Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Trump Administration Must Rehire Thousands of Fired Workers, Judge Rules
The New York Times
By Zach Montague
March 13, 2025
A federal judge on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump’s government-gutting initiative. Ruling from the bench, Judge William J. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California went further than he had previously, finding that the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers had essentially been done unlawfully and by fiat through the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm. He directed the Treasury and the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior Departments to comply with his order and offer to reinstate any employees who were improperly terminated. His order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by employee unions who challenged the legality of the mass firings.
Judge orders Trump officials to offer jobs back to thousands of fired workers
The Washington Post
By Salvador Rizzo
March 13, 2025
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to immediately offer jobs back to thousands of probationary workers who were fired last month under directions from the Office of Personnel Management, complicating President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said at a court hearing that the personnel office — which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency — had no legal authority to direct the mass firings in conference calls and written communications last month.
Judge orders Trump administration to reinstate most fired probationary staff
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
March 13, 2025
A federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction to reinstate thousands of fired probationary workers at federal agencies as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees. The ruling by the judge William H Alsup in the US district court for the northern district of California applies to fired probationary employees at the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury.
Thousands of fired federal workers must be offered reinstatement, a judge rules
NPR
By Chris Arnold and Emily Feng
March 13, 2025
Thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration must be offered job reinstatement within the next week, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco has ruled, because he said they were terminated unlawfully. "It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie," Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said before issuing his ruling from the bench.
Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reverse 'Sham' Mass Firing of Federal Workers
Common Dreams
By Brett Wilkins
March 13, 2025
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement that the union "is pleased with Judge Alsup's order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public." "We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back," Kelley added. Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said: "Public service workers are the backbone of our communities in every way. Today, we are proud to celebrate the court's decision which orders that fired federal employees must be reinstated and reinforces they cannot be fired without reason." "This is a big win for all workers, especially AFSCME members of the United Nurses Associations of California and Council 20, who will be able to continue their essential work at the Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Department, and other agencies," Saunders added.
CNN
By Tierney Sneed
March 13, 2025
A second federal judge ruled Thursday that thousands of probationary employees laid off en masse by the Trump administration must be temporarily reinstated to their jobs. The new temporary restraining order from Senior Judge James Bredar, an Obama-appointee, covers 18 agencies and will last two weeks, as a challenge to the terminations from Democratic state attorneys general moves forward.
2nd judge orders agencies to reinstate thousands of fired federal workers
Axios
By Rebecca Falconer
March 13, 2025
A federal judge ordered the Office of Personnel Management on Thursday to revoke instructions to fire probationary government workers across several agencies. The big picture: The ruling from U.S. District Judge William Alsup, which found that the firings were likely illegal, poses one of the largest hurdles yet to President Trump's goal of shrinking the federal workforce.
USPS strikes deal with Elon Musk's DOGE team for reform help
Reuters
By David Shepardson
March 13, 2025
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told Congress he signed an agreement with Elon Musk's DOGE government reform team to provide assistance to the money-losing agency as it works to address "big problems." USPS, an independent government agency with 635,000 employees that lost $9.5 billion last year, has been exempt from DOGE-directed federal employee reductions. DeJoy told Congress in a letter seen by Reuters that USPS plans to reduce its workforce by 10,000 workers in the next month through a voluntary early retirement program first announced in January. The Post Office has cut 30,000 jobs since 2021.
Postal Service Reaches Deal With Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency
The New York Times
By Tim Balk
March 13, 2025
The leader of the U.S. Postal Service said in a letter to lawmakers on Thursday that he had reached an agreement with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team allowing it to help in “identifying and achieving further efficiencies.” The Postal Service has long struggled with its finances, and Mr. Musk and President Trump have both suggested it should be privatized. But Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting group, the Department of Government Efficiency, has not targeted the Postal Service’s roughly 635,000 workers.
Trump administration sued for ending union bargaining for TSA officers
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
March 13, 2025
The largest federal employee union filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block President Donald Trump's administration from ending collective bargaining for nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers that staff checkpoints at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit in Seattle, Washington, federal court, claiming the U.S. Department of Homeland Security canceled a bargaining agreement covering TSA officers as retaliation against the union for challenging other Trump administration initiatives.
Federal Workers Union Sues Trump Administration to Preserve T.S.A. Contract
The New York Times
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
March 13, 2025
America's largest federal employees’ union filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Homeland Security Department and its leadership to stop the Trump administration from canceling a collective bargaining agreement for Transportation Security Administration workers. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, is the latest example of how the union, the American Federation of Government Employees, or A.F.G.E., has taken to the courts to challenge the administration’s efforts to undermine labor protections for government workers. The union says the bargaining agreement, approved in 2024, covers 47,000 transportation security officers.
Senators Blackburn, Lee Introduce Bill to End Federal Worker Labor Unions
National Review
By James Lynch
March 13, 2025
GOP Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Lee of Utah are introducing legislation to end federal labor union deals to improve government efficiency and increase productivity, National Review has learned. Blackburn and Lee’s bill, the Federal Workforce Freedom Act, comes after the Trump administration moved to end collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration to return to merit-based employment and streamline the TSA bureaucracy.
Union president on attempts to slash the federal workforce (Video)
CNN
March 13, 2025
Everett Kelley joins The Lead.
MSN
By Mary Papenfuss
March 14, 2025
Workers blasted DOGE hatchet man Elon Musk Thursday after he reposted a startling message on X declaring that “Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Public sector employees did.” Lee Saunders, union president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees of the AFL-CIO, fired off a furious response saying: “America’s public service workers — our nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians — chose making our communities safe, healthy and strong over getting rich. They are not, as the world’s richest man implies, genocidal murderers.” He added: “Elon Musk and the billionaires in this administration have no idea what real people go through every day. That’s why he’s so willing to take a chainsaw to people’s jobs, Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare.”
Democratic-led states sue to halt Trump from dismantling US Education Department
Reuters
By Nate Raymond
March 13, 2025
A group of Democratic state attorneys general on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to block Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and halt it from laying off nearly half of its staff. Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston after the Education Department on Tuesday announced plans to lay off more than 1,300 of its employees as part of the agency's "final mission."
DOGE Makes Its Latest Errors Harder to Find
The New York Times
By David A. Fahrenthold and Jeremy Singer-Vine
March 13, 2025
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has repeatedly posted error-filled data that inflated its success at saving taxpayer money. But after a series of news reports called out those mistakes, the group changed its tactics. It began making its new mistakes harder to find, leaving its already secretive activities even less transparent than before. Mr. Musk’s group posted a new set of claims to its website on March 2, saying it had saved taxpayers $10 billion by terminating 3,489 federal grants.
Are Schools Succeeding? Trump Education Department Cuts Could Make It Hard to Know.
The New York Times
By Dana Goldstein and Sarah Mervosh
March 13, 2025
Deep cuts to staff and funding in the Department of Education will deal a major blow to the public’s understanding of how American students are performing and what schools can do to improve. On Tuesday evening, at least 100 federal workers who focus on education research, student testing and basic data collection were laid off from the Department of Education, part of a bloodletting of 1,300 staffers. Outside of government, at least 700 people in the field of social science research were laid off or furloughed over the past week, largely as a result of federal cuts to education research.
Trump Firings Gut Education Department’s Civil Rights Division
The New York Times
By Michael C. Bender and Rachel Nostrant
March 13, 2025
Decades ago, Congress guaranteed all students an equal opportunity to an education. But now the office created to enforce that promise has been decimated. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights was slashed in half on Tuesday as part of President Trump’s aggressive push to dismantle the agency, which he has called a “con job.” The firings eliminated the entire investigative staff in seven of the office’s 12 regional branches, including in Boston, Cleveland, Dallas and San Francisco, and left thousands of pending cases in limbo. The layoffs struck every corner of the department, which manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and supports programs for students with disabilities.
US judge orders DOGE, Musk to produce cost-cutting records
Reuters
By Reuters
March 13, 2025
A U.S. judge has ordered Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to turn over a variety of records and answer questions describing their efforts to slash federal spending. Wednesday night's decision by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., came in a lawsuit by 14 Democratic state attorneys general against Musk, DOGE and Republican President Donald Trump.
DOGE proposes cutting IRS workforce by a total of nearly 20%
CNN
By Rene Marsh
March 13, 2025
The Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency are proposing a dramatic downsizing of the IRS that would result in a nearly 20% reduction of its workforce by May 15 — one month after Tax Day in the United States. President Donald Trump has ordered agencies across the federal government to turn in their “large scale” layoff plans — known as Reduction in Force, or RIF — by Thursday. The details of the IRS proposal have been laid out in an email from DOGE and will be discussed at a meeting among agency leadership Thursday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The proposal has not been made public.
Trump administration dismisses members of all federal maritime advisory committees
Work Boat
By Pamela Glass
March 12, 2025
“To ensure the continued safety of the U.S. and global waterways, the voices of those who work in the industry must be heard,” wrote leaders of the American Maritime Officers Association, the Maritime Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the Seafarers Union, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, and the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association.
Mass march in nation’s capital to save Medicare and Medicaid
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
March 13, 2025
“Health care is a human right! Fight, fight, fight!” was a common chant. The crowd was festooned with signs promoting government-run single-payer Medicare For All, a longtime goal of National Nurses United. NNU sent a large contingent of marchers. It has crusaded for that cause, and led other unions to back it, for more than a decade. “Some cuts don’t heal,” NNU signs read. “Working people depend on Medicare and Medicaid,” the AFL-CIO tweeted. “Threatening to make cuts to these essential programs would jeopardize the ability of millions of people to get the health care they need. Today, we stood up and let Congress know we won’t let this attack go unanswered.”
Voters frustrated with Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts, new poll finds
Politico
By Danny Nguyen
March 13, 2025
Over half of voters believe Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are hurting the country, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds. Fifty-four percent of voters believe DOGE, which the Trump administration has charged with slashing government spending, is harming the country. In comparison, 40 percent say Musk’s office is helping, according to the Quinnipiac poll. And 60 percent of voters disapprove of how Musk and DOGE deal with the federal workforce, while 36 percent approve.
How Education Department layoffs hit student loans, testing, civil rights
The Washington Post
By Laura Meckler, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Nick Mourtoupalas, Szu Yu Chen and Andrew Ba Tran
March 13, 2025
It took less than a day for something important at the Education Department to stop working. The Trump administration had promised that massive staffing cuts would not impact the process students use to apply for federal financial aid. Then on Tuesday, two dozen workers who help manage a key piece of the system were among the hundreds laid off.
Federal student loan site down Wednesday, a day after layoffs gutted Education Department
AP
By Collin Binkley and Jocelyn Gecker
March 13, 2025
An hours-long outage Wednesday on StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, underscored the risks in rapidly gutting the Department of Education, as President Donald Trump aims to dismantle the agency. Hundreds of users reported FAFSA outages to Downdetector starting midday Wednesday, saying they were having trouble completing the form, which is required for financial aid at colleges nationwide. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a group of people who handle colleges’ financial aid awards, also received reports of users experiencing technical issues and having trouble completing the FAFSA.
Johns Hopkins University to cut more than 2,000 jobs after $800M in federal cuts
The Washington Post
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
March 13, 2025
Johns Hopkins University said Thursday it had begun laying off more than 2,000 workers across the globe after the institution lost $800 million in federal grants cut by the Trump administration. As the administration has slashed funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), perhaps no institution of higher education has been hit harder than Johns Hopkins.
ORGANIZING
First Ascent staff launch union drive
Chicago Reader
By Devyn-Marshall Brown
March 13, 2025
Stumpf is part of a bloc of employees across First Ascent’s four Chicago gyms that is pushing for a union. Workers are seeking improved pay and scheduling, staffing standards, professional development, and increased safety training. The group took their union campaign public with the support of 70 percent of workers in a February 5 letter to management requesting voluntary recognition, but the company declined. Workers are now waiting for the National Labor Relations Board to schedule an election.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
UAW files labor charges against VW over Chattanooga worker buyouts
Chattanooga Times Free Press
By Mike Pare
March 13, 2025
The United Auto Workers on Thursday said it has filed federal labor charges against Volkswagen for "violating workers' rights" at the automaker's Chattanooga plant after the company announced a voluntary buyout plan. The UAW said in a statement the company is attempting to cut jobs and make major changes without first negotiating with the union as required by law.
Field Museum’s union rallies against low wages
Chicago Sun-Times
By Amy Yee
March 12, 2025
Members of the Field Museum’s labor union and their supporters rallied outside the natural history museum on Wednesday to protest low wages and the slow progress of contract negotiations with management after nearly 1 1/2 years. About 100 people picketed outside the museum carrying signs that read “Fair Contract Now,” while chanting slogans such as “Field Museum negotiate!” and “You should pay your workers more!”
Northwell hospital nurses reach tentative deal to avert strike
Becker’s Hospital Review
By Kelly Gooch
March 13, 2025
Members of the New York State Nurses Association have reached a tentative labor contract with Northwell Health's South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y., averting a potential March 17 strike. The three-year agreement covers roughly 900 nurses. It includes improvements to safe staffing standards and stronger safe staffing enforcement, the addition of nurse staffing on certain units, and improvements to guarantee break periods, according to a March 12 union news release. The NYSNA said the agreement also includes "the ability for nurses to review and make recommendations prior to and during the implementation of any artificial intelligence that could potentially impact nurses."
How the VTA Strike Underscores Silicon Valley’s Widening Income Inequality
KQED
By Joseph Geha
March 12, 2025
While higher wages are a key sticking point for the more than 1,500 bus drivers and train operators on strike in the pricey Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of riders could also face increased costs as they figure out how else to get around. It’s a problem that underscores the growing income inequality and cost of living in the South Bay, both for transit operators and the riders who depend on their service. “It’s definitely very inconvenient, and it’s going to affect my plans on going to work,” Chris Zin of Union City said of the strike, which ground Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority service to a halt this week.
TF Green workers to get raises in new deal with Airport Corp., ending bitter negotiations
The Providence Journal
By Patrick Anderson
March 13, 2025
Workers at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport will get raises and bonuses in a new three-year union contract that ends months of tense negotiations with airport management. The new deal, covering 2024 through 2027, was approved by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation board of directors and ratified by members of Council 94 AFSCME Local 2873 on Thursday.
University of Rochester grad worker union to hold strike vote
Spectrum News
BY Spectrum News Staff
March 13, 2025
University of Rochester grad workers say the university has backed out of a union election agreement. Workers organized the Graduate Labor Union (SEIU Local 200United). They've set a strike vote to start on March 24. There are roughly 1,700 grad workers across all of the U of R campuses. Grad employees say their work is essential to how the university functions on a daily basis even though their take home can be as little as $1,5000 a year.
JOINING TOGETHER
State workers protest Governor Newsom’s return to office mandate
Cap Radio
By Megan Myscofski
March 12, 2025
State employees on Wednesday protested Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring them to return to the office four days per week starting this July. Four unions that represent state workers packed the block in front of the California Department of Human Resources in downtown Sacramento. That included the Service Employees International Union – or SEIU – Local 1000.
STATE LEGISLATION
Kentucky lawmakers push to weaken worker safety protections
The Lexington Times
By Nadia Ramlagan
March 13, 2025
Dustin Reinstedler, Kentucky AFL-CIO president, said Kentucky needs state laws that match industry-specific needs and challenges. “There’s so many things like coal mining, the bourbon industry, some of the heavy metals, aluminum and steel manufacturing that we have here that really aren’t in other states,” he explained.
Mountain State Spotlight
By Tre Spencer
March 12, 2025
West Virginia lawmakers focused on the state’s workforce challenges have prioritized passing a bill this session to remove work permit requirements for 14 and 15-year-olds. The measure would replace the existing permit, which requires school approval, with a simple age certificate from the state Division of Labor and written parental consent. Nationwide, other states are rolling back protections for child workers as they try to expand their workforces due to worker shortages.
Washington House Passes Bill Allowing Unionization for Agricultural Cannabis Workers
Hoodline
By Emily Tran
March 12, 2025
The House of Representatives has passed HB 1141, granting agricultural cannabis workers in Washington the right to unionize. This bill addresses the exclusion of these workers from federal labor protections, according to the Washington State House Democrats.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
Career fair hopes to get young Hoosiers hired before the summer
WRTV
By Taj Simmons
March 12, 2025
"If we can pique interest in the trades, we could fill those jobs," said Dominic Collins from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which was seeking apprentices over the age of 17. "It's a pathway to the middle class. You're talking six-figure salaries, zero student loan debt, and a skill that has limitless earning potential."
UNION BUSTING
Amazon Uses Arsenal of AI Weapons Against Workers
The American Prospect
By Daniel Boguslaw
March 13, 2025
A new paper on Amazon’s anti-union efforts at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse is the first academic study to examine the ways Amazon has leveraged algorithms to crush pro-union movements inside one of its sprawling warehouses. The study, published by researcher Teke Wiggin of Northwestern University, was compiled using dozens of worker interviews and FOIA requests to the National Labor Relations Board. Ultimately, the 2021 union vote in Bessemer ended with workers voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) by a count of 1,798 to 738 out of 5,867 workers eligible to vote, proving that the sprawling surveillance and discipline system is highly effective.