AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Friday called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker impaired and unqualified because of recent comments he made comparing union protestors to members of the Islamic State.
In a statement, Trumka said:
Governor Walker’s statement comparing workers and terrorists is revolting,. It is clear that Governor Walker’s judgment is impaired, and that he is not qualified for the Presidency.
I call on Governor Walker to personally and immediately retract his statement, and apologize sincerely to the millions of workers in Wisconsin and throughout America he has so appallingly insulted.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday, Walker responded to a question about the Islamic State by mentioning how he handled union protests that broke out at the state capital in his first term. At the time, unions and their supporters held massive rallies against Walker because he worked with the state’s Republican legislature to pass a labor reform initiative known as Act 10. The act significantly changed the collective bargaining process for most public employees within the state.
“I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up on American soil,” Walker declared during his speech at CPAC, adding:
We will have someone who leads and ultimately we’ll send a message not only that we’ll protect American soil but do not take this upon freedom-loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.
Though labor unions have already been critical of Walker because of Act 10, they more recently took issue with his promise to sign a statewide right-to-work bill. The bill, which bans forced unionization as a condition of employee, has already passed through the state senate and will be taken up by the state assembly next week.
This report, by Connor D. Wolf, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
