Valley union workers gather to protest 'Project 2025'
Public Service workers from the Ohio Association of Public School Employees and AFSCME Public Service Workers Council 8 are traveling
around Ohio.
They claim workers rights will be shredded under Project 2025 proposals.
Protect 2025 is a proposed road map for moving the country forward by an independent think tank, The Heritage Foundation.
They emphasize proposals in Project 2025 would allow states to ban unions.
And it proposes ending overtime for about 4.3 million workers earning more $35,500 per year.
"2025 is there to destroy the unions, and we would have no bargaining rights. And years ago we had a thing called Senate Bill 5, pretty much the same situation where bargaining rights would be gone," said Donald Hill an AFSCME, American Federation of State, City, and Municipal Employees Local 179.
"When I look at 2025 and the things it's gong to do on a basic day to day basis for our community, it really concerns us," Helen Youngblood said.
Although Trump has denounced Project 2025 the union members point out close ties to four former cabinet members including former Vice President Mike Pence are on the Heritage Foundation's Board.
And they point to Vice President Candidate J.D. Vance who wrote the forward in a book that was written by the current president of the Heritage Foundation.
But J.D. Vance campaign has stated in the past that the forward has nothing to do with Project 2025.
Tom McCabe, The Chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, says this is misinformation, and disinformation.
He emphasized Donald Trump disavows the project, and has called many of the policies proposed by the independent think tank in Project 2025 extreme.
"The Trump campaign has already denounced it. I think what we're seeing is the democrats see that it's a good polling issue. Instead of talking about their failed politics at the border on taxes, the economy, they latched onto something that is harmful to the Trump Campaign but it's something that has been disavowed. I think it's a non-subject at this point for us," said Tom McCabe, Chair of the Mahoning Republican Party.
He says Trump is gaining more support from unions and working folks who the Republican Party supports and is busy focusing on the border wall and safety of our communities, and our country, and focused on making groceries and gas more affordable.
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