News & Commentary

January 13, 2017

Vivian Dong

Vivian Dong is a student at Harvard Law School.

Missouri’s House Rules Committee voted 11-3 yesterday to become a right-to-work state, the 28th in the nation.  The bill will now head to the Missouri House floor for consideration.  Missouri Democratic Representative Doug Beck attempted to amend the proposal to put the issue before voters in a referendum, but Republicans blocked the attempt.  As a right-to-work state, union non-members would no longer be required to pay dues to the union obliged to negotiate on their behalf.

Amazon announced yesterday plans to create 100,000 jobs in the United States over the next 18 months.  Many of these jobs will be at the 70+ Amazon fulfillment centers across the country.  Transition team spokesman Sean Spicer stated that President-elect Trump is “pleased to have played a role” in Amazon’s announcement.  Amazon is the latest of a string of companies to announce plans to create or re-shore jobs in America.  This is welcome news for the President-elect and many of his supporters, but some have criticized the long-term tactical wisdom of the President-elect’s emphasis on re-shoring and domestic job creation and subsequent self-crediting for the United States.

President-elect Trump will meet with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today. Politico hypothesizes that the two will discuss NAFTA.  Though the two are differently-minded with respect to many things, both Trump and Trumka have fiercely criticized the trade agreement.

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