About 67 percent of Michigan's union voters voted for Al Gore in the Nov. 7 election, a historically high percentage which impressed pundits across the country, and was a model for how organized labor was able to get out the vote on Election Day.

But in doing the math, I figure that means nearly a third of Michigan's union voters wanted to see Republican George W. Bush in office.

I was one of the 67 percent who voted for Al Gore - he wasn't the perfect candidate, but when it comes to pocketbook issues, I am convinced he was the best choice for working people. As for President Bush - he's been in office for six weeks now, and it's becoming increasingly clear just what kind of president we have in office. His actions and the Executive Orders he has signed - which were some of the very first things he had on his agenda - show you something about his priorities and who has his ear.

If you are a union member who voted for President Bush, here's what your candidate has been up to:

• On Feb. 16, Bush revoked an Executive Order issued by President Clinton that required contractors on many federally funded projects to work under a union-only project labor agreement. A White House official said Bush believes unionized and nonunion contractors should compete for federal projects and that the change could save taxpayers money. The order came despite a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1993 that upheld the validity of PLAs.

Competition is fine - as long as the playing field is level. Bush is giving his friends in the Associated Builders and Contractors a chance to bid on more projects, and now union contractors will have to bid for jobs against lower-paying competition, all sanctioned by your president.

• If you voted for President Bush to get the benefit of a big tax break, it helps if you're making more than $300,000 a year. If you are in that top one percent of wage earners, Bush's plan will save you $45,000 in taxes a year.

But if you're in the lowest 40 percent of wage earners, you will get about a four percent tax break. For poor people, a typical family of four would get no tax break at all until their income rises above $25,867. If you're part of a couple earning $50,000 a year, you would see a tax reduction of $1,975.

• Bush's first choice for secretary at the Labor Department, Linda Chavez, was vehemently opposed by organized labor. She had no interest in furthering the interests of labor, and the person in charge of representing the interests of America's workforce was quoted as saying, "union members are hardly representative of the American working public."

Chavez doesn't support prevailing wage, doesn't support project labor agreements, and dismissed Al Gore's proposals for prescription drug benefits for the elderly as "a new welfare state for the middle class." She was ultimately displaced from the nomination process because of a flap over her housing an illegal immigrant.

• At the request of his supporters in the business community, Bush has also suspended rules that would have saved the lives and limbs of workers. One of his first acts was to suspend the new federal steel erection safety standard, which was the product of years of bi-partisan work and was estimated to save 30 lives and prevent 1,142 injuries per year.

The new ergonomics standard, which doesn't cover the construction industry but would help improve the working lives of hundreds of thousands of workers, may never see the light of day thanks to Bush.

Bush has plenty of time left in his term of office to do some good for the health, welfare and pocketbooks of the nation's working people - and that may well happen. But early signs indicate that his friends in big business community have his attention a lot more than working people do.