

While a part of me says maybe the damage he does will sway people away from Republicans, the other part of me says nope. I am constantly amazed how people I know, who were Trump supporters, complain about things they see which are a direct result of Republican policies and don’t make the connection. The ignorance of the American voter constantly amazes me.

When we embolden our narcissistic president we assure that every aspect of his administration will become worse. He is not held accountable for being a liar, a sexual predator, a racist or a global abuser of human rights. It's no surprise that all his "acting" secretaries are there to degrade their departments. Nothing in the Trump administration is done for the good of Americans. Healthcare, education, financial security and infrastructure have all declined during this administration. This is Trump's biggest con, convincing people that being hateful, vengeful, divisive and dishonest is better than a more safe and equitable existence for us all.

One more reason to consider a possible Constitutional Amendment, authorizing direct elections for some now-cabinet members. Recalling today’s summary of Justice John Paul Stevens’ view of bowing to the views of those that administer the laws, believing they had a constituency that the Court did not, maybe with direct elections we....constituents....might, during a direct election, get to hear whether a candidate actually intended to administer the underlying statutes, or intended to undermine them. I fail to see how a second-hand constituency of cabinet members is much different than a second-hand constituency of Justices. Especially when the one is supposed to determine the Constitutionality or statutory adherence of the other. I don’t advocate elections for the Supreme Court, but neither do I advocate for belief in a mythical constituency so far removed from the actual activities of departments, sub-departments, agencies, etc. Lobbyists, singularly focused, are a very different proposition from real people with real lives- and 100 other things we are supposed to focus on. Except when there is an election.

What is it about us that they hate so much. Or is it that they love money more and our banking on our blind laziness. Both.

An anti-labor cabinet secretary? Only a Republican would consider this a good move. Labor is one of our economic cornerstones. Advancement of labor causes is endemic to a successful National economic policy. Unions help float boats and raise national wage levels. Labor is a bolster to our middle class. Labor helps us allocate assets in the business arena.

It is a sad statement that in this administration, Acosta is seen as a moderate. He has implemented many of the goals that corporations have wanted from the Dept of Labor. Acosta has worked diligently against the interest of working people and has done it in a quiet manner. What Acosta refused to do is bring unwarranted attention to the DOL by involving himself in extreme, over-the-top, and partisan attacks on workers and unions. In this administration, this behavior is as good as it gets, which says so much about how extreme the policies are coming out of this administration.

It is wrong on SO MANY levels, to have a Labor Secretary who is against workers, just like an Education Secretary against public education, an EPA Secretary deregulating environmental protections for the fossil fuel industry as fast as he can, an HUD Secretary opposed to affordable housing for lower income people, and on and on. But the Labor Secretary affects all of us who work for others, which is the vast majority of people in this country and can hurt our ability to maintain, much less build back the middle class in this country. We will have the wealthy owner class, and the rest of us will sink into 3rd world living conditions.

It's concerning that there are so few comments. I hope that reflects the recency of the article (can't tell when it appeared) and not a sense of total resignation (I won't say defeat). But that too would be understandable. I never thought Trump would be nominated, much less elected. But if he were elected, I felt he would revert to the "normal" Republican mode. I never saw this coming, but if I had seen it coming, I would have thought that congressional republicans would have done more to control the damage. I was and am wrong at every turn. I'm almost 77 years old. I've seen a few things like most my age, but nothing like this. Ever. I won't say I'm frightened. Okay, maybe I am frightened, not for myself, but for my country, my sons and grandsons, and yours.

Nobody cares about job protections anymore. Americans are rarely engaged in dangerous work--there are practically no coal mines, and all the steel mills have disappeared. When all the jobs in the country are in the service industry or IT or insurance or other White collar jobs we hardly need labor rules to protect us, and minimum wage laws just hurt employers. Pizzella will be fine. He'll probably oversee the complete dismantling of the Labor Dept, which nobody will miss anyway.

In Trump World, it always gets worse, never better. The villain you get rid of will be replaced by an even worse villain. I am not only shocked that there are this many awful people in the world, but that they have all gravitated to each other. Corruption is a powerful magnet. The Democratic presidential candidates shouldn't even bother creating policy ideas. Entire first term will be spent trying to undo all the damage.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Pizella to go after the union that represents Customs and Border Patrol officers. CBP is the only federal law enforcement agency whose agents are classified as civil servants and thus capable of filing up to four levels of appeals before being punished for even the most serious criminal infractions, whereas all other federal law enforcement agents can be fired for 'lack of candor' that falls short of being an actual false statement.

Trump's cabinet will go down in history as the clown car with a double-A rating -- Actings and Antis specifically selected to gut, demean, disembowel and destroy the government agencies they were chosen to lead. After all, who needs government agencies when you have a Supreme Leader who is all-knowing and wise enough not to need any advice.

Perhaps the Dems were too quick to ask for the resignation of Mr. Acosta? At least he was the devil they knew.

Well of COURSE we'll have an anti-Labor Secretary of Labor. Don't we already have an anti-Environment head of the EPA? An anti-Law and Order Attorney General? An anti-public lands Sec. of the Interior? An anti-public education Sec. of Education? What's new here?