Last year, President Donald Trump met with executives and working people at Harley-Davidson, promising that his proposed tax bill would help the company grow and working people would be the beneficiaries. But it’s becoming clearer by the day that the law not only isn't helping working people, it's making things worse. Harley-Davidson is one example: they’re laying off 800 workers at a Kansas City, Missouri, factory, opening a plant in Thailand and just announced a dividend increase for shareholders and a massive stock buyback plan. In fact, in just the first three months after Trump signed the tax bill, corporations have spent a record $178 billion in stock buybacks. "When the tax cut finally rolled down to us, I got about $16, $17 more a week,” said Richard Pence, a machinist at the Kansas City Harley-Davidson plant. “But now,” he says, “Harley's giving me one heck of a tax cut because I won't have no income at all next year and my tax will be zero."
For the latest local labor calendar, go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today's labor history, On this date in 1944, extinguishing the light of hope in the hearts and aspirations of workers around the world, the Mexican government abolished siestas –- a mid-afternoon nap and work break which lengthened the work day but got people through brutally hot summer days. Today’s labor quote is by Tom Kelly, president of a postal worker local in Vermont, who said: “The next time you wonder what the union does for you, take a look at the car you drive, the house you own, the standard of living you have, and realize that the union got these for you and that management is hell bent on driving your standard of living into the ground.”
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