Oregon AFL-CIO Responds to State of the Union Address

Statement by Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain in response to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address:

Last night, President Trump gave an optimistic speech, but his perspective of America is far from the reality of most Americans. The working women and men of our nation are not seeing the same country he described in his speech, thanks to the policies his administration has put forward.

President Trump rightly spoke about our country’s problems in trade policy. Working people are still vulnerable to lopsided deals which increase profits for corporations and leave the rest of us behind, but last night we heard no real solutions to make NAFTA benefit workers. The crisis of outsourcing jobs was mentioned, yet the President’s tax bill encourages corporations to send jobs overseas, worsening the problem. He promised to put America back to work building infrastructure, but the President seeks to spend more on a border wall than investing in all of America’s infrastructure for an entire year. Meanwhile, he is using hardworking DREAMers and Temporary Protected Status recipients as a bargaining chip to fund his wall - all while slashing regulations, which equals denied wages and unsafe working conditions from coast to coast.

I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation who hosted DREAMers last night to amplify their struggle and highlight the people impacted by reckless immigration policies. That’s what solidarity looks like.