Is Promising Jobs for Coal Workers Trump’s Biggest Lie?

On Tuesday, Donald Trump promised he was about to bring back coal mining jobs when he signed an executive order to undo President Barack Obama’s efforts to protect the environment from climate change. The truth is that the jobs Trump imagined no longer exist. According to an article in the New York Times, cheap and abundant natural gas, increasing renewable energy sources and an industry that is increasingly replacing coal miners with machines have drastically reduced the employment opportunities for workers.

In my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire. I discuss the attraction and retention of talent because it is quite clear—within five years this will be the biggest challenge for most employers. Retention might not be the problem in the case of coal miners, but the truth is that there are almost as many jobs going unfilled as there are workers going unemployed.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Demographic trends coupled with a skills mismatch have resulted in a frustrating economic paradox: Millions of workers are underemployed even as millions of jobs go unfilled. The U.S. workforce is also graying, presenting a challenge for industries that entail manual labor.”

In construction, skilled workers are aging out of their industries and younger workers just aren’t getting the technical training they need to replace them. In agriculture immigration restrictions keep skilled farmhands from arriving in time to save crops from rotting in the field—and American workers can’t be enticed to do the backbreaking work even for $20 per hour and benefits. Without innovative solutions and psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces no amount of deregulation will make a difference.

It’s clear that Trump’s executive order does nothing to help workers and everything to harm the environment.

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A License to Exploit

The Trump administration seems to be taking a page out of the illusionist’s handbook as the president sends outrageous middle-of-the-night tweets about his predecessor to distract us from dismantling protections for American workers. The latest don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it tactic was Congress lifting President Barack Obama’s executive order called the Fair Play and Safe Workplaces rule that kept companies with poor safety records from competing for government contracts if they didn’t agree to fix their problems first. This may seem like a sane provision to ensure the kind of psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces I wrote about in From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire. However, most Republicans in Congress didn’t agree—the executive order was overturned 49 to 48. It seems fairly certain that Trump will sign the repeal.

It’s additionally unsettling that Congress used the rarely invoked 1996 Congressional Review Act to eliminate it, meaning that it can be revoked with a simple majority vote and can’t be reinstated by executive order by another president—to be reinstated it would have to be passed by Congress as a law.

There’s no doubt why the Fair Play and Safe Workplaces rule was necessary. According to a staff report from the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), 66 of the government’s 100 largest contractors have violated federal wage and hour laws. In addition, a third of the largest OSHA penalties have been imposed on federal contractors. This affects a huge number of employees: The Washington Post estimates that companies with federal contracts employ 1 in 5 American workers. Clearly by fulfilling the wish list of private interests Congress has granted an open license to exploit working Americans—the very people Trump promised to champion while on the campaign trail.

And all of this is being done at breakneck speed and deflected by sleight of hand. What’s the rush? I suspect Trump and the Republicans are hurrying to fulfill their agenda before the American people rise up and put them out of power. We can only hope that happens before truly serious damage is done.

Photo credit: BIGSTOCK

Much More Than a ‘So Called Judge’: Our Revolutionist of the Week

The jurist who Donald Trump sneered at as a “so called judge” after he issued a temporary restraining order on Trump’s immigration ban is this week’s Revolutionist of the Week. Judge James L. Robart of the Federal District Court in Seattle is a highly respected mainstream judge who was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed in a 99-0 vote in the Senate. This is the most positive endorsement any nominee can receive—and it happened during the contentious Bush years. His peers agree with those who confirmed him: he’s been called a “judge’s judge” by the lawyers who have come before him and is known for his keen intelligence and even temper according to Michael D. McKay, an active Republican and former United States attorney. Another former U.S. attorney described him as “strict” and absolutely committed to the independence of the judiciary branch of government.

It’s telling that Trump took the judge’s action so personally. Judge Robart’s ruling had nothing to do with the legality of Trump’s executive order, but rather he had to decide whether the people Trump banned had an excellent legal case in their favor, if affected individuals would suffer irreparable harm, and if the ban was against the public interest.  Clearly Judge Robart ascertained that the answer was “yes” to all three questions.

So why did Trump attack such a respected judge? Once again, Trump’s true colors as a bully are showing. In my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, I devoted an entire chapter to describing the characteristics of a bully boss—and these characteristics are modeled by Trump on an almost hourly basis, validating my findings.  I take no pleasure in this though. When the president disrespects a most respected jurist this way, he continues to put democracy at risk. 

Credit: KVIA.com

Trump’s Stand on Immigration Jeopardizes the Labor Market

Donald Trump’s recent decision on immigration, besides being a human rights nightmare, makes one thing very clear—he understands very little about attracting and retaining talent.  In this article by Jeffrey Sparshott in the Wall Street Journal, the author discusses how small businesses are spending more money than ever to find and train skilled workers. One of the ways we fill this need is attracting talent from overseas to fill highly skilled labor needs, which is why Trump’s cruel ban on Muslim immigration jeopardizes the U.S. economy. Forbes points out the very real brain drain caused by this policy and Scientific American reports that thousands of physicians and medical students banned by this executive order and may leave hospitals without staffs. Affected technologists and scientists could easily go to Canada, Europe—or even China—instead; top talent is in high demand. As I discuss in my new book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, the need to attract and retain talent should be one of the driving factors in creating psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces. Trump’s policies do the exact opposite.  

Credit: CNN