What Trump and Harris say on work, from overtime to wages : NPR

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have promised to improve the lives of workers if elected. But the presidential candidates have vastly different positions on many issues that affect workers, including minimum wage, overtime pay and the power of unions.

Here are five key issues that will make a candidate stand out.

1. Minimum wage

The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Mr. Harris calls this “poverty wages”, he noted, which equates to $15,000 per year for full-time workers. told NBC News She acknowledged that the change would require support from Congress and wanted to increase the hourly wage to at least $15.

At a presidential debate four years ago, President Trump says he will consider a federal minimum wage of $15 an hourAs long as it does not have a negative impact on small and medium-sized businesses. Last month, during a photo shoot at McDonald’s, the former president dodged a question about whether he supported raising the minimum wage. Praise workers and franchises instead We employ them.

2. Overtime allowance

Many Americans are working overtime, and both candidates seem to recognize that. However, there is disagreement over who is entitled to 1.5 minutes’ pay for working more than 40 hours a week.

The Biden-Harris administration took office earlier this year. completed the rules More than 4 million workers will be eligible for overtime pay. The rules are Facing multiple legal challenges.

As president, Trump refused to defend similar Obama-era rules and instead promulgated his own rules that drastically reduced the number of people eligible for overtime pay.

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term, proposes overhauling federal overtime rules to give employers more flexibility.

President Trump has sought to distance himself from the document. But at a campaign event this fall, he admitted that as a private-sector employer, he doesn’t like paying overtime and has sometimes hired more employees to get around it.

“I say, ‘No, just bring 10 more people. I don’t want to take too long.’ President Trump spoke in Saginaw, Michigan.October 3rd.

On September 27, 2023, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives for campaign activities at auto parts manufacturer Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township, Michigan.

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Still, Trump is trying to use the issue to appeal to working-class voters with a proposal to make overtime pay tax-free. Although many policy analysts have criticized this idea, Turns out it could cost the government well over $1 trillion Tax revenues will increase over the next 10 years.

As a side note, President Trump and then President Harris also proposed eliminating the tax on tips. The Yale Budget Institute estimates that even this more limited measure would significantly increase the budget deficit. Worsening inequality.

3. Manufacturing job creation

It is clear that no president can restore America’s former manufacturing glory. But Trump succeeded in drawing many white working-class voters into his camp by promising to bring back and protect manufacturing jobs. Lower corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers and impose tariffs on all imported goods.

But economists warn that President Trump’s proposed tariffs would lead to higher prices everywhere, including for U.S. manufacturers.

Harris is aiming to win back those votes. She points to legislative victories over the past four years that have created manufacturing and construction jobs, including CHIPS and the Science and Inflation Control Acts. she He promised to expand tax credits for companies that create union jobs. Increase production in steel, iron and other manufacturing sectors and prioritize the renovation of existing factories in factory towns.

Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Hemlock Semiconductor during a campaign stop in Saginaw, Michigan, on October 28, 2024.

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Both candidates said they would aim to reduce regulatory burdens on manufacturers and allow them to build new factories more quickly.

4. Labor union

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two candidates is their views on unions.

Harris wants to strengthen unions and vowed to pass the PRO Act. The bill, aimed at making it easier for workers to organize, has stalled in Congress for years. She called on the federal government to be a model employer. Give federal employee unions a bigger seat and direct agencies to make sure employees know they have the right to join a union.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that hears labor disputes, has taken an aggressive approach to protecting workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. Critics charge that the agency’s interpretation of these rights is too broad. Several companies, including SpaceX and Amazon, filed a lawsuit The constitutionality of the NLRB’s very existence is being challenged.

By contrast, while in the White House, President Trump dismantled federal employee unions and voiced support for right-to-work legislation that would weaken unions by allowing workers to refuse to pay union dues. He stocked the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board with business-friendly appointees. Project 2025 details further steps he can take to neutralize trade unions.

in Interview with SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk In August, President Trump joked that he liked Musk’s approach to workers. “When they strike, you say, ‘Okay, we’re all gone.’ You’re all gone. Every single one of you is gone,” Trump said.

Still, the former president maintains strong support among some union members. In an unofficial poll conducted by the Teamsters union this summer, Teamsters members said they favored Trump over Harris by a 2-to-1 margin.

5. Competitors

Non-compete agreements, which prevent workers from taking jobs at competing companies or starting their own companies, have not been an issue in the presidential election. Still, the future of these employment provisions may depend on who wins the election.

An estimated 30 million Americans have signed noncompete agreements with their employers. In April, the Federal Trade Commission voted along party lines to ban such agreements, saying they suppress wages and stifle innovation.

The ban immediately faced legal challenges, and in August a federal judge in Texas appointed by President Trump blocked the rule from taking effect nationwide. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown ruled in favor of Dallas tax services firm Ryan LLC, finding that the FTC did exceed its authority.

The FTC appealed this decision.

Harris did not mention non-competes during her campaign, but she has previously expressed support for an FTC ban. Describing such agreements as “anti-worker”.

Trump has not made any mention of violating competition laws in his campaign.

Notably, some of the attorneys representing Ryan LLC in its lawsuit against the FTC: eugene scaliaHe served as President Trump’s Secretary of Labor from 2019 to 2021.

And in 2016, Politico reported The Trump campaign said its employment agreements include broad non-competes, prohibiting staff, volunteers, contractors and subcontractor employees from working with other presidential campaigns during the campaign.