Trump to Hotel Workers: Drop Dead

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The hero of the blue-collar working man apparently has his limits. Workers at the Trump International Hotel voted to unionize a few months ago—hardly surprising in a union town like Las Vegas—but Donald Trump is having none of it:

Ever since the vote, Donald Trump’s managers have fought unionization every step of the way. They filed 15 objections with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging intimidation and forgery by union officials. After the claims were either withdrawn by Trump or dismissed by the labor board, the unions were officially certified as bargaining agents last month.

But the Trump Organization still refused to negotiate, and last week, at the last possible moment, the hotel filed for a review of the case with the labor board in Washington, further putting off contract talks.

…Union officials said the 523 workers at the Trump hotel stand to make an additional $3.33 an hour, based on the standard pay for comparable workers at other union hotels. Assuming they all worked full-time, that increase would add about $3.6 million to the Trump hotel’s annual labor expenses, not including the cost of health insurance and other benefits.

As usual, Trump talks the talk, but that’s about it. When his own money is on the line, he doesn’t give to charity, he doesn’t support working stiffs, and his “self-funded” presidential campaign is actually a bunch of loans that he expects to be paid back. That’s our Donald.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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