Today's AFL-CIO press clips
EDITOR'S NOTE: A story from Forward Kentucky is the second story in the POLITICS section.
POLITICS
The Collateral Damage of Trump’s Firing Spree
The Wall Street Journal
By Lindsay Ellis
March 17, 2025
At Veterans Affairs facilities in Detroit and Denver, staff reductions have led to canceled health programs and left homeless veterans without their dedicated coordinator to help them find an apartment and line up a deposit. In Alabama, job cuts at the Education Department have slowed efforts to get disabled children access to classrooms. And in California, Yosemite National Park paused new reservations for more than 500 campsites during peak summer months because of staffing uncertainty. An unprecedented effort to shrink the federal labor force is impeding work at government sites across the country and spawning unintended consequences for services Americans rely on.
Timely as ever, this report chronicles the conservative assault on organized labor
Forward Kentucky
By Berry Craig
March 17, 2025
While Trump is busy implementing Project 2025, he is still claiming to be the working class champion. But his “union talk is pure BS,” warned Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president last October. “He’s always been anti-worker, pushing union-busting Right to Work and gutting wages and safety protections. He wasn’t on our side as president, and he sure isn’t now.”
Leaked memo: DOGE plots to cut Social Security phone support
Axios
By Emily Peck
March 17, 2025
An internal memo from the Social Security Administration proposes changes to its phone service that could derail the benefits application process for many Americans. Why it matters: The Trump administration has repeatedly said it doesn't plan changes to Social Security, other than to address fraud and waste — but these proposals risk "crippling" a system already plagued by delays, and facing staffing cuts, former agency officials tell Axios. The latest: Axios obtained a draft of the memo, signed by acting deputy Social Security commissioner for operations Doris Diaz on March 13, and written on behalf of the agency's operations department.
Proposal would force millions to file Social Security claims in person
The Washington Post
By Lisa Rein
March 17, 2025
The Social Security Administration is considering adding a new anti-fraud step to claims for benefits that the agency acknowledges would force millions of customers to file in person at a field office rather than over the phone, according to an internal memorandum. The change would create major disruptions to Social Security operations, the memo said, and could cause particular hardship for elderly and disabled Americans who have limited mobility. The proposal also comes as Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service has announced plans to cut thousands of agency jobs and close dozens of regional and local Social Security offices.
Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to immediately reverse fired federal workers’ reinstatement
The Hill
By Zach Schonfeld
March 17, 2025
A federal appeals court in a 2-1 decision Monday declined to immediately block a judge’s order that the Trump administration reinstate fired probationary employees at six federal agencies. The new ruling, which does not address the legality of the firings, refuses the administration’s request for an administrative stay that would temporarily freeze the ruling until the next stage of the appeal.
U.S. Postal Service will be hosting rallies across the country
WDIO
By Ethan Schurman
March 17, 2025
In his second term, once again the Trump administration has brought their attention to the United States Postal Service. Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks. In response, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is holding rallies nationwide this upcoming Sunday, 23rd of March.
Trump to Pick Union-Busting Attorney for Key Labor Law Position
The American Prospect
By David Dayen
March 17, 2025
The Trump administration will choose a partner at the notorious anti-union law firm Morgan Lewis to be the next general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, multiple sources tell the Prospect. Crystal Carey is a former NLRB official from 2009 to 2018; she started as an intern with the Board and moved up to senior counsel, working on the Board and general counsel sides of the office. She became a partner last year at Morgan Lewis, which has been one of the most powerful management-side law firms in the country since the 1950s. Morgan Lewis attorneys have been involved in some of the most prominent labor battles in America since then, from the 1981 air traffic controllers strike to efforts by McDonald’s to resist the Fight for $15.
Fired workers return to federal agencies — but are put on paid leave
The Hill
By Rachel Frazin
March 17, 2025
As a result of recent court orders, federal employees are returning to their jobs — but are being put on paid leave. A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told The Hill that as a result of a court restraining order, it was rescinding the terminations of 419 employees. The spokesperson said that these employees are “mostly in an administrative leave status.” The Hill also obtained a notice that the Commerce Department sent to a staffer it had fired. The notice said that the employee will be reinstated, but that for the time being the employee will be placed in “paid, non-duty status.”
Trump continues to curtail union rights and career pipelines
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
March 17, 2025
The Trump administration last week continued its campaign to sideline federal employee unions, putting the kibosh on avenues for labor and management officials to work collaboratively and instructing agencies to ignore contract provisions governing reductions in force. On Friday, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders, one rescinding a tranche of Biden administration edicts and the other claiming to order the closure of government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. FMCS, an independent agency, works with labor unions, federal agencies and private sector employers to avert strikes, impasses and litigation stemming from collective bargaining disputes. It was established by Congress as part of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, making Trump’s planned closure of the agency legally dubious.
Labor unions protest federal workforce cuts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
Houston Public Media
By Tom Perumean
March 17, 2025
A vocal group of more than 50 demonstrators took their place at the entrance to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday to demand an end to the widespread firings and layoffs that have hit the space agency and other government agencies caught in the sights of the Department of Governmental Efficiency and its director, technology mogul Elon Musk. Justin Bautista, chief steward of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2284, electrified the crowd with a simple statement: "Save the civil service and save the country!"
Trump Targets Spending on Labor Union Talks in Latest DOGE Move
Bloomberg Law
By Gregory Korte
March 17, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration is mandating federal agencies report how much they spent negotiating labor union contracts for the past year, a sign that collective bargaining agreements could be the next target in a government cost-cutting push. An Office of Personnel Management memo sent Monday directs federal agency heads to report the amount spent on the collective bargaining agreement process, including how much they paid their employees involved in the negotiations, fees for engaging in mediation or arbitration and the fair-market-value of the office space used for the talks. “Federal agencies spent millions bargaining sweetheart collective-bargaining agreements (CBAs) that imposed significant costs on the American taxpayer while impeding effective and efficient agency operations,” Monday’s memo said.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Trump says the economy ‘went to hell’ under Biden. The opposite is true
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
March 16, 2025
Donald Trump keeps saying he inherited a terrible economy from Joe Biden and many Americans believe him, even though that’s not true. During his White House marketing event for Tesla on Tuesday, Trump said the US and its economy “went to hell” under Biden. Last week, in his national address to Congress, Trump said: “We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.” But the truth is that by standard economic measures, the US economy was in excellent shape when Biden turned over the White House keys to Trump, even though most Americans, upset about inflation, told pollsters the economy was in poor shape.
ORGANIZING
Starbucks baristas unionize at coffee shop in Macomb County
The Detroit News
By Myesha Johnson
March 17, 2025
Workers at another Starbucks in Michigan have voted to unionize as they seek better wages and fair scheduling from the national coffee chain. Starbucks Workers United said in a statement Monday that the Starbucks on Dequindre Road and Universal Drive in Warren marks the 18th store in the state to join the union. The labor group represents 11,000 employees at more than 550 stores who "demand Starbucks finalize strong contracts."
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Community College of Philadelphia staff vote to authorize strike, union says
ABC 6
By 6abc Digital Staff
March 17, 2025
The union representing faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia has voted to authorize a strike. Officials say 97% of the members voted in favor of going on strike. They say management fails to address its core demands around fair pay, staffing, and free public transit for students.
The Georgetown Voice
By Sydney Carroll and Sophia Jacome
March 16, 2025
On Thursday, the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC)—the resident assistant (RA) union—discussed four key components of their contract with the university. The March 13 meeting, as the 10th bargaining session, marked a new milestone in GRAC’s nearly year-long effort toward a contract agreement. The negotiations on Thursday focused on articles regarding a new compensation package for RAs, RA job descriptions, no strike/lockout provisions, and management rights.
VTA’s Legal Challenge to Ongoing Transit Strike Dealt Major Blow
KQED
By Joseph Geha
March 17, 2025
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authotrity’s legal challenge aiming to put a stop to the ongoing strike by transit workers in the South Bay has been dealt a major blow by a judge, according to newly filed court documents. In an order filed with the Santa Clara County Superior Court Monday, Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya rejected VTA’s request for a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the historic strike by more than 1,500 bus drivers and train operators. The judge allowed the case to proceed and set a court date for March 26, when the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, whose workers have been on strike since March 10, must argue why the court should not issue an injunction to halt the strike.
Faculty unions appeal to regents as they seek talks with UW campus chancellors
Wisconsin Examiner
By Erik Gunn
March 17, 2025
Universities of Wisconsin employees affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers are calling on the UW Board of Regents to formally authorize chancellors in the system to meet with employees and the union to discuss pay and working conditions. On Friday, about two dozen AFT members and supporters gathered outside Van Hise hall on the UW-Madison campus, where they attempted to deliver a letter to Board of Regents President Amy Bogost. The letter urges Bogust to put on an upcoming regents meeting agenda employees’ request for a formal discussion process with university chancellors to address wages and working conditions.
“One Job Should Be Enough”: How 9,000 Grocery Workers Are Banding Together in Minnesota
Workday Magazine
By Sarah Lazare
March 17, 2025
Monica Duque never knows how many hours she is going to get in a given week. She works at the Jerry’s Cub Foods on East Lake Street at the front of the store, helping customers, overseeing cashiering, and running online shopping. She finds out her hours, she explains, “when the schedule is posted on Friday, for the week after next.” “There is no consistency,” says the 24 year old, which makes it hard to save money, or plan much for the future. She makes a little over $20 an hour, and even being cut 10 hours in a week can have a big impact on her finances. “I can do morning one day then night shift the next day. I go from eight-hour days to barely getting seven-hour days. I can never really rely on how much money I’m going to make.”
San Joaquin County nurses ratify new contract after issuing notice for 3-day strike
Recordnet.com
By Hannah Workman
March 17, 2025
Registered nurses who held a 24-hour strike at San Joaquin General Hospital have ratified a new three-year contract, bringing the labor dispute to an end. The California Nurses Association and National Nurses United said registered nurses for San Joaquin County’s health system voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying the contract on Tuesday, winning protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention.
UR home care workers vote to strike again amid negotiations for first union contract
Democrat & Chronicle
By Justice Marbury
March 17, 2025
Last month, University of Rochester Medicine Home Care (URMHC) workers held a one-day strike to negotiate their first union contract. URMHC workers provide services for patients in Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates counties. They assist patients in transitioning from hospital to home by providing nursing care, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, as well as medical and social work services.
Community College of Philadelphia professors, staffers authorize a strike
Philly Voice
By Michaela Althouse
March 17, 2025
Community College of Philadelphia faculty, adjunct professors and staff members may walk off their jobs in the coming weeks as they pursue a new contract. The 1,200 CCP employees represented by the American Federation of Teachers Local 2026 have voted to authorize a strike, with 97% supporting the measure, the union said Monday. The vote allows the union to declare a strike by the end of March, but no date has been set and negotiations are ongoing.
STATE LEGISLATION
The Colorado Sun
By Jesse Paul
March 17, 2025
Colorado would become the second “just-cause employment” state in the U.S. should a measure proposed by state union leaders make the 2026 ballot and pass. Initiative 43 would prohibit companies with more than eight employees from firing or suspending a worker without just cause, which is defined in the measure as substandard performance, material neglect, repeated policy violation and gross insubordination. Conviction of a crime of “moral turpitude” — like murder, kidnapping and sexual assault — and an employer’s financial instability would also constitute just cause under the initiative. The proposal was filed by Dennis Dougherty, who leads the AFL-CIO in Colorado, and True Apodaca, political director at SEIU Local 105.
IN THE STATES
Dozens protest VA cuts in Charles Town
The Journal
By Tom Markland
March 14, 2025
Around 60 sign-wielding protesters filled up the block outside Charles Town’s courthouse in a protest against recent firings and cuts within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Steven Acuff, one of the organizers, said the afternoon protest was an extension of larger ones taking place in Washington, D.C. and across state capitols on Friday. “We’re here, because the veterans picked this day to be heard,” Acuff said. “This is part of us resonating with a bigger and much louder and much more powerful call, and it’s to treat our veterans with dignity, respect and honor and treat our military with honor.”
New poll confirms deep unpopularity of Abbott’s voucher program (Opinion)
San Marcos Daily Record
By Texas AFL-CIO
March 16, 2025
Today, a new poll from Z to A Research confirmed what educators already knew to be true: Nearly two-thirds of Texans are opposed to voucher programs in any form, fashion, or dressing. These results arrive ahead of the Texas House Committee on Public Education’s Tuesday hearing on House Bill 3. HB 3 would pull thousands of taxpayer dollars per student from public schools to subsidize private school education. Texas AFT will testify against the bill on behalf of Texas educators and the millions of students they serve in public schools – all of whom would be directly harmed should HB 3 pass. Over 400 Texas AFT educators have traveled to the Capitol today to make their voices heard during our legislative advocacy day. During visits with lawmakers and staff, they will share firsthand their experience in the classroom over the last two years, their anxieties about layoffs and campus closures, and their need for lawmakers to fully fund public schools. Of course, with the HB 3 hearing the very next day, they will also urge their representatives to vote in their districts and reject this voucher program.
CIVIL, HUMAN, & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
60th Anniversary of Enactment of the Selma to Montgomery March to end with rally
Selma Sun
By Staff
March 13, 2025
The 60th Anniversary reenactment of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March concludes Friday with a Rally for Voting Rights on the steps of the Alabama Capitol at 11:00 a.m., featuring national leaders speaking where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “How Long? Not Long!” speech to a crowd of more than 25,000 people. The final leg of the five-day, 54-mile march begins at 9:00 a.m. tomorrowat 860 West Fairview Avenue, across from the City of St. Jude Catholic Parish. Marchers will follow the route taken by those who led the way for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. National AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond and UFCW International Vice President/RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum and other leaders from across the country are leading tomorrow’s four-mile march.
DIVERSITY & EQUITY
SAG-AFTRA Affirms Support for DEI as Studios Back Away
Variety
By Gene Maddaus
March 17, 2025
SAG-AFTRA affirmed its support for diversity equity and inclusion on Monday, after several major studios walked back their commitments in the face of threats from the Trump administration. The national board of the actors’ union adopted a resolution stating that DEI is a “moral imperative” and is also “crucial to the creative and economic vitality of our industry.”