The tax cuts were supposed to help workers. Unions say they’re not.
Unions that represent about 6 million workers in the United States are urging companies to reveal how they’re spending tax-cut savings: On hiring and raises, like the Trump administration predicted? Or is the windfall benefiting mostly shareholders?
Some of the country’s largest labor groups — the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of Teachers — said Wednesday they had requested breakdowns of how a dozen companies, including American Airlines and Pepsi, are investing the extra cash.
“Working people deserve to know how their employers plan to spend their tax savings so they can bargain for a fair share of the windfall and ensure that corporations do more to bring jobs home and improve pay and benefits,” CWA President Chris Shelton said in a statement.
After President Trump signed a measure that slashed corporate rates in December, the White House announced 300 companies had unveiled bonuses and raises, reaching 3.5 million workers.
But union leaders argue little of the wealth has helped their members, who work in restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels and other low-wage roles.
“Working Americans are not the ones getting the raise from President Trump and Republican leaders’ tax cut,” SEIU International president Mary Kay Henry said in a statement. “Corporations are.”
