President Trump touted his support among the labor movement’s rank and file Wednesday and vowed always to back their interests by bolstering the industries for which they work.
He made the comments while signing executive orders that would expedite approval for energy infrastructure projects.
“As I have said from day one, American labor will always have a friend at the White House. You know that,” Trump said at an event at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center in Crosby, Texas, surrounded by cheering IUOE members.
“Under this administration we have ended the war on energy …. and we’ve put thousands and thousands of patriotic union members like you to work building our energy future,” he said, pointing to such efforts as approving the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline project.
Trump has a complicated relationship with organized labor. He is often harshly criticized by most labor leaders, such as the AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who has alleged that the president has backed corporations over workers and has termed his immigration rhetoric “hateful and racist.” However, many of the same leaders concede that Trump has much stronger support among the union members than past Republican presidents.
Many of the president’s policies, such as on trade, energy, and infrastructure, dovetail with union ones. “We appreciate this administration working to ease permitting delays on vitally important projects that create good jobs and ensure clean, safe and affordable energy for communities across this great nation,” North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey said in a statement Wednesday following the executive orders.
Wednesday’s event showed off Trump’s ability to work a union crowd. At one point he claimed in his youth to have driven tractors on some of his father’s constructions projects. “I used to love to work a machine. I used to love the D-10s. Now they have D-12s,” he said, referring to a type of tractor, drawing applause from the labor members.
