Employment & Labor Insider

NOTE FROM ROBIN: Effective today, I'm officially changing the name of these mini-dispatches about President Trump's first actions related to labor and employment law issues, to "Daily Trumpdate." My first dispatch is here.

President Trump met yesterday with representatives of a number of unions, and according to everyone involved, the meeting went well. It didn't hurt matters that the President had withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which unions have vigorously opposed, just hours before the meeting. According to an article in today's Washington Post, the union representatives applauded him for that. Literally. Sean McGarvey, president of the North American Building Trades Union, was quoted after the meeting as saying, "[Trump] intends to do the work on the issues he discussed on the campaign trail. . . . It was by far the best meeting I've had." Mr. McGarvey said that the President promised to hire American workers rebuilding "the country's infrastructure, including bridges, schools, hospitals, and oil pipelines."

The meeting included leaders and rank-and-file members of the Building Trades Union, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the SMART sheet metal workers' union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, and the United Association (according to its website, the UA represents "plumbers, pipefitters, sprinkler fitters, service technicians, and welders"). All of these unions (and virtually all other unions) endorsed Hillary Clinton in the election.

The Detroit Free Press reports that President Trump is meeting this morning with representatives of the Big Three automobile manufacturers.

Image Credit: From flickr, Creative Commons license, by Gage Skidmore.