On Tuesday, Missouri voters trounced a right-to-work law pushed by CEOs, corporations and radical right-wingers intent on killing collective bargaining. The law was passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature last year before advocates successfully petitioned for a direct referendum on the measure.
It was the second time in 40 years that Missourians kicked right-to-work to the curb. Ohio voters did the same in 2011.
The problem with trying to peddle right-to-work in the Show-Me State is that it has nothing to do with rights or jobs. Right-to-work is about power. Right-to-work states take power from workers and hand it to corporations, CEOs and wealthy shareholders. Right-to-work makes the rich richer. It makes workers poorer. No wonder Missouri voters crushed it by a 2-to-1 margin. No wonder Ohioans knocked it back.
Right-to-work policies win when decided by Republican politicians and right-wing judges. They lose when decided by voters ― even in red states that went for President Donald Trump.
A new school year is already here for many students around the country, while it’s just right around the corner for others. As students (and their parents) prepare themselves for what the new school season will bring, we drew up a quick guide to help find affordable school supplies that students of all ages may need — and in true Alliance for American Manufacturing style, they are also are labeled as made in the United States.
Elementary School
Crayons, Markers and More: A staple in the American grade school experience, Crayola provides kids what they need to make their colorful mark on the school year from markers and colored pencils to of course…crayons! The company has been around for more than 100 years, and still makes 12 million crayons a day at its factory in Easton, Pa.
Glue:Elmer's School Glue has been a classroom staple for more than 65 years, as it is washable and non-toxic. Like Crayola's crayons, Elmer's glue is also affordable — you can buy a 4 ounce bottle at retailers like Target for less than a dollar.
Tape: Although tape is one of those supplies that students of all ages likely will use, it's probably a good idea to start stocking up early. The 3M company's Scotch Brand of tapes, from clear tape to more decorative options, continues to be manufactured in the United States.
President Trump took a break from tweeting about his former reality show costar-turned rogue White House aide on Monday to officially sign the $716 billion defense policy act, which is designed to “counter Chinese aggression and support U.S. military servicemen and women.”
Much of the coverage of the bill’s signing centered around Trump failing to mention Sen. John McCain in his remarks, noteworthy because the legislation is named after the Arizona Republican. But the measure itself proved less controversial, receiving widespread bipartisan support for shifting “U.S. focus away from counter-terrorism to the strategic threats posed by China and Russia.”
Also included in the bill is the conclusion of the latest chapter of the ZTE saga.
You remember ZTE! It’s the Chinese telecommunications firm that is considered a major security threat to the United States. On top of that, ZTE also violated trade sanctions on Iran and North Korea.
When ZTE failed to discipline employees who violated said sanctions, the Commerce Department rightly barred ZTE from importing any U.S. components for seven years, which effectively put the company out of business.
Not surprisingly, China got real mad about all this.
But then surprisingly, Trump shocked a whole lot of people by tweeting that he instructed Commerce to “give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE a way to get back into business, fast.”
Matthew McMullan
Communications Manager, Alliance for American Manufacturing
President Trump welcomed members of a “Bikers for Trump” group to one of his golf resorts over the weekend. This must’ve had him thinking about motorcycles, because the next day, he fired off a tweet about Harley-Davidson, the Wisconsin-based manufacturer that started out Trump’s presidency in his good graces … only to run up against him after it used the administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs as an excuse to offshore some production of motorcycles to be sold to the EU.
Now, he’s suggesting a boycott.
That’s a pretty extraordinary move, for the president to single out a company like that. The company’s shares slid a little bit on Monday. Way to go, Mr. President, I guess.
Why would he do that?
Could be he read the New York Times articlethat sent a reporter to the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally and found bikers who saw through Harley’s tariff-blaming nonsense and acknowledged its plans to open factories offshore to supply growing markets in Asia and Europe (Harley sales stateside, on the other hand, have been declining for years).
Or maybe he sees a political value in it, and is trying to shore up support in the biker demographic – older, white, patriotic, often military veterans – by attacking the company and siphoning off its iconic, American-made bona fides.
That’s probably only half-right, but who knows? After all, he followed up his Harley tweet with a few denigrating a former White House aide – the one who was once a contestant on The Apprentice – with whom he currently has beef. It’s just as possible that it’s all simply stream-of-consciousness nonsense, albeit with stock-rattling consequences.
While the National Archives has made clear that it won’t be able to produce all documents relating to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until the end of October, Senate Republican leaders announced Friday that they will begin confirmation hearings on Sept. 4. As a result, the confirmation process will proceed without full access to some 900,000 pages of documents detailing Kavanaugh’s career and judicial record.
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (UMWA) recently told reporters: “Working people deserve a nominee who will extend the guarantees of the Constitution and the promises of our country to everyone who lives and works here. We don’t need another justice who only listens to the whispers of the wealthy few.”
