Billionaire Diane Hendricks Speaks at RNC as  “Everyday American” While Wisconsin Workers Speak Out Against Republican Anti-Union Platform

Milwaukee, WI — Last night, Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks addressed the Republican National Convention (RNC). Hendricks, who has an estimated fortune of $20.9 billion, was chosen by the RNC to represent  “everyday Americans”. Wisconsinites may remember her as a leader and big-time funder of the anti-union movement that led Wisconsin to adopt a so-called “right-to-work” law in 2015. 

Earlier this week, Climate Power and IBEW hosted events in Madison and Eau Claire lifting up the voices of union leaders and elected officials. These events highlighted the benefits the clean energy economy is bringing to the state of Wisconsin and the country and the threat that a Trump presidency poses to the clean energy boom. Since Democrats and President Biden passed the clean energy plan, Republicans have voted 42 times to repeal the landmark plan and other provisions of the law. 

At the Madison event on Monday, Kevin Gundlach, President of the South Central Federation of Labor (SCFL) said, “I have been the President of the South Central Federation of Labor for over 10 years and I have to say, I have not seen as much momentum in the labor movement as in the last few years…Wisconsin is in the middle of a manufacturing boom that is driven by infrastructure and clean energy projects and the Biden Administration…We will not stand for Trump and MAGA Republicans reversing the tremendous progress we have made and the hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs created thanks to our movements work.” 

There is no doubt that President Biden and Congressional Democrats’ clean energy plan has advanced union jobs in the state and across the country:

• In March of this year, Wisconsin’s four major utilities and the building trade unions announced a first-of-its-kind pledge to employ local union workers in the construction of utility-scale solar, wind, and battery developments.
• Alliant Energy is investing $345 million in six solar projects in Wisconsin and has created 700 unionized jobs.
• President Biden’s clean energy plan incentivizes companies to create workforce development and apprenticeship programs that can raise workers’ pay, allowing them to earn $300,000 more in wages and benefits throughout their careers.
• Jobs created by the clean energy plan are not only unionized at higher rates than the overall energy workforce, they also have prevailing wage requirements that protect the gains won by unions and help close racial pay gaps. 
• Three-fourths of these new jobs won’t require a four-year degree. 

Trump has made it clear that his loyalties lie with billionaires—not actual everyday Americans. Under Donald Trump, more than 200,000 jobs left America and moved overseas.  He gave $25 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil when he was president. Now, Big Oil is financing his legal defense and his campaign while they’re writing up orders for him to sign on day one, when he has promised to be a dictator. So it’s no surprise that his idea of an “everyday American” as a billionaire. If Trump gets elected to a second term, that’s exactly who his policies will benefit. 

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