Politics

Trump To Labor Unions: ‘An Open Door At The White House’

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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Ted Goodman Contributor
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President Donald Trump reiterated his commitment to the American worker during an infrastructure speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday.

“As long as I am president, America’s labor leaders will always find an open door at the White House,” the president said to chorus of applause during his speech along the banks of the Ohio River.

“It’s time to recapture our legacy as a nation of builders and to create new lanes of travel and discovery and we’re going to see all the way into the future,” Trump said. “And the future is going to be bright.”

The president acknowledged three labor leaders present at his speech in Cincinnati, including Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), Eric Dean, president of the United Iron Workers and Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

“It’s time to rebuild our country, to bring back our jobs, restore our dreams, and yes, it’s time finally to put America first,” the president said. Trump’s constant criticism of America’s trade policies was a top reason he won the presidency, appealing to working class voters in the rust-belt states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

A CNN exit poll following the 2016 Presidential Election revealed that Trump carried 42 percent of voters in union households, compared to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 51 percent. Trump did 10 points better than Gov. Mitt Romney did in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Labor leaders struggled to square their support for Clinton during the campaign, ignoring large swaths of rank and file union member support for Trump. (RELATED: National Union Bosses Ignore Member Support For Trump, Endorse Clinton Instead)

The president was in Cincinnati as part of what the White House is touting as “infrastructure week.”

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