Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
'Dangerous Union-Busting': Trump Rescinds Collective Bargaining for Air Safety Union
Common Dreams
By Brett Wilkins
March 8, 2025
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement: "TSA officers are the front-line defense at America's airports for the millions of families who travel by air each year. Canceling the collective bargaining agreement between TSA and its security officer workforce is dangerous union-busting ripped from the pages of Project 2025 that leaves the 47,000 officers who protect us without a voice." "Through a union, TSA officers are empowered to improve work conditions and make air travel safer for passengers," Shuler added. "With this sweeping, illegal directive, the Trump administration is retaliating against unions for challenging its unlawful Department of Government Efficiency actions against America's federal workers in court."
POLITICS
PRO Act reintroduced: bipartisan efforts to strengthen union power and protect workers
KATU
By Sana Aljobory
March 8, 2025
AFL-CIO President and Oregonian Liz Shuler also voiced support for the act, saying, "Americans believe in the power of unions and tens of millions of working people would become union members tomorrow if they could. But American labor law is broken, weighted on the side of the bosses and against the workers." She urged elected leaders to advance the legislation to allow workers to "stand together and build better lives for themselves and their families."
Homeland Security Department Says It Is Ending Its Union Contract with TSA Workers
New York Times
By Tim Balk
March 7, 205
Everett Kelley, the union’s president, said in a statement that “this action has nothing to do with efficiency, safety or homeland security.” “This is merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union,” he added. The union’s lawyers were assessing their legal options, according to Brittany Holder, a union spokeswoman.
Trump Revokes Collective Bargaining Rights At TSA To Crush Union
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
March 7, 2025
AFGE President Everett Kelley called the Trump administration’s decision to roll back collective bargaining rights at TSA “an unprovoked attack” designed to punish the union. “Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” Kelley said. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.”
Randi Weingarten: Trump's DOE attacks are 'taking a hatchet to opportunity' (Video)
MSNBC
By Katie Phang
March 8, 2025
Katie Phang is joined by President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten to discuss Trump's intention to dismantle the Department of Education.
Terminated Labor Department Employees Reinstated, Union Says
Bloomberg Law
By Rebecca Klar and Rebecca Rainey
March 7, 2025
Fired Labor Department employees were reinstated Friday after being discharged last month as part of the Trump administration’s widespread terminations of newer hires, according to a union email obtained by Bloomberg Law. Those probationary workers are expected to report back to work on Monday, according to the email.
US ends collective bargaining for 50,000 TSA officers
Reuters
By David Shepardson
March 7, 2025
The Trump administration said Friday it is ending collective bargaining for about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers that staff checkpoints at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs. American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley called the decision "clear retaliation" because the "union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion."
Trump administration ends collective bargaining for TSA officers
The Washington Post
By Lori Aratani
March 7, 2025
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, called the administration’s actions an attack against workers aimed at punishing unions that have fought efforts to shrink the federal workforce. “Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” he said. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.” Kelley vowed to challenge the action.
Unions ask court to stop DOGE from accessing Social Security data of millions of Americans
AP
By Fatima Hussein and Lindsay Whitehurst
March 8, 2025
A group of labor unions are asking a federal court for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk ‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans. The motion for emergency relief was filed late Friday in federal court in Maryland by the legal services group Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions want the court to block DOGE’s access to the vast troves of personal data held by the agency.
Trump signs order to limit who gets public service student loan forgiveness
The Washington Post
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
March 7, 2025
In a move that could upend a popular federal program, President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday directing his education secretary to revise eligibility requirements for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. “The president claims to be committed to ‘free speech,’ but we’ve quickly discovered that pledge doesn’t apply to higher education and now, PSLF,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “He wants to impose an ideological litmus test antithetical to American values and contrary to the statute at hand. It’s an illegal attack on millions of dedicated public service workers who placed their faith in PSLF’s bipartisan promise, only to see it ripped away.”
DOGE job cuts bring pain to Trump heartland
Reuters
By Nathan Layne and Aleksandra Michalska
March 7, 2025
Jennifer Piggott proudly hung a red-and-blue Trump campaign flag outside her one-story home during the November election race. Now, after she was abruptly fired from her civil service job, her days of supporting the president are over. Piggott is among more than 125 people dismissed in February from the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service in Parkersburg, West Virginia, unsettling a community that voted overwhelmingly for Republican President Donald Trump.
Homeland Security ends collective bargaining agreement with TSA workers
PBS
By Rebecca Santana and Michael R. Sisak
March 7, 2025
The head of the flight attendants union, Sara Nelson, said in a statement that the decision was “terrible for aviation security and everyone who depends on safe travel.” “This will take us back to the days of security at the lowest price with the highest costs for our country,” she said.
Dismantling of Education Department puts future of trillions of dollars in student loans in question
CNN
By Kayla Tausche
March 7, 2025
And then there is the question of whether the government will stay in the business of lending money to students directly. Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation effort that was authored by many Trump allies, though Trump tried to distance himself from it during last year’s campaign – suggested a new agency should be established to extend loans going forward, run by a Senate-confirmed leader and board of trustees. But the government would get out of the business of making the loans directly, instead reverting back to a role as guarantor of loans underwritten by other companies. The new agency would be funded by Congress, with a goal of “treating taxpayers like investors,” with loans that could have better terms for certain academic disciplines or professions.
Multistate lawsuit seeks to reverse Trump admin purge of federal workers
The Wasihington Post
By Katie Mettler
March 7, 2025
Twenty Democratic attorneys general have sued the Trump administration in federal court and filed for a temporary restraining order against nearly two dozen federal agencies, arguing that the mass layoffs of thousands of federal probationary employees in recent weeks were conducted illegally.
Homeland Security ends TSA collective bargaining agreement, in effort to dismantle union protections
AP News
By Rebecca Santana and Michael R. Sisak
March 7, 2025
Instead, the union said, the decision was retaliation for the union’s wider efforts challenging a range of Trump administration actions affecting federal workers. AFGE represents roughly 800,000 federal government employees, and it has been pushing back on many of the administration’s actions such as firing probationary employees. “Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” the union said. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.”
US Labor Department reinstates workers targeted in Trump job cuts, union says
Reuters
By Nate Raymond
March 7, 2025
The U.S. Department of Labor has reinstated about 120 employees who were facing termination as part of the Trump administration's mass firings of recently hired workers, a union said on Friday. The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said the probationary employees had been reinstated immediately and the department was issuing letters telling them to report back to duty on Monday.
Multistate lawsuit seeks to reverse Trump administration purge of federal workers
The Washington Post
By Katie Mettler
March 8, 2025
The process of reducing the workforce has been chaotic. On Friday, the Labor Department reinstated all fired probationary employees — at least 100 workers who had been let go in recent weeks, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal workers union. Those workers have begun receiving emails saying they should return to their duties on Monday. This lawsuit targets the process by which an estimated 24,000 federal probationary employees were fired so far — alleging that the workers’ termination letters falsely said they were fired for performance issues when, according to lead plaintiff and Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, “the firings were clearly part of the administration’s attempt to restructure and downsize the entire federal government.”
Nearly 100 immigration court staff retiring, resigning amid swelling backlog
Axios
By Russell Contreras
March 7, 2025
About 85 immigration court professionals are resigning or retiring, the International Federation of Professional Engineers (IFPTE), the union representing the country's roughly 700 immigration judges, says. This follows the firing of 29 judges and senior staff by the Trump administration. The union said no cause was given for the firing of judges. The past week, one additional probationary immigration judge has been fired, the union said.
House Republicans Unveil Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown at Week’s End
The New York Times
By Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse
March 8, 2025
House Republicans on Saturday unveiled a measure to fund the government through Sept. 30, boosting spending on the military and daring Democrats to oppose it and risk being blamed for a government shutdown that would begin after midnight Friday. The 99-page legislation would slightly decrease spending overall from last year’s funding levels, but would increase spending for the military by $6 billion, in a nod to the concerns of G.O.P. defense hawks that stopgap measures would hamstring the Pentagon. It would not include any funds for any earmarks for projects in lawmakers’ districts or states, saving roughly $13 billion, according to congressional aides.
Elon Musk Is Making Republicans Sweat and Giving Democrats a New Target
The New York Times
By Jess Bidgood and Lisa Lerer
March 8, 2025
He held court in the Oval Office in a T-shirt and blazer with a child clinging to his shoulders. He takes private meetings on Capitol Hill, offering his phone number for senators to voice their complaints, as if they are his constituents. And last month, he brandished a chain saw as he promised to cut spending, to rapturous cheers from conservative activists. Seven weeks into President Trump’s second administration, Elon Musk has not just upended the government. His omnipresence in Washington has also swiftly become an unpredictable factor that could reshape politics across the country.
NIH faces renewed DOGE directive to cut staff, putting thousands in line for RIFs
Government Executive
By Eric Katz
March 7, 2025
The National Institutes of Health is planning to trim its workforce by around 3,400 employees, Government Executive has learned, though that goal is being set by the Department of Government Efficiency rather than anyone inside the agency. DOGE staff met with career officials as recently as Friday afternoon to reiterate the directive, which included an instruction to develop plans that would reset staffing levels to those NIH employed at the end of fiscal 2019. Acting NIH Director Matthew Memoli—a long-time career NIH employee—sat in on the discussion but political appointees for the Health and Human Services Department were not involved, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
Trump touted sweeping tariff, DOGE plans — then adjusted as backlash grew
The Washington Post
By Jeff Stein and Dan Diamond
March 9, 2025
President Donald Trump on Tuesday night touted his administration’s early work in a prime-time speech to Congress, especially on two of his top priorities: tariffs to transform the global trade order and the work of the U.S. DOGE Service to cut spending at home. By Thursday, Trump had watered down tariffs on Mexico and Canada that took effect only hours before the speech, scaling back plans for economic transformation in the face of slumping stock markets worldwide. The same day, he also put new limits on DOGE, telling his Cabinet secretaries at a closed-door meeting that they — not billionaire adviser Elon Musk and his team — had control over which workers their agencies fire.
A Chill Sets In for Undocumented Workers, and Those Who Hire Them
The New York Times
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Miriam Jordan
March 9, 2025
President Trump has broadcast plans for a “mass deportation,” and the opening weeks of his second term have brought immigration enforcement operations in cities across the United States, providing a daily drumbeat of arrests that, while so far relatively limited, are quickly noted in group chats among migrants. Fear has gripped America’s undocumented workers. Many are staying home. The impact is being felt not only in immigrant homes and communities, but also in the industries that rely on immigrants as a source of willing and inexpensive labor, including residential construction, agriculture, senior care and hospitality. American consumers will soon feel the pain.
Meet the federal worker who went rogue: ‘I hope that it lights a fire under people’
AP
By Claire Savage
March 10, 2025
To billionaire Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team at the Department of Government Efficiency, Karen Ortiz may just be one of many faceless bureaucrats. But to some of her colleagues, she is giving a voice to those who feel they can’t speak out. Ortiz is an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- the federal agency in charge of enforcing U.S. workplace anti-discrimination laws that has undergone tumultuous change since President Donald Trump took office. Like millions of other federal employees, Ortiz opened an ominous email on Jan. 28 titled “Fork in the Road” giving them the option to resign from their positions as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures directed by Trump and carried out by DOGE under Musk, an unelected official.
Watchdogs fired by Trump raise alarms over future of independent government oversight
CBS News
By Scott Pelley, Aliza Chasan, Maria Gavrilovic and Alex Ortiz
March 9, 2025
Hampton Dellinger, the fired head of the Office of Special Counsel, warns that President Trump's ouster of independent watchdog agencies and offices threatens government oversight. Dellinger was head of the Office of Special Counsel, which handled federal employee complaints and government whistleblowers, until he was fired in February. In addition to Dellinger, Trump also removed the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the independent agency responsible for overseeing ethics rules and financial disclosures for the executive branch, and 17 inspectors general, auditors appointed to root out abuses of power, waste and mismanagement. "I don't think we have watchdog agencies anymore. The inspector generals are gone. The head of the Office of Government Ethics is gone. I'm gone," Dellinger said. "The independent watchdogs who are working on behalf of the American taxpayers, on behalf of military veterans, they've been pushed out."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Policy uncertainty tests US labor market resilience
Reuters
By Lucia Mutikani
March 7, 2025
U.S. job growth picked up in February, but cracks are emerging in the once-resilient labor market amid a chaotic trade policy and deep federal government spending cuts that threaten to disrupt economic growth this year. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday, the first under President Donald Trump's watch, showed a broader measure of unemployment surging to near a 3-1/2-year high last month as the ranks of part-time workers swelled.
Sesame Workshop will 'downsize significantly' with layoffs, CEO says
OPB
By Elizabeth Blair
March 7, 2025
Sesame Workshop will “downsize significantly” announced president and CEO Sherrie Rollins Westin on Wednesday in a note to staff. The layoffs come about two months after Max said it would stop distributing Sesame Street episodes after 2025 and within a day after more than 200 of its employees asked for Sesame Workshop to recognize that they want to form a union. Cast – like puppeteers – crew and writers are already unionized, said a statement from OPEIU Local 153.
ORGANIZING
Grinding on stagnating wages, baristas at Via Lido Starbucks in Newport Beach petition to form union
Los Angeles Times
By Eric Licas
March 8, 2025
Employees at the Starbucks on Via Lido in Newport Beach became among the latest to organize for better working conditions and compensation from one of the world’s most recognizable corporations by submitting a petition to unionize last week. The petition was filed Saturday, organizers at Starbucks Workers United said in a news release. It sets the stage for a vote of about 15 baristas at the Newport Beach location who could potentially be represented by the union.
WFMT Chicago Content Creators Announce Plans To Join SAG-AFTRA.
Inside Radio
By Staff
March 7, 2025
“When workers have a voice, the passion they bring to their jobs creates a more devoted, dynamic workforce,” SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says. “I am hopeful that WFMT’s management understands that voluntarily recognizing the union is a win-win. I believe that everyone at WFMT, both management and employees, want the station to be extraordinary, and this is a golden opportunity to work together to achieve that.”
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Las Vegas Strip Reaches Full Union Coverage as Fontainebleau Signs First Labor Deal
KKLZ
By Jennifer Eggleston
March 6, 2025
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions have reached a historic agreement with Fontainebleau Las Vegas, marking the first time in the 90-year history of the Las Vegas Strip that all casino resorts are 100% unionized. This milestone results from a year-long process and the dedicated efforts of thousands of hospitality workers.
American Guild of Musical Artists & Cincinnati Opera Announce New Three-Year Agreement
Opera Wire
By Afton Markay
March 7, 2025
The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and Cincinnati Opera announced a new three-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The CBA was ratified by the AGMA Board of Governors on March 3, after being approved by the artists. This agreement secures improvements for AGMA members of Cincinnati Opera, including wage increases, better financial support for non-local Artists, stronger workplace protections, and new policies addressing artificial intelligence, data security, and bereavement leave. It also expands rights for chorus members, corps dancers, and principal artists, enhances conditions for staging staff, and ensures fairer policies across all working groups. The agreement begins retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, and runs through Dec. 31, 2027.
Santa Clara VTA workers announce strike planned for Monday
CBS News
By Carlos Castañeda
March 7, 2025
The union representing workers for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said its members planned to strike Monday morning, putting the daily commute plans of tens of thousands of people in flux. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 submitted a letter at Thursday's VTA board meeting notifying its intent to strike beginning Monday at 12:01 a.m. The union represents over 1,500 workers, including bus drivers, dispatchers, and light rail operators, and customer service reps who help transport about 100,000 passengers daily.
The CATS strike is over. Here's what's next for Baton Rouge's bus system.
The Advocate
By Haley Miller
March 8, 2025
Baton Rouge bus workers will return to work Sunday, the city's transit system and its union said, putting an end to a weeklong strike that disrupted service for thousands of riders. "Our members stood strong and united throughout this process," George DeCuir, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1546, said in a statement Saturday. “This strike shows that our members are willing to lay it all on the line for justice."
VTA workers to strike Monday after negotiations stall
KTVU
By O. Gloria Okorie
March 9, 2025
Union members employed by the Valley Transportation Authority confirmed they will go on strike on Monday after negotiations with the transit agency stalled. "We have been forced into this position because of the VTA's failure to negotiate in good faith," Raj Singh said. Singh is the president and a business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265.
JOINING TOGETHER
SEIU files legal actions to challenge exective order to return to office in California
Fox40
By Adoreil Ayoubgoulan
March 8, 2025
The president of SEIU Local 1000 Anica Walls is part of the group who opposed this executive order. She said, “Governor Newsom’s decision to force state workers back into the office four days a week is out of touch, unnecessary, and a step backward. State employees kept this state running through the pandemic, proving that remote and hybrid work increase productivity, improve work-life balance, and make state jobs more competitive – all while saving taxpayer dollars.”
UAW's Shawn Fain joins Sen. Bernie Sanders in Warren on Fighting Oligarchy tour
The Detroit News
By Katy Kildee
March 8, 2025
UAW President Shawn Fain, right, introduces U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, after speaking before him as part of Sanders' national "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" tour on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at Lincoln High School in Warren.
IN THE STATES
Unions introduce ballot measure to require employers prove “just cause” to fire workers
The Sum & Substance
By Ed Sealover
March 7, 2025
Colorado’s labor battles escalated significantly on Friday, as the state’s largest unions filed a ballot initiative that would require private-sector employers to prove just cause before they could suspend or fire any workers. The filing of Initiative 43 follows the Feb. 19 decision by Colorado’s title board to approve the wording of a proposed 2026 ballot initiative from the Independence Institute that would ask voters if they would like to make Colorado a right-to-work state. And both are moving while a bill to upend Colorado’s unionization-governing Labor Peace Act has passed the Senate and is scheduled for its first House committee hearing on Thursday. This latest effort from labor — specifically, the AFL-CIO of Colorado, SEIU Local 105 and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7 — isn’t tied directly to the fate of the bill or the Independence Institute initiative, Colorado AFL-CIO Executive Director Dennis Dougherty said. The union-funded National Employment Law Project is pushing “just-cause” job protections across the country, particularly in Illinois and New York City.
Utah public unions to continue attempts to repeal law prohibiting collective bargaining
KPCW
By Kristine Weller
March 7, 2025
Utah labor unions first attempted to launch the referendum effort Wednesday. However, the Lt. Governor’s Office rejected the petition the same day, saying unions must wait to file until after the 2025 legislative session ends Friday night. Pinkney said the coalition of public unions will refile Saturday, the day after the legislative session ends. The group is trying to get the referendum on the 2026 ballot. The coalition has 30 days to gather and submit signatures after the referendum launches. Supporters must gather almost 141,000 signatures — 8% of all registered voters in Utah — and meet the same threshold in 15 of the state’s 29 counties.
Labor leaders gather in Milwaukee to condemn cuts to VA staff
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Evan Casey
March 7, 2025
Russell Schneider, whose dad was a veteran, has worked as a carpenter at the Zablocki Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee for over 40 years. “I know how critical the VA is,” Schneider said. “It’s personal for me, and it’s personal for every worker here today.” Schneider, a member of the Service Employees International Union of Wisconsin, gathered with more than 100 labor leaders and staff of the Zablocki VA Medical Center Friday afternoon to call out the recent firings of federal employees who work for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Union rallies against future firings at the VA in eastern Kansas
The Topeka Capital-Journal
By Jack Harvel
March 9, 2025
Local employees of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs rallied outside of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center in Leavenworth to protest against potential cuts at the department. A leaked memo from the VA shows the administration plans to cut up to 80,000 jobs from the department. So far, the VA has announced 2,400 job cuts, but didn't share what roles the employees served or their locations. "We're going to be fighting against this they're trying to do, and fighting remote work as there's no space," said Jenny Ellis, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees 906, which represents Topeka.
WV Building and Construction Trades impact shown through Marshall study
The Herald-Dispatch
By Katelyn Aluise
March 9, 2025
The West Virginia Building and Construction Trades generated an estimated $8.1 billion economic impact between 2022 and 2023, according to a report from the Marshall University
Center for Business and Economic Research. Justin Williams, director of the Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT-WV), said the union represents about 24,000 construction workers across the state in 15 different craft areas, including highway, industrial, commercial, residential, electrical and other types of work.
Federal workers protest DOGE cuts in Raleigh as Social Security offices set to close
NC Newsline
By Brandon Kingdollar
March 9, 2025
About 100 protesters, many of them federal employees, rallied outside Raleigh’s Terry Sanford Federal Building Sunday afternoon in protest of the Trump administration’s crackdown on the federal workforce. The demonstration, organized by the North Carolina AFL-CIO and the Triangle Labor Council, took particular aim at Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has taken an ax to a wide array of government programs, cutting tens and thousands of federal jobs and severing billions in government contracts. Protesters carried signs reading “Elon Musk is a Terrible President” and “Don’t Oppress Government Employees,” a reference to the Musk-led advisory group’s acronym.
CIVIL, HUMAN, & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Thousands attend women’s march in downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times
By Liam Dillon
March 8, 2025
Thousands of people marched in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to commemorate International Women’s Day and advocate for the restoration and expansion of women’s rights in the United States and worldwide. “For us, the main focus is making that sure that women understand that we are not equal yet,” said Emiliana Guereca, founder of Women’s March Foundation, which organized the Los Angeles event. “We have lost rights instead of gaining rights.” Guereca said that marchers protested Trump administration actions and proposals to cut healthcare spending, restrict voting access and roll back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Thousands participate in International Women's Day rally in Boston
NBC Boston
By Marc Fortier
March 8, 2025
Thousands of demonstrators rallied on Boston Common for International Women's Day on Saturday. The rally called for protecting women’s rights and to end the administration polices of President Donald Trump.
Protesters descend on Saint Paul for International Women's Day
CBS News
By Frankie McLister
March 8, 2025
Protestors descended on the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in light of International Women's Day. "This is what America is, and we're standing up against fascism," said Kaitlyn Luloff of Alexandria. Across America and the world, similar protests like this called for equal pay, reproductive rights, and equality. "Equal rights for all of us... for all," said protester Joan Axdal.
Hundreds gather in Lansing to protest Trump actions against reproductive rights and trans women
Michigan Advance
By Jon King
March 8, 2025
Several hundred people gathered Saturday outside the Michigan Capitol in Lansing as they protested a myriad of actions and policies by the Trump administration, most especially the assault on reproductive rights. Held on International Women’s Day, the protest was one of at least five taking place in Michigan, including in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Flint, as well as in cities around the world.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Meet a real-life Rosie the Riveter in Vacaville
Daily Republic
By Daily Republic Staff
March 7, 2025
The community is invited to hear the story of a Rosie the Riveter, noon March 12, at the UA Hall Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 343 (AFL-CIO), 220 Peabody Road. Jeanne Gibson, 99, worked as a welder in the shipyards near Seattle. She will also answer questions. She traveled to the nation's capital last year to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor. Around 5 million civilian women went to work during the war, many helping to build equipment for the war, while around 350,000 American women served in the military, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.