Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
Trump administration sued over order making it easier to fire federal workers
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
Jan. 21, 2025
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said of the impacts of the order – if implemented – would harm the basic, fundamental services provided by federal workers, including caring for veterans; ensuring families receive social security payments; protecting airports and passengers; inspecting food and providing disaster relief. “President Trump’s attack on federal workers began on his first day in office,” she said.
Justice demands that Colorado legislators modernize the state’s labor law this session (Opinion)
The Colorado Sun
By Fredrick D. Redmond
Jan. 20, 2025
Colorado’s outdated labor law is rooted in unmistakable racism. Now is the time to modernize the law to provide all workers — especially workers of color — with the freedom to organize a union so they can openly voice their opinions at work and negotiate on safety and pay. Colorado’s economy was very different 81 years ago, when our current labor law was passed. In 1943, Colorado’s total population was just over a million people. One of the biggest employers was the Denver Ordnance Plant, where almost 20,000 workers produced bullets for the World War II war effort in three shifts around the clock. And more than 7,000 Japanese-American citizens were prisoners at Camp Amache in Prowers County.
POLITICS
Trump Signs Two Orders to Dismantle Equity Policies
The New York Times
By Erica L. Green and Zach Montague
Jan. 20, 2025
President Trump on Monday ordered his administration to gut policies instituted under the Biden administration to prevent sex discrimination and protect transgender Americans, and dismantle federal programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Mr. Trump’s actions, part of a blitz of orders that he signed on his first day in office, assert that the government will now defend women against “gender ideology extremism” by reversing “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex.” They also call for ending D.E.I. programs and the “termination of all discriminatory programs” in the government, including in federal employment practices.
Federal Worker Union Sues Trump Over Ending Job Protections
Bloomberg Law
By Courtney Rozen
Jan. 21, 2025
The National Treasury Employees Union launched a legal attack against President Donald Trump‘s “Schedule F” executive order, a directive that makes it easier for his administration to fire career employees who work across administrations. Trump’s order is “contrary to congressional intent,” NTEU said in a complaint filed late Monday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The union pointed to a part of civil service law that empowers the president to remove job protections for career agency staff if “conditions of good administration warrant,” adding that the order doesn’t meet that requirement.
Federal Employees Union Sues Trump Over Worker Protections
The New York Times
By Alan Rappeport
Jan. 21, 2025
The National Treasury Employees Union said on Tuesday that it has sued President Trump to block an executive order that would enable him to fire career federal workers across the government. The order signed on Monday evening, known as “Schedule F,” would empower the Trump administration to strip job protections from many career federal employees — who are supposed to be hired based on merit and cannot be arbitrarily fired.
Trump signs executive order aimed at weakening federal employee protections
CNN
By Tami Luhby and Rene Marsh
Jan. 20, 2025
President Donald Trump wasted no time signing an executive order Monday that aims to give him more control over the federal workforce – whom he has long vilified as the “deep state.” The order, in a highly unusual move, seeks to wipe away a rule former President Joe Biden put in place last year and is expected to face multiple legal challenges. The new order revives an executive order Trump signed shortly before the 2020 election that created a category for federal employees involved in policy – known as Schedule F – that would make those workers easier to fire. Biden had quickly reversed that order and then last year finalized a new rule that further bolstered protections for career federal workers.
Trump names acting heads at Labor Department, NLRB, EEOC
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Jan. 21, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has installed new acting heads at three key federal labor agencies, the first step in what is expected to be a major overhaul of Biden-era policies.
Trump shortly after taking office on Monday named Vince Micone as acting secretary of labor and appointed Marvin Kaplan as acting chair of the National Labor Relations Board and Andrea Lucas as acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Explainer: Can unions stop Trump from firing thousands of federal employees?
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Jan. 21, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an order within hours of taking office on Monday to make it easier to fire thousands of federal agency employees and replace them with political loyalists. The order, which is largely identical to one Trump issued late in his first term, is already facing a lawsuit by a major union and is likely to trigger more legal challenges.
DEI programs and gender identity: What could change under Trump's executive orders
NBC 4
By Aimee Cho, News4 Reporter and Taylor Edwards
Jan. 21, 2025
Within 24 hours of taking office, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government and to target LGBTQ+ rights. In June of 2021, former President Joe Biden signed an executive order saying the federal government should have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American people. Some of the DEI efforts during the Biden administration included diversity officers, employee resource groups, targeted recruitment to underserved communities, internships, fellowships and mentorships.
CBS News
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Jan. 21, 2025
President Trump invoked muscular presidential powers to begin a sweeping crackdown on immigration following his inauguration on Monday, tasking the military with border enforcement, moving to designate cartels and gangs as terrorist groups, shutting down asylum and refugee admissions and attempting to terminate birthright citizenship. Mr. Trump issued a blitz of executive actions to start reshaping federal immigration and border policies, many of which are expected to face significant legal challenges. "As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is what I'm going to do," Mr. Trump said in his inaugural address.
Executive Order: Union tells federal workers to comply with orders but file grievances
WUSA 9
By Scott Broom
Jan. 21, 2025
Meanwhile, unions are pushing back hard against the order, particularly provisions that would reclassify tens of thousands of policy-related federal employees, effectively eliminating their due process rights and making them easier to dismiss. AFGE president Everette Kelley described the move as "...a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees' due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons."
Change to Birthright Citizenship Would Affect Visa Holders, Too
The New York Times
By Michael D. Shear
Jan. 21, 2025
President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to many temporary residents of the United States — not just those in the country illegally — must be denied automatic citizenship, a dramatic rejection of rights that have been part of the Constitution for more than 150 years. If the courts do not block the order, babies born to women living legally, but temporarily, in the United States — such as people studying on a student visa or workers hired by high-tech companies — will not automatically be recognized by the federal government as U.S. citizens if the father is also not a permanent resident.
Trump embarks on vast effort to revoke federal regulations
The Washington Post
By Tony Romm
Jan. 21, 2025
Only a day into his second term, President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda began to take fuller shape, as his administration raced to delete a dizzying array of federal rules meant to combat climate change, control health-care costs, prevent workplace discrimination and restrain artificial intelligence.
Trump administration directs all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on leave
AP
By Alexandra Olson and Zeke Miller
Jan. 21, 2025
President Donald Trump ‘s administration moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.
‘DOGE’ revamp empowers Musk as frictions spur Ramaswamy’s exit
The Washington Post
By Faiz Siddiqui, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Jeff Stein
Jan. 21, 2025
President Donald Trump’s order establishing the “Department of Government Efficiency” aims to give billionaire Elon Musk’s team sweeping access to operations at federal agencies, revamping its structure after competing visions left one of its leaders seeking an exit. The new structure — which has DOGE taking over the U.S. Digital Service, part of the Executive Office of the President — emerged after months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering between Musk and fellow billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the DOGE co-leader who will depart to run for governor of Ohio. Deep philosophical differences over how the panel should operate helped spur Ramaswamy to leave, according to more than a half-dozen people with knowledge of the situation, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Trump Wants to Unleash Energy, as Long as It’s Not Wind or Solar
The New York Times
By Lisa FriedmanCoral Davenport and Brad Plumer
Jan. 21, 2025
The president has ordered that federal agencies stop spending money approved by Congress when it passed the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which together pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy and electric vehicles. The order appears aimed at stopping the government from distributing funds to manufacturers of electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and other clean energy, even if grants or loans had already been approved and binding contracts were signed.
Scoop: Top DOGE Dem is ready for a fight
Axios
By Erin Doherty
Jan. 21, 2025
The top Democrat on the DOGE subcommittee is ready to "fight back" against any attempts to dismantle federal agencies and programs like Social Security and Medicare, she told Axios on Tuesday. Why it matters: Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), a former OMB staffer, is very skeptical that DOGE will live up to its public billing. "All you need to do is see that they put [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in charge of the committee to know that this is likely going to be very much a political committee," she said. riving the news: Stansbury was named the ranking member of the DOGE Subcommittee on Oversight, the congressional arm of the Elon Musk-led government department.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Denver-area King Soopers workers to vote on strike next week
Colorado Public Radio
By Sarah Mulholland
Jan. 21, 2025
King Soopers workers in the Denver area will vote on whether to authorize a strike after contract negotiations failed. Votes are scheduled for January 29 in Westminster and the following day in Greenwood Village. King Soopers made what it called its “last, best and final offer” to the workers’ union last week. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 rejected it. “It is unfortunate that the negotiations have come to this,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in a statement Friday. “We started meeting with the company in October with clear goals of necessary wage increases so workers could afford to live in our state, maintain decent health and retirement benefits, and resolve a staffing crisis that is causing daily strife for workers and customers alike. The company’s proposal fails on all fronts.”
Faculty union, Temple meeting to address sick leave, contract confusions
The Temple News
By Nurbanu Sahin
Jan. 21, 2025
Temple and the Temple Association of University Professionals, a union of full and part time faculty, librarians and academic professionals, are in talks regarding an improved sick leave policy, pay increase and job security concerns, following their recent contract agreement ratified Oct. 15, 2024. An improved sick leave policy was a key issue left at the table during previous negotiations after the union and the university could not come to terms on changing the policy. The university’s current sick leave policy includes 10 paid sick days per year for full-time employees. However, TAUP members have said the university disciplines staff after the fifth day they use, which the union says can intimidate employees from using their sick days.
JOINING TOGETHER
Florida nurses rally for improved staffing, health insurance and AI safeguards
Florida Trend
By Staff
Jan. 21, 2025
Nurses at Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah joined thousands of fellow caregivers nationwide Thursday morning to express concerns over low staffing levels, the need for up-to-date equipment, quality health insurance and artificial intelligence safeguards. The march was organized by the National Nurses United to highlight broad support among nurses for solutions that prioritize patient care. More from Health News Florida and WINK News.
STATE LEGISLATION
Debate revived in WA Legislature over unemployment benefits for striking workers
Washington State Standard
By Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero
Jan. 21, 2025
When workers go on strike, they’re often making a bet to temporarily lose their wages to fight for better ones. This year, the Washington Legislature is again trying to decide whether they should help offset that lost pay by extending unemployment insurance to striking workers. Those on strike typically aren’t eligible for this safety net benefit in Washington. Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, is sponsoring Senate Bill 5041, which would change that. Inspired by his working-class district, Riccelli said he took up the legislation this year because he wants to help level the playing field for workers.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
New labor coalition wants Colorado’s unions at the forefront of the state’s green energy transit
KSUT
By Caroline Llanes
Jan. 21, 2025
In a classroom full of motors and switches, Dan Hendricks is going over what goes into a 3-5-year electrical apprenticeship. “This is towards the end of their apprenticeship, where they would learn motor control, different switching systems, things of that nature,” he says, showing me a piece of machinery. “So as they progress, right, the work gets more interesting.” He flicks a switch and triggers a sharp buzzing noise.