Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Fired and rehired: the dizzying confusion of Trump's government overhaul
Reuters
By Timothy Gardner, Leah Douglas, Tim Reid and Valerie Volcovici
Feb. 21, 2025
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest government workers union representing 800,000 federal employees, called the layoffs "reckless."
How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk
The New York Times
By Nicholas NehamasRyan Mac and Nikole Hannah-Jones
Feb. 22, 2025
“People are angry, they are frustrated, they are upset,” said Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union. “These are very patriotic people that actually care.”
Trump's federal firings can continue after judge declines jurisdiction
Axios
By April Rubin
Feb. 20, 2025
The Trump administration's mass federal employee layoffs can continue after a judge on Thursday declined that he had jurisdiction to pause the actions. Why it matters: The judge referred the claims brought by labor unions, which could affect tens of thousands of workers, to the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The court "lacks subject matter jurisdiction" over the claim presented by the unions, wrote U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, a former President Obama appointee. "Federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent," he wrote," no matter the identity of the litigants, or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people."
Trump Suggests Taking Control of the Postal Service
The New York Times
By Chris Cameron
Feb. 21, 2025
President Trump said on Friday that he was considering merging the U.S. Postal Service, an independent federal agency that has wrestled with financial challenges and service lapses, with the Commerce Department. Mr. Trump was responding to a reporter’s question about an article in The Washington Post saying that he was preparing to dissolve the leadership of the agency and place it under the control of the Commerce Department.
Judge temporarily blocks key parts of Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI
The Washington Post
By Julian Mark
Feb. 21, 2025
A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked key portions of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and corporate America. U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson granted a preliminary injunction on Friday that bars portions of Trump’s orders to cancel federal contracts with DEI components and require government contractors to certify that they do not engage in DEI practices that violate antidiscrimination laws. The order also prohibits enforcement against publicly traded companies and large universities with comparable policies.
Trump Is Following the Project 2025 Playbook to Destroy Workers’ Rights
Common Dreams
By Lawrence Wittner
Feb. 23, 2025
“We’re fighting that tooth and nail,” declared AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler. The firing of Wilcox “did exactly what Trump wanted to do, which was to stymie the one agency that workers rely on when they’re in an organizing drive and taking risks and getting fired. They no longer have the board they need to protect them.”
Senate G.O.P. Passes Budget Resolution, and Punts on Tough Questions
The New York Times
By Catie Edmondson
Feb. 21, 2025
The budget plan that Republicans pushed through the Senate early Friday was a necessary first step toward enacting President Trump’s ambitious domestic goals, but it punted the most difficult and divisive questions about how Congress will do so. On a largely party-line vote, 52-48, Senate Republicans won adoption of a blueprint that calls for a $150 billion increase in military spending and $175 billion more for border security over the next decade. How will they pay for it? That’s a question for another day. What about the huge tax cuts they and Mr. Trump have promised? We’ll figure that out later, senators say.
Trump’s team is using Project 2025 as a blueprint to make changes to federal health programs
CNN
By Stephanie Armour
Feb. 21, 2025
Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation’s premier federal cancer research agency. But funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health were presaged in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a conservative plan for governing that Trump said he knew nothing about during his campaign. Now, his administration has embraced it.
Judge extends block on Musk's DOGE from Treasury systems
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner and Luc Cohen
Feb. 21, 2025
A U.S. judge on Friday extended a block on Elon Musk's government cost-cutting team known as DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems responsible for trillions of dollars in government payments. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan granted a request from 19 Democratic state attorneys general for a preliminary injunction on DOGE's access to the systems, pending the outcome of their lawsuit.
Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Turns Out to Be Super Anti-Labor
The Nation
By John Nichols
Feb. 21, 2025
When Donald Trump nominated former US representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as secretary of labor, a narrative emerged that the 47th president was breaking from Republican orthodoxy and choosing a Labor Department head who might actually be sympathetic to workers and their unions. After all, as a member of the House, Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, had been one of the few members of her party’s caucus to back pro-union legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act.
Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week
The Washington Post
By Steve Peoples
Feb. 22, 2025
AFGE President Everett Kelley called the new order an example of Trump and Musk’s “utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people.” “It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” Kelley said. “AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.”
DOGE’s Only Public Ledger Is Riddled With Mistakes
The New York Times
By Aatish Bhatia, Emily Badger, David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Katz, Margot Sanger-Katz and Ethan Singer
Feb. 21, 2025
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency say they have saved the federal government $55 billion through staff reductions, lease cancellations and a long list of terminated contracts published online this week as a “wall of receipts.” President Trump has been celebrating the published savings, even musing about a proposal to mail checks to all Americans to reimburse them with a “DOGE dividend.” But the math that could back up those checks is marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes, according to a New York Times analysis of all the contracts listed. While the DOGE team has surely cut some number of billions of dollars, its slapdash accounting adds to a pattern of recklessness by the group, which has recently gained access to sensitive government payment systems.
Judge upholds ban on DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury information, for now
AP News
By Staff
Feb. 21, 2025
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas issued a preliminary injunction but said she may lift the ban — which she initially put in place earlier this month — if the Treasury Department certifies by March 24 that DOGE members have received required cybersecurity training. Vargas said DOGE’s efforts to modernize Treasury payment systems were not undercut by the delay, which she said was meant to ensure the security of sensitive personal data for millions of Americans.
Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Flurry of Dismissals at Pentagon
The New York Times
By Eric SchmittHelene Cooper and Jonathan Swan
Feb. 21, 2025
President Trump fired the country’s senior military officer as part of an extraordinary Friday night purge at the Pentagon that injected politics into the selection of the nation’s top military leaders. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot known as C.Q. who became only the second African American to hold the chairman’s job, is to be replaced by a little-known retired three-star Air Force general, Dan Caine, who endeared himself to the president when they met in Iraq six years ago. In all, six Pentagon officials were fired, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy; Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force; and the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Supreme Court Rejects, for Now, Trump’s Bid to Fire Government Watchdog
The New York Times
By Adam Liptak
Feb. 21, 2025
The Supreme Court, in its first decision on President Trump’s use of executive power in his second term, ruled on Friday that he cannot, for now, remove a government lawyer who leads the watchdog agency that protects whistle-blowers. But the court’s brief, unsigned order indicated that it may soon return to the issue, noting that a trial judge’s temporary restraining order shielding the lawyer, Hampton Dellinger, is set to expire next week.
Trump moves with light speed and brute force in shaking the core of what America has been
The Washington Post
By Calvin Woodward
Feb. 22, 2025
President Donald Trump is moving with light speed and brute force to break the existing order and reshape America at home and abroad. He likes the ring of calling himself king. No one can absorb it all. By the time you try to process one big thing — he covets Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip ; he turns away from historic alliancesand Ukraine ; fires many thousands of federal workers , then brings some right back; raises doubts whether he will obey laws he doesn’t like; orders an about-face in the missions of department after department; declares there are only two genders ; announces heavy tariffs , suspends them, then imposes some — three more big things have happened.
Musk orders US federal workers to report on work by Monday or resign
Reuters
By Valerie Volcovici
Feb. 22, 2025
The AFGE, the union representing federal employees, said in a statement it will challenge any "unlawful terminations." "Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people," said Everett Kelley, the AFGE's president.
Judge clears Trump administration to pull USAID employees from roles
Axios
By April Rubin
Feb. 21, 2025
A federal judge on Friday allowed the Trump administration to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on paid administrative leave. Why it matters: This clears the administration to continue dismantling the large-scale humanitarian operation and marks another loss for labor unions challenging Trump's sweeping actions.
Latest Trump guidance on race has schools scrambling amid ‘intense fear’
The Washington Post
By Laura Meckler and Susan Svrluga
Feb. 22, 2025
The letter from the Education Department was published on a Friday night, at the start of a three-day weekend, but it quickly flew through the inboxes of school officials across the country. The Trump administration was threatening to pull federal funding from any school district or college that considers race in virtually any way for any reason.
Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink U.S. government
Reuters
By Reuters
Feb. 22, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged billionaire Elon Musk to be more aggressive in his efforts to shrink the federal government despite uproar over layoffs and deep spending cuts. "Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive," Trump posted all in uppercase letters on his Truth Social platform. "Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than ever before. MAGA!"
Much of the Black middle class was built by federal jobs. That may change.
NBC News
By Curtis Bunn
Feb. 22, 2025
For decades, the federal government provided both reliable jobs and guardrails to offset systemic racial bias in hiring and promotions, offering an alternative for Black workers who might be overlooked or ignored in the private sector. They played a crucial role in helping Black workers like Verdine join the middle class and thrive. But vast cuts by the Trump administration, led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, are threatening to close down that once-dependable path to financial stability.
Judge largely blocks Trump’s executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs
AP
By Lea Skene and Lindsay Whitehurst
Feb. 21, 2025
A federal judge on Friday largely blocked sweeping executive orders from President Donald Trump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related. Abelson found that the orders likely carry constitutional violations, including against free-speech rights.
DOGE's Elon Musk says federal employees must document their work or resign
CBS News
By Paulina Smolinski
Feb. 22, 2025
Federal workers will have to document everything they did last week or face resignation. These instructions come from a Saturday afternoon post on X by Elon Musk, the head of the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. CBS News learned that federal workers received an email that read, "what did you do last week." They were instructed to reply with five bullet points of what they had accomplished in the last week, excluding any classified information.
As Trump pursues his policies, Democratic states block his path
The Washington Post
By Maeve Reston, Reis Thebault, Joanna Slater and Shayna Jacobs
Feb. 22, 2025
The directive was sweeping and unprecedented: Early in the evening of Jan. 27, the White House Office of Management and Budget ordered a temporary freeze on trillions of dollars in federal funding. As chaos and panic erupted across the government, Democratic attorneys general from more than 20 states convened a staff call. The White House move was unlawful, they decided.
CNBC
By Greg Iacurci
Feb. 23, 2025
The Trump administration’s purge of federal workers may ultimately amount to the biggest job cut in U.S. history, which is likely to have ramifications for the economy, especially at the local level, according to economists. The White House, with the help of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has fired or offered buyouts to workers across the federal government, the nation’s largest employer.
Postal Service braces for potential takeover by Trump’s Commerce Department
CNBC
By Julie Tsirkin, Garrett Haake, Yamiche Alcindor and Olympia Sonnier
Feb. 22, 2025
Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, said in a statement any takeover attempt would be an “attack on the postal service.” “The takeover would reduce service, especially to rural America, raise rates, close post offices and profit from what is property owned by the American people,” said Dimondstein. “We ask all our customers to join us in the fight to maintain our vibrant, independent, and public United States Postal Service and to oppose these illegal acts.”
Trump administration to eliminate 1,600 USAID jobs in the US
Reuters
By Jonathan Landay and Timothy Gardner
Feb. 23, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday said it was placing all personnel at the foreign assistance agency USAID, except leaders and critical staff around the world, on paid administrative leave and eliminating 1,600 positions in the United States. Just before midnight on Sunday U.S. Eastern Time, all United States Agency for International Development direct hire personnel except essential workers, will be put on leave, the agency said on its website. The agency is also "beginning to implement a Reduction-in-Force" affecting about 1,600 USAID personnel in the U.S., the notice said.
Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand in his cost-cutting crusade
AP News
By Steve Peoples, Eric Tucker and Amanda Seitz
Feb. 23, 2025
Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk’s latest demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished last week — or risk losing their job. The pushback from appointees of President Donald Trump marked a new level of chaos and confusion within the beleaguered federal workforce, just a month after Trump returned to the White House and quickly began fulfilling campaign promises to shrink the government. Administration officials scrambled throughout the weekend to interpret Musk’s unusual mandate, which apparently has Trump’s backing despite some lawmakers arguing it is illegal. Unions want the administration to rescind the request and are threatening to sue.
Agencies, unions tell fed workers: Don't answer Musk's threat email
Axios
Ben Berkowitz and Emily Peck
Feb. 23, 2025
Two of the largest unions representing federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), told their members to be cautious responding, or not to respond. "AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country," union president Everett Kelley said in a statement Saturday night. Kelley sent a letter to OPM acting director Charles Ezell on Sunday, demanding the email be withdrawn by that night. The AFGE also sent guidance to members Sunday saying they should respond if ordered to do so by their agencies.
Elon Musk says federal workers must justify their work — or resign
NBC News
By Ryan J. Reilly, Raquel Coronell Uribe and Ken Dilanian
Feb. 23, 2025
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, condemned Musk and the Trump administration for the email Saturday, vowing to challenge “unlawful terminations” of the union’s members and federal employees across the country.
Musk’s Demand That Federal Workers Justify Their Jobs Is ‘Plainly Unlawful,’ Union Says
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
Feb. 23, 2025
The Trump administration’s email to federal employees demanding that they explain what they did at work last week is “plainly unlawful” and should be retracted, a federal union said Sunday. In a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the email “fails to cite any legal authority” for its demand, and violates laws delegating management authority to federal agency leaders.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Pushkin Podcast Workers Threaten Strike Amid Contract Standoff
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Feb. 21, 2025
As negotiations over their first union contract near the one-year mark, workers at Malcolm Gladwell‘s podcast company are sending a clear message: We are ready to strike. The bargaining unit at Pushkin Industries, which is unionized with the Writers Guild of America East, threaten a potential work stoppage in a letter delivered to management on Friday. The letter calls for raises for union members who “tightened their belts with the company during the lean years,” a “competitive” compensation package for workers and a “reasonable” policy on intellectual property. “We will not accept any CBA without these guarantees,” the letter states. “We are prepared to strike.”
The Original Pantry Cafe owner threatens to close historic diner over union contract dispute
Los Angeles Times
By Cindy Carcamo
Feb. 21, 2025
For months now, the trust has been in the process of selling the Pantry. Unite Here Local 11, which represents the restaurant workers, tried to renegotiate a contract, demanding the trust keep the employees and their union representation even if the restaurant were sold to new owners.
OPB
By Tiffany Camhi
Feb. 21, 2025
After eight months of bargaining with Portland State University’s administration, the faculty union believes the two sides are no longer making significant progress on a new labor contract. This week, PSU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors filed a declaration of impasse with the Oregon Employment Relations Board. The union represents close to 1,200 faculty and academic professionals at Portland State.
Children’s Theatre Company Ratifies 1st Ever Contract With IATSE
WJON
By Paul Habstritt
Feb. 22, 2025
A state theatre company has ratified its first-ever contract with a theatre union. The Children's Theatre Company (CTC) in Minneapolis has completed an almost two-year process and come to terms with the International Alliance of Theatrical State Employees (IATSE) Local 13.
Keystone Ski Patrol Union ratifies contract 4 months after organizing
Denver 7
By Robert Garrison
Feb. 23, 2025
The Keystone Ski Patrol Union officially approved a contract Saturday night after reaching a tentative agreement with the resort last week. The union has been pushing for higher wages for its members since organizing in September of last year. “Ski patrolling is a highly specialized job that’s often misunderstood. At Keystone, we’re not just first responders; we’re a full-fledged EMS service responsible for medical calls, avalanche mitigation, technical rescues, and outdoor emergency care,” the union wrote in a December 2024 Instagram post.
Providence, Oregon Nurses Association reach another tentative agreement amid strike
KATU
By KATU Staff
Feb. 21, 2025
Providence Health & Services and the union representing nearly 5,000 of its nurses have reached a tentative agreement amid a weeks-long strike. If the nurses vote to officially ratify the tentative agreement this weekend, they could be back to work by Wednesday.
Troy Public Library Board voluntarily recognizes employee union (Listen)
WAMC
By Samantha Simmons
Feb. 23, 2025
Troy’s Public Library Board has voted to voluntarily recognize a staff union. With two branches, the nearly 200-year-old library system serves the greater city of Troy and neighboring municipalities. Board President Alexander Hanse says unionizing will support employees and allow them to better serve the public. WAMC's Samantha Simmons spoke with Hanse this week about what led to the unionization and next steps.
JOINING TOGETHER
TWU Local 100’s new union president vows to ‘take no crap’ from MTA management
AMNY
By Barbara Russo-Lennon
Feb. 23, 2025
John Chiarello — the new president of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, which represents over 40,000 transit workers in NYC — bluntly warned the MTA that he wouldn’t be pushed around in fighting for his workers’ best interests.
WUSA9
By John Doran
Feb. 22, 2025
At Friday’s swearing in of Howard Lutnick, President Trump hinted at handing the United States Postal Service over to the new Secretary of Commerce. “He’s going to look at it," said President Trump of Lutnick. "He’s got a great business instinct which is what we need, and he’ll be looking at it and we think we can turn it around.” Brian Renfroe is the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, the largest postal union that represents more than 200,000 letter carriers. “It’s an attack on working people, it’s an attack on public service," said Renfroe. "It’s literally an attack on the Constitution.”
STATE LEGISLATION
Bill rolling back labor rules a ‘direct assault’ on Kentucky workers, unions say
Forward Kentucky
By Guest Author
Feb. 21, 2025
Representatives with the AFL-CIO union and the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council spoke in opposition to the bill. Dustin Reinstedler, president of the Kentucky branch of the AFL-CIO, called it a “direct assault” on Kentucky workers. “This bill is not just simply a technicality,” Reinstedler said. “It weakens the state's ability to protect workers from unsafe conditions. It reduces accountability for employers. It removes essential rights to report retaliation, and it shifts the balance of power in favor of employers at the expense of the people who show up to work every day to do the work that powers the states.”
Unions brace for fight as Ohio GOP moves ‘Right to Work,’ strike bans
Cleveland.com
By Anna Staver
Feb. 22, 2025
The bill sparked massive protests from labor unions like Ohio AFL-CIO and the Ohio Federation of Teachers. “It was a union attack basically,“ Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said. ”An attack on collective bargaining.” But professor aren’t first responders, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to Cirino. “This is an affront to unions and the people of Ohio.”
KVUE
By Daniel Perreault
Feb. 22, 2025
The Texas American Federation of Teachers also released a statement denouncing the House ESA bill. "We can only hope that lawmakers won't be swayed by Twitter noise and the governor's theatrics and will give House Bill Three the good faith examination that Texas students deserve," the group's president, Zeph Capo, wrote in part.
IN THE STATES
Unprecedented solidarity needed now in Philadelphia (Opinion)
The Keystone
By Daniel P. Bauder
Feb. 19, 2025
In this op-ed, Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Daniel Bauder urges “unprecedented solidarity” to defend workers’ rights and ensure justice during a national political moment that threatens the livelihoods of Philadelphians.
Layoffs continue to rattle federal workers in Philadelphia
ABC6 Philadelphia
By TaRhonda Thomas
Feb. 21, 2025
AFGE Local 2058 represents local park workers. Welch recalls the reaction of an Independence Mall park ranger who was laid off on Friday. "There were a lot of tears when she came to get her stuff. It was a very sad day and unnecessary. The fact that she was given this letter saying her performance was not up to snuff was simply not the case," he said.
Local federal employees rally against dismissals, urge lawmakers to take action
WLOS
By Kelly Doty and Ed DiOrio
Feb. 21, 2025
"I'm just outraged by what's going on," Shields said. "I'm incensed — I've been involved with VA hospitals all over the country. I've been a patient. This is one of the finest VA hospitals I've had the pleasure of being a patient in." While the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) brought the crowd together, the takeaway from Friday's protest was to speak to lawmakers about what can be done to help those given their walking papers.
Protest planned in Asheville to combat widespread federal employee terminations
WENY
By Ed DiOrio
Feb. 21, 2025
Federal workers locally and nationwide continue to wonder if their jobs will soon be gone. Many offices around Western North Carolina are feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s recent layoffs. Brandee Morris is the president of the 446 local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). She’s had a hectic couple of weeks. AFGE is also hosting a protest against the federal firings on Friday, Feb. 21, beginning at noon outside the federal complex in downtown Asheville.