AFL-CIO ‘assessing’ its role on Trump’s manufacturing council
One of the largest unions in the U.S., the AFL-CIO, is still assessing its role on the President’s Manufacturing Council, even as four CEOs on the council have dropped off in the past day.
“We are aware of the decisions by other members of the President’s Manufacturing Council, which has yet to hold any real meeting, and are assessing our role,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement Monday.
“While the AFL-CIO will remain a powerful voice for the freedoms of working people, there are real questions into the effectiveness of this council to deliver real policy that lifts working families,” he added.
{mosads}A spokesman for the group said Tuesday that there were no updates to the position.
The resignations began Monday, when Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier said he would step down from the council over Trump’s initial statement that “many sides” were responsible for the violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia over the weekend, including a hit-and-run that left one counter-protester dead.
Though Trump came out with a more forceful statement on Monday, calling racism “evil” and specifically naming the KKK and neo-Nazis, corporate defections continued, with Kevin Plank, the CEO of Under Armour, and Brian Krzanich, the CEO of Intel, stepping down.
On Tuesday, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Scott Paul, Tweeted that he was also stepping down.
The four follow in the footsteps of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who left the council in June in protest of Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
