President Obama gave a ringing endorsement for unions and more overtime pay in Wisconsin Thursday while attacking the polices of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a labor foe who filed papers on the same day to officially launch his bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.
Touting new Labor Department figures Thursday showing the economy created 223,000 jobs in June as the jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent, the lowest level of his presidency, Mr. Obama took several jabs at Mr. Walker’s successful drive to strip most public-sector unions of their collective bargaining power, although he didn’t mention the governor by name.
“We have to protect, and not attack, a worker’s right to organize for fair wages and better benefits and safer workplaces,” the president said at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. “Folks forget sometimes — unions are what helped to bring about the 40-hour work week.”
The president also promoted his new proposal to boost overtime eligibility for up to 5 million hourly workers nationwide.
“This is an issue of basic fairness,” he said. “If you work longer and work harder, you should get paid for it.”
Mr. Walker, who greeted the president upon his arrival at the local airport, earlier called Mr. Obama’s overtime plan “empty political rhetoric.”
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“Americans want solutions,” Mr. Walker said. “We should be looking at ways to raise wages by ensuring people have the skills and education they need to move ahead in their careers.”
The governor filed papers with the Federal Election Commission Thursday announcing his candidacy for president. Mr. Walker, who is leading a crowded GOP field in polling in Iowa, will kick off his campaign formally on July 13 in Wisconsin.
Mr. Obama poked collective fun at the GOP candidates, who number at least 15.
“I’ve lost count how many Republicans are running,” Mr. Obama said. “They’ll have enough for an actual ’Hunger Games.’ That is an interesting bunch. I know some of them well. They’re good people. It’s just their ideas are bad.”
The Labor Department announced the new proposed rules for overtime pay Tuesday, and the White House estimates that 80,000 people in Wisconsin would benefit.
An aide to House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, called the administration’s overtime pay proposal “more of the same old top-down liberal approach that has failed families and small businesses.”
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“Instead of going-it-alone, President Obama ought to work with Republicans to help create new opportunities and better pay for hardworking Americans,” said Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz.
White House aides said the president’s trip to Mr. Walker’s home state was a calculated move to contrast the administration’s push for higher wages with what they characterized as the GOP’s hostility to hourly workers. Mr. Walker, in particular, has made a national reputation by battling public-sector labor unions.
While Mr. Obama contended Wisconsin’s labor market was falling behind that of neighbors such as Minnesota, Mr. Walker noted that his state’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.1 percent when he took office in January 2011.
Thursday’s jobs report had good and bad news for Mr. Obama. The fall in the overall jobless rate was tempered by other figures showing wage growth had stalled and the percentage of working-age Americans in the labor market fell to 62.6 percent, the lowest level since 1977.
The mixed data suggest the Federal Reserve may put off plans to raise short-term interest rates and end the stimulus effort that began in 2008. Most economists had expected the Fed to make its move in September.
“Two steps forward and one step back — the economy is expanding, but is not exactly on a roll,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at California State University.
He added, “The expected [Fed rate increase] in September is quite possible, but not certain. Chairwoman Janet Yellen has repeated that the committee has to be confident that the inflation rate will approach 2 percent. It may now take longer than expected earlier.”
A Fed increase would lead to higher rates for mortgages, auto loans and other borrowing.
Another sour note in the report was that construction companies failed to add any jobs in June. Manufacturing gained just 4,000 positions. But health care added 53,000, and retailers 33,000.
⦁ This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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