President seeks to repair rift with labor
After the push for trade legislation ruptured relations between the White House and organized labor, President Barack Obama is embarking on something of a repair mission.
Within hours of business leaders joining him at a signing ceremony for the polarizing trade bill, Obama announced a proposed Labor Department rule that would make more workers eligible for overtime. Just like that, the tables were turned — labor praised the move, and business leaders decried it.
On Thursday, Obama traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to promote the overtime plan in the home district of Rep. Ron Kind, one of 28 House Democrats who broke party ranks to side with the president and grant him broad trade negotiating powers. The trip came on a day when the Labor Department reported the addition of 223,000 jobs in June though wage growth stalled.
“It is impossible to insulate the U.S. economy and U.S. workers from the broader forces of globalization,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “While the president and Congressman Kind have a difference of opinion with many leaders of organized labor about this approach, the fact is when it comes to the value of looking out for middle-class families, the leaders of organized labor and the Obama administration agree just about every time.”
It’s a message the White House hopes resonates with union members and mends a battered relationship between pro-trade Democrats and labor. Union leaders fought the trade legislation and vowed to pull their support of
Democrats who sided with Obama.
That legislation, supported by a majority of Republicans, gave Obama “fast track” trade negotiating authority, which could clear the path for him to complete a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal. If finalized, Congress would have the right to approve or reject the agreement, but not change or delay it. The deal could be completed in time for Congress to act before the end of the year.
“The trade fight is not over,” said Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s legislative director.
The overtime rule that Obama announced Monday had been long anticipated.
It would make up to 5 million more people eligible for overtime by more than doubling the earnings threshold under which salaried workers are entitled to overtime.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Tom Donohue, attended the trade signing ceremony Monday, issued a blistering critique of the overtime rule, saying it would result in workers losing benefits, flexibility and advancement opportunities.
“This change is another example of the administration being completely divorced from reality and adding more burdens to employers and expecting them to just absorb the impact,” said Randy Johnson, a chamber senior vice president.