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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Trump's love affair with working Americans: Will it last?

    Organized labor was the foundation of America's middle class in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Recently, the unions have fallen on hard times. President-Elect Trump claims he's saved middle class jobs by threatening companies with plans to re-locate in Mexico, but even supporters say that's not a real policy.

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    By Warren Olney • Jan 6, 2017 • 1 min read

    Organized labor was the foundation of America's middle class in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Recently, the unions have fallen on hard times. President-Elect Trump claims he's saved middle class jobs by threatening companies with plans to re-locate in Mexico, but even supporters say that's not a real policy. The President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, says he told Donald Trump he'll be willing to work with him — especially when it comes to NAFTA and other trade deals that have taken jobs overseas. But, for the moment, what matters are Trump's appointees to major positions, like the Secretary of Labor and members of the National Labor Relations Board. Do they represent the interests of the working class--or the latest version of "crony capitalism?"

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Trump and American labor: A love story?
    1. 1:21Trump has intelligence briefing on Russian hacking
    2. 7:54Trump's love affair with working Americans: Will it last?You’re reading this
    3. 41:58A report from CES 2017
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Paul von Zielbauer

      Co-founder of Geezer magazine, former producer for To the Point and Which Way LA?; former reporter for the New York Times

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Jenny Hamel

      KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Elizabeth Segal

      freelance journalist

    • KCRW placeholder

      Josh Eidelson

      Bloomberg BusinessWeek

    • KCRW placeholder

      Oren Cass

      Manhattan Institute

    • KCRW placeholder

      Benjamin Sachs

      Harvard Law School

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Trump and American labor: A love story?
    1. 1:21Trump has intelligence briefing on Russian hacking
    2. 7:54Trump's love affair with working Americans: Will it last?You’re reading this
    3. 41:58A report from CES 2017
    Back to To the Point