Monday, September 7, 2020
MADISON, Wis. — This Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of working people across Wisconsin face an interwoven economic and public health crisis like never seen before. For Wisconsin, the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic includes more than 100,000 permanently shuttered small businesses, hundreds of closed farms with even more farmers having to dump milk, and nearly 200,000 people struggling to pay rent and put food on the table because President Trump let federal unemployment insurance expire.
It didn’t have to be this way. But, like his tax and trade policies before the pandemic, President Trump’s crisis response put billionaires and big corporations ahead of working people. Not only did he give corporations a $500 billion bailout, but the President endangered Wisconsin’s essential workers by forcing factories to re-open without proper PPE, leading over 700 Wisconsin food plant workers to contract coronavirus.
Unfortunately, neither the President nor Vice President Pence when he speaks in Wisconsin today will acknowledge how their prioritization of Wall Street during this crisis has actively hurt Badger State workers.
“Forty-eight million workers are or have been thrust into the ranks of the unemployed, including nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites. President Trump has done very little to help the situation — instead, he has bolstered Wall Street and the large banks at the expense of working families,” said Opportunity Wisconsin Steering Committee Member and Fox Valley Area AFL-CIO President Mark Westphal. “The president has been ignoring the needs of American workers long before the pandemic began. President Trump’s 2017 tax law gave big banks billions of dollars in tax cuts, while raising taxes on Wisconsin’s poorest residents.
Wisconsinites have never stopped working hard, but wages have been stagnant in our state for 40 years, while the cost of living continues to rise. Instead of uplifting these workers, Trump blocked a federal minimum wage increase, a move that denied more than 800,000 Wisconsinites a pay increase and resulted in $3 billion in lost wages.”
Today, while we honor the contributions that workers have made to our state and nation, we must also continue the call for President Trump to put working people first, not just his billionaire friends and corporations.
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About Opportunity Wisconsin
Opportunity Wisconsin is a coalition of Wisconsin residents fighting for an economy that works for working people. Through our stories, we’re elevating the real consequences of the destructive economic policies championed by President Trump and his allies these past three years, and showing how they have made Wisconsin’s economy worse off. Join us in demanding our elected officials focus more on growing the economy for middle class folks and expanding opportunity for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy few. To learn more about Opportunity Wisconsin, visit OpportunityWisconsin.org or stay connected on Twitter at @OpportunityWI and on Facebook at Facebook.com/OpportunityWI.