The AFL-CIO has launched a massive campaign to inform voters of the perils of a Trump presidency for working people and unions. 

“If left unattended, the anger and the frustration [Trump has] tapped into will carry the day,” said Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO. “But when you give working-class people the facts, I think he falls apart. He’s a house of cards.” 

In February, Trump told a radio interviewer in South Carolina, “I like right to work. My position on right to work is 100 percent.”

Trumka said the plan is to educate voters about Trump’s history of anti-worker, anti-union policies and will eventually evolve into uniting labor voters behind a Democratic candidate. The AFL–CIO represents 12.5 million workers in 56 unions. 

The AFL-CIO is running ads on Twitter and Facebook, but the anti-Trump campaign also will emphasize grassroots contact with union members to argue that Trump wants to cut workers’ wages and that his immigration and unionization policies would leave them worse off than they are today. 

Trumka said the unions in the labor federation plan to work directly with activist groups, including those that led the movement for a $15 minimum wage. These groups have already had success inspiring people to vote.

“We’ll have literally millions of phone calls, leaflets, door knocks, rallies and seminars,” Trumka said.

The Washington Post, March 10

CNBC, March 11