Trump Is Using the Coronavirus Pandemic as an Excuse for Union Busting

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni, The New York Times

20 March 20

From border controls to anti-union efforts, the Trump administration is using the coronavirus to seek policies that the president wanted before the pandemic.

he White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight.

And across the government, departments have been citing the “whole of government” response to the pandemic as they push through the same policies they sought before the crisis. Just this week during a coronavirus briefing, Mr. Trump said his administration would use authority granted to the surgeon general to immediately turn away those who crossed the border illegally.

At the Agriculture Department, officials said they were teaming up with companies like PepsiCo to quickly deliver food boxes to students in rural areas, although Congress has repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s push for such meals, arguing that they contained low-quality food without healthy alternatives.

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