SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Betraying Pro-Worker Facade, 'Vindictive' Trump Attacks Union Leader
Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999, has been receiving threatening phone calls since Twitter onslaught from the president-elect
Dec 08, 2016
After United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones revealed Wednesday that fewer jobs were remaining in Carrier's Indianapolis plant than President-elect Donald Trump had promised, Trump launched into a Twitter tirade against the union leader.
In his tweets, the president-elect did not address his own apparently false statements about the job numbers but instead appeared to blame the union for the decision on the part of United Technologies, Carrier's parent company, to move over 1,000 jobs to Mexico:
Jones said Wednesday that "Trump and [Vice President-elect Mike] Pence, they pulled a dog and pony show on the numbers," when they announced the deal in which Trump promised United Technologies an enormous tax cut and regulatory favors in exchanging for preserving some jobs in Indiana.
Only 700 jobs will remain in Indiana, and not the "over 1,000" that Trump had promised. Jones also revealed that his union had not been involved in the job negotiations.
The Washington Post reports that after Trump's tweets, Jones began receiving threatening phone calls from unknown numbers. The newspaper writes that "[h]alf an hour after Trump tweeted about Jones on Wednesday, the union leader's phone began to ring and kept ringing, he said. One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: We're coming for you."
The Post continues: "Jones, who said the union wasn't involved in the negotiations, said he's working to lift his members' spirits. He said he didn't have time to worry about Trump. 'He needs to worry about getting his Cabinet filled,' he said [late Wednesday], 'and leave me the hell alone.'"
Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, called Jones after seeing Trump's tweets, reports the Post: "Jones, he said, had just left his office in Indianapolis, where he manages the needs of about 3,000 union members."
"This guy makes pennies for what he does," Voorhies told the Post. "What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he's just got the president-elect smearing him on Twitter."
In an interview with CNN Money, Jones also said: "I've been doing this job 30 years. I had a lot more serious threats than people are making now. I have a thicker skin than I did many years ago. Everybody has a right to their opinion. I'm not overly upset about it."
Watch the full interview here:
Carrier union boss on Trump feud: I called him out
"With all due respect, Mr. Trump, you are president-elect of the United States. You are looking and acting as though you are mean, and petty, and thin-skinned, and vindictive," said economist Robert Reich to CNN in response to Trump's habitual Twitter tirades. "Stop this."
On Twitter, those in solidarity with Chuck Jones voiced their support under the hashtag #ImWithChuck:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
After United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones revealed Wednesday that fewer jobs were remaining in Carrier's Indianapolis plant than President-elect Donald Trump had promised, Trump launched into a Twitter tirade against the union leader.
In his tweets, the president-elect did not address his own apparently false statements about the job numbers but instead appeared to blame the union for the decision on the part of United Technologies, Carrier's parent company, to move over 1,000 jobs to Mexico:
Jones said Wednesday that "Trump and [Vice President-elect Mike] Pence, they pulled a dog and pony show on the numbers," when they announced the deal in which Trump promised United Technologies an enormous tax cut and regulatory favors in exchanging for preserving some jobs in Indiana.
Only 700 jobs will remain in Indiana, and not the "over 1,000" that Trump had promised. Jones also revealed that his union had not been involved in the job negotiations.
The Washington Post reports that after Trump's tweets, Jones began receiving threatening phone calls from unknown numbers. The newspaper writes that "[h]alf an hour after Trump tweeted about Jones on Wednesday, the union leader's phone began to ring and kept ringing, he said. One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: We're coming for you."
The Post continues: "Jones, who said the union wasn't involved in the negotiations, said he's working to lift his members' spirits. He said he didn't have time to worry about Trump. 'He needs to worry about getting his Cabinet filled,' he said [late Wednesday], 'and leave me the hell alone.'"
Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, called Jones after seeing Trump's tweets, reports the Post: "Jones, he said, had just left his office in Indianapolis, where he manages the needs of about 3,000 union members."
"This guy makes pennies for what he does," Voorhies told the Post. "What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he's just got the president-elect smearing him on Twitter."
In an interview with CNN Money, Jones also said: "I've been doing this job 30 years. I had a lot more serious threats than people are making now. I have a thicker skin than I did many years ago. Everybody has a right to their opinion. I'm not overly upset about it."
Watch the full interview here:
Carrier union boss on Trump feud: I called him out
"With all due respect, Mr. Trump, you are president-elect of the United States. You are looking and acting as though you are mean, and petty, and thin-skinned, and vindictive," said economist Robert Reich to CNN in response to Trump's habitual Twitter tirades. "Stop this."
On Twitter, those in solidarity with Chuck Jones voiced their support under the hashtag #ImWithChuck:
After United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones revealed Wednesday that fewer jobs were remaining in Carrier's Indianapolis plant than President-elect Donald Trump had promised, Trump launched into a Twitter tirade against the union leader.
In his tweets, the president-elect did not address his own apparently false statements about the job numbers but instead appeared to blame the union for the decision on the part of United Technologies, Carrier's parent company, to move over 1,000 jobs to Mexico:
Jones said Wednesday that "Trump and [Vice President-elect Mike] Pence, they pulled a dog and pony show on the numbers," when they announced the deal in which Trump promised United Technologies an enormous tax cut and regulatory favors in exchanging for preserving some jobs in Indiana.
Only 700 jobs will remain in Indiana, and not the "over 1,000" that Trump had promised. Jones also revealed that his union had not been involved in the job negotiations.
The Washington Post reports that after Trump's tweets, Jones began receiving threatening phone calls from unknown numbers. The newspaper writes that "[h]alf an hour after Trump tweeted about Jones on Wednesday, the union leader's phone began to ring and kept ringing, he said. One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: We're coming for you."
The Post continues: "Jones, who said the union wasn't involved in the negotiations, said he's working to lift his members' spirits. He said he didn't have time to worry about Trump. 'He needs to worry about getting his Cabinet filled,' he said [late Wednesday], 'and leave me the hell alone.'"
Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, called Jones after seeing Trump's tweets, reports the Post: "Jones, he said, had just left his office in Indianapolis, where he manages the needs of about 3,000 union members."
"This guy makes pennies for what he does," Voorhies told the Post. "What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he's just got the president-elect smearing him on Twitter."
In an interview with CNN Money, Jones also said: "I've been doing this job 30 years. I had a lot more serious threats than people are making now. I have a thicker skin than I did many years ago. Everybody has a right to their opinion. I'm not overly upset about it."
Watch the full interview here:
Carrier union boss on Trump feud: I called him out
"With all due respect, Mr. Trump, you are president-elect of the United States. You are looking and acting as though you are mean, and petty, and thin-skinned, and vindictive," said economist Robert Reich to CNN in response to Trump's habitual Twitter tirades. "Stop this."
On Twitter, those in solidarity with Chuck Jones voiced their support under the hashtag #ImWithChuck:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.