Donald Trump’s presidency presents unions with the threat that unified Republican governance will bring sweeping, hostile changes to laws they hold dear. Labor has responded with a muddle of denunciation, cautious quiet and, in some cases, even exultation.
Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers and a speaker at the Women’s March on Washington, said last week that “we’ve got to be whistle-blowers for righteousness.” Just the day before, the Laborers’ International Union of North America was gushing over the new president: “He has shown that he respects laborers who build our great nation, and that they will be abandoned no more.”
