Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
New move by Trump administration poses double danger for airline passengers
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
March 10, 2025
Shuler called eliminating the TSOs’ contract a “dangerous and ill-conceived. action.” The federation, along with AFGE “will fight every step of the way to ensure TSA officers continue to stand together in a union to provide the vital services Americans depend on.”
The New York Times
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
March 10, 2025
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican former congresswoman whose past support for organized labor earned her skepticism and support across party lines, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday to lead the Labor Department for the Trump administration. The 67-to-32 vote puts Ms. Chavez-DeRemer in charge of enforcing federal labor laws, including workplace safety and pay regulations, and overseeing the collection and publication of labor market data.
Senate confirms Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary in bipartisan vote
CBS News
By Kaia Hubbard
March 10, 2025
Democrats joined Republicans Monday in voting to confirm former GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary, one of the final members of President Trump's Cabinet to win the upper chamber's approval. Her nomination passed the Senate in a 67 to 32 vote, with 17 Democrats backing her confirmation. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Ted Budd of North Carolina were the only Republicans to oppose her. Chavez-DeRemer served one two-year term in Congress, becoming the first Republican woman elected to Congress in Oregon. Mr. Trump nominated her as labor secretary after she lost her reelection bid in November.
Senate confirms Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Trump’s labor secretary
AP
By Cathy Bussewitz
March 10, 2025
The Senate voted Monday to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as U.S. labor secretary, a Cabinet position that puts her in charge of enforcing federally mandated worker rights and protections at a time when the White House is trying to eliminate thousands of government employees. Chavez-DeRemer will oversee the Department of Labor, one of several executive departments named in lawsuits challenging the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to order layoffs and access sensitive government data.
Chaos at the V.A.: Inside the DOGE Cuts Disrupting the Veterans Agency
The New York Times
By Roni Caryn Rabin and Nicholas Nehamas
March 10, 2025
While Trump administration officials have promised to preserve core patient services, initial cuts at the V.A. have nonetheless spawned chaotic ripple effects. They have disrupted studies involving patients awaiting experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff and created uncertainty amid the mass cancellation, and partial reinstatement, of hundreds of contracts targeted by Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Why Republicans Want to Dismantle the Education Department
The New York Times
By Michael C. Bender
March 9. 2025
Two months after the Education Department officially opened its doors in 1980, Republicans approved a policy platform calling on Congress to shut it down. Now, more than four decades later, President Trump may come closer than any other Republican president to making that dream a reality. Though doing away with the agency would require an act of Congress, Mr. Trump has devoted himself to the goal, and is said to be preparing an executive order with the aim of dismantling it.
Real Clear Politics
By Tim Hains
March 10, 2025
RANDI WEINGARTEN: LBJ in the 1950s, he was a teacher in Texas of, basically, disproportionately Mexican-American children. He saw them come into his elementary school without shoes and in total poverty. But they saw the school as their salvation. And what he brought to the White House with him, that was part of the War on Poverty. White kids, Black kids, Mexican American kids - let's find ways to level up opportunity, to give kids food, to give kids tutors for literacy, to have para-professionals, to have reading specialists, to lower class sizes, and to have federal money to do that. The same in terms of kids with disabilities - IDEA has federal money so that kids with disabilities are not in the basement anymore.
Trump takes aim at public service loan forgiveness
Politico
By Rebecca Carballo
March 10, 2025
“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, the second largest teachers union in the country. “He wants to impose an ideological litmus test antithetical to American values and contrary to the statute at hand.”
Punching In: Federal Mine Safety Field Offices on DOGE’s Radar
Bloomberg Law
By Tre'Vaughn Howard and By Andrew Kreighbaum
March 10, 2025
The United Mine Workers of America say the office closures could impact worker safety. “It is still not clear to us if all of these offices will actually close, or if the workers there are simply being shifted to other locations,” said Cecil E. Roberts, president of UMWA.
Dear Donald Trump: Don't Destroy the Postal (Opinion)
Newsweek
By Brian Renfroe
March 10, 2025
The administration's reported plan to demolish the United States Postal Service (USPS) would adversely impact an institution that millions of Americans rely on daily. Across the country, more than 165 million households and businesses count on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide an uninterrupted service, six to seven days a week, delivering everything from medications and magazines to ballots. The U.S. Postal Service is the cornerstone of our nation's mailing industry—an industry supporting more than 7.9 million jobs and a $1.9 trillion industry. It's not just a mail carrier—it is a lifeline for rural communities, small businesses, and individuals. The plan to dissolve the USPS leadership and absorb the Postal Service into the administration is a terrible idea that would have devastating consequences on workers, businesses, and communities nationwide. As the union representing nearly 300,000 active and retired letter carriers, we at the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), know firsthand that this plan would be disastrous for Americans. Letter carriers are the backbone and the heartbeat of the USPS. Without their essential contributions, the postal service wouldn't exist.
Trump Promised Americans Booming Wealth. Now He’s Changing His Tune.
The New York Times
By Tyler Pager
March 10, 2025
As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump promised an economic “boom like no other.” But eight weeks into his presidency, Mr. Trump is refusing to rule out a recession — a striking change in tone and message for a man who rode widespread economic dissatisfaction to the White House by promising to “make America affordable again.” His comments come as the stock market is tumbling — the S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent Monday after falling 3.1 percent last week — and business leaders are spooked about the uncertainty over his tariffs. Even some Republicans, who fear retribution if they cross Mr. Trump, have started to raise concerns about his levies.
NLRB
Labor board member returns to work six weeks after Trump fired her
Spectrum News
By Susan Carpenter
March 10, 2025
The first Black woman to chair the National Labor Relations Board returned to the agency Monday with a hero’s welcome after a judge ruled last week she was illegally fired. Dozens of staff members cheered, clapped and waved signs that said “Welcome back Gwynne” as Wilcox returned to the independent federal agency charged with protecting employee rights.
Official Fired By Trump Returns To Work To Cheers After Judge Orders Reinstatement
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
March 10, 2025
A member of the National Labor Relations Board who was fired by President Donald Trump returned to the office to cheers on Monday after a judge ordered her reinstatement at the workers rights agency. Employees at the NLRB’s headquarters in Southeast Washington lined the sidewalk as Gwynne Wilcox showed up for her first day at work since Jan. 27, when Trump removed her from office and eliminated the board’s quorum. They held signs that said “Welcome Back Gwynne” and “We Need The NLRB.”
US labor board opts not to defend law barring Trump from firing Democratic member
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
March 10, 2025
The U.S. agency that enforces the labor rights of private-sector workers is abandoning its legal defense of a law barring the president from removing appointees at will, as President Donald Trump seeks to oust a Democratic member. The National Labor Relations Board has since last week notified courts in at least six cases, including one involving Elon Musk's SpaceX, that it was taking the position that protections from removal for board members and administrative judges violate the U.S. Constitution.
ORGANIZING
Some Penn State faculty want to unionize as the university considers campus closures
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Susan Snyder
March 10, 2025
Pennsylvania State University stands as the only state-related school without a faculty union, and now some faculty there want to change that. Faculty concern about the university’s decisions began to accelerate during the pandemic and have continued to mount as the administration makes budget cuts and prepares to close some of its Commonwealth campuses, faculty say. A seeming lack of shared governance, salary and workload inequities across campuses, and transparency are among other concerns cited by faculty involved in the effort.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Union members ratify first-ever contract at Bloomington Barnes & Noble
WGLT
By Lyndsay Jones
March 10, 2025
After about a year of contract negotiations, Barnes & Noble workers in Bloomington voted Saturday to ratify their first-ever contract. Workers at the Empire Street store join just three others in the country as members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union [RWDSU] with ratified contracts — all of which are based in New York City and voted to approve their first contracts within the past week. “Workers at Barnes & Noble should be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished together in these historic first union contracts from Illinois to New York," RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum, said in a press release. "United in their fight for increased safety in their stores, it was their voices across the table that won. Now, we can finally say their longtime safety needs are codified in union contracts, which also include industry standard setting wage increases, union healthcare, and more."
Northwestern University food service, hospitality employees on strike
CBS News
By Elyssa Kaufman
March 10, 2025
Northwestern University food service and hospitality employees are on strike on Monday. Hundreds of Compass Group employees, including cooks, cashiers, dishwashers, and catering workers, are fighting for a fair contract with job security, wages, and increased pension contributions. According to a statement released by the union, the contract between Compass and UNITE HERE Local 1 expired on August 31, 2024. Workers authorized a strike by an "overwhelming majority" on February 27, union officials said.
Striking Stage Crews Reach Agreement With Atlantic Theater
The New York Times
By Michael Paulson
March 10, 2025
Ending a two-month strike, the prestigious Atlantic Theater Company and the labor union representing its crew members said Monday that they had reached a tentative agreement that they anticipated would allow the theater to resume performances. The agreement will be closely scrutinized by New York’s other Off Broadway theaters because the union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has undertaken a major drive to organize those stage crews. The crews include the stage hands who move scenery and the people working in audio, video, hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, carpentry and lighting.
Atlantic Theater, IATSE Reach Tentative Agreement for Off-Broadway Workers
The Hollywood Reporter
By Caitlin Huston
March 10, 2025
Atlantic Theater Company and IATSE have reached a tentative agreement that would cover all production workers employed by the Off-Broadway theater company. The agreement comes after workers at the Atlantic Theater went on strike in January after negotiations for the first union contract covering behind-the-scenes workers, including theatrical electricians and carpenters, painters, wardrobe and costume dressers, fell apart. The strike led to the cancellation of two productions at the Manhattan-based non-profit theater, which has developed several shows for Broadway.
Palo Alto nears deal with its largest labor union
Palo Alto Online
By Gennady Sheyner
March 10, 2025
The city of Palo Alto and its largest labor union are nearing a new three-year deal that would give more than half of City Hall employees a series of raises totaling 8.5% over the next three years and provide them with a monthly bonus that they can apply to health care. The City Council is preparing to approve on March 17 a contract with the Service Employees International Union, 521, which represents 605 full-time employees across most city departments, including Libraries, Utilities, Public Works, Community Services and Administrative Services. The city’s contracts with the SEIU have also historically set the stage for salary adjustments for other labor groups, most notably the roughly 200 managers and senior employees who are not represented by a labor group.
VTA Strike Begins, Affecting 100,000 Bus, Light Rail Riders
San Jose Inside
By Barry Holtzclaw
March 10, 2025
As many as 100,000 commuters, students and shoppers are scrambling today to find alternatives to the sidelining of buses and light rail trains by a strike by 1,500 Valley Transportation Authority workers. The strike began after midnight today, with no end in sight. VTA provides primary transportation services for thousands of employers across Santa Clara County. The transit system’s contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 ended at 12:01am March 10.
Dining workers go on strike early Monday morning in hopes of fair contract
The Daily Northwestern
By Leah Schroeder
March 10, 2025
Hundreds of dining workers employed by Compass Group went on strike Monday morning, according to a press release, gathering as early as 6 a.m. outside every dining hall on campus and at Norris University Center. Later, many moved to the Arch to picket as students walked to class. Workers had picket signs reading “On Strike” and were chanting messages like, “no contract, no peace” and banging on drums.
JOINING TOGETHER
Leaders at Ironworkers' IMPACT Conference Focus on Growth Opportunities
Engineering News-Record
By Pam McFarland
March 10, 2025
Despite a shift in federal government that has left it less friendly to labor unions than the previous administration, the mood at the annual conference of the Ironworkers union and its signatory contractors, held in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 24-26, was upbeat. Major topics included the rollout of a new mental health and suicide prevention website for IMPACT (Ironworkers Management Progressive Action Trust) members and their families as well as opportunities presented by megaprojects and mass timber.
Union: FedEx Shipping Pilot Jobs Overseas
Airline Geeks
By Ryan Ewing
March 10, 2025
Pilots at FedEx – who have been negotiating a new contract since 2021 – say the carrier is outsourcing flying jobs to foreign contractors. The company’s nearly 6,000 aviators are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. In a Monday news release, the union accused FedEx of “shipping American jobs overseas.” ALPA noted the carrier’s April schedule, which shifts all intra-Europe Boeing 757 flying to foreign contractors.
STATE LEGISLATION
Maryland Bill Backs Faculty, Grad Union Push
Southern Maryland Chronicle
By David M. Higgins II
March 10, 2025
As professors nationwide unionize at a rising clip—up over 7% since 2012—a new bill in the Maryland General Assembly aims to fuel the trend at state universities. Introduced on March 10, 2025, the legislation would grant faculty at Morgan State University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and the University of Maryland system the right to form unions, extending collective bargaining to full-time and part-time staff, tenured or not. A companion bill offers the same to graduate assistants, amplifying a movement where over 25% of U.S. faculty are now unionized, 80% of them nontenured.
IN THE STATES
Federal workers slam DOGE’s closures of Social Security offices and other cuts in NC
The News & Observer
By Avi Bajpai
March 10, 2025
The AFL-CIO’s Triangle Labor Council, which helped organize Sunday’s rally, is holding a legislative breakfast in Raleigh on Saturday, during which union members from around the Triangle will meet with state lawmakers.
San Antonio educators rally at capital for change in public schools
Kens 5
By Earl Stoudemire
March 10, 2025
On Monday, dozens of San Antonio educators are going to Austin for a statewide rally for change in public schools. Its a part of the Texas American Federation of Teachers legislative advocacy day with more than 400 teachers across the state showing up. The San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel and the Northside AFT are leading the charge in our area.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Grocery Workers Still Struggling Five Years After Pandemic
My News LA
By Contributing Editor
March 10, 2025
Five years after the coronavirus pandemic began, many frontline grocery store workers say they continue to feel its impact, according to a survey released Monday. The survey of 476 grocery workers, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, showed that more than half of respondents felt that their lives had changed dramatically. About 51.7% of respondents said their mental health suffered, another 43.8% said they were worse off financially and 31% of people surveyed said their physical health has taken a toll.