American Prospect - Pence Seals Trump’s Anti-Worker Ticket

[TomCADem]

For this Labor Day, here is another reminder of what the MSM will ignore as they cover the campaign.

http://prospect.org/article/pence-seals-trump-anti-worker-ticket

While Trump has repeatedly flip-flopped on whether he thinks the minimum wage should be increased, Pence has been steadfastly opposed. As The Huffington Post reported, back in 2007, when Pence was a U.S. congressman, he argued that increasing the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour was much too drastic. “A 41 percent increase in the minimum wage that is brought into the well of Congress without providing any relief to small business owners and family farmers is irresponsible and unwise,” Pence declared. “It will harm both the wage payer and the wage earner. An excessive increase in the minimum wage will hurt the working poor.”

In 2013, while he was governor of Indiana, Pence’s party blocked an effort to increase the state minimum wage to $8.25. Instead, Pence signed into law legislation that preempts localities from passing ordinances that require minimum wages higher than the state’s, or any other benefit, such as paid sick or family leave, that isn’t state-mandated. Such laws have become a critical tool used by Republicans in red states to block progressive policies at the local level.

Though his Republican predecessor Mitch Daniels enacted Indiana’s right-to-work law in 2012, Pence defended the law and his administration successfully upheld it before the Indiana Supreme Court in 2014.

On top of that, Pence in 2015 repealed the state’s prevailing wage law, which had established local wage levels for publicly funded construction projects. Pence’s repeal subjected construction workers on such projects to the whims of the market. “Wages on public projects should be set by the marketplace and not by government bureaucracy,” he said at the time. “By repealing the common construction wage, our state is putting hardworking taxpayers first, lessening the burden on cash-strapped local governments and schools, and opening doors of opportunity for small businesses across our state.”

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R ...... nt