Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Trump Is Said to Sign Order Aimed at Dismantling Education Department
The New York Times
By Michael C. BenderZolan Kanno-Youngs and Zach Montague
March 19, 2025
President Trump plans to sign an executive order on Thursday instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon tobegin dismantling the agency, according to two White House officials. The department cannot be closed without the approval of Congress, which created it. But the Trump administration has already taken steps to narrow the agency’s authority and significantly cut its work force while telegraphing plans to try to shutter it.
Exclusive: Trump to sign order Thursday aimed at eliminating Education Department
USA Today
By Joey Garrison and Zachary Schermele
March 19, 2025
President Donald Trump is set to sign a long-anticipated executive order Thursday that seeks to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, delivering on a signature campaign promise to try to dismantle the agency, according to senior Trump administration officials. Trump is expected to sign the order, which has been in the works for weeks, at a White House ceremony attended by several Republican governors and state education commissioners.
Trump to sign order to shut down Department of Education, White House says
Reuters
By Andrea Shalal
March 20, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign a long-anticipated executive order on Thursday that aims to shut down the Department of Education, acting on a key campaign pledge, according to a White House summary seen by Reuters. Even before it was signed, the order was being challenged by a group of Democratic state attorneys general, who filed a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from dismantling the department and halt the layoffs of nearly half of its staff announced last week.
Trump to sign order aimed at closing Education Department
The Washington Post
By Laura Meckler
March 19, 2025
President Donald Trump is set to sign a much-anticipated executive order Thursday aimed at closing the Education Department, the White House said, though administration officials have acknowledged that shuttering the agency would require congressional approval. A White House fact sheet to be released Thursday says the executive order will direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps” to facilitate the closure of the department “and return education authority to the States.”
Trump to sign order aiming to close the Education Department
NPR
By Cory Turner
March 19, 2025
President Trump is expected to sign a long-expected executive action Thursday calling on U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon "to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure [of] the Department of Education and return education authority to the States," according to a fact sheet provided by the White House. Trump plans to sign the order at a ceremony alongside the Republican governors of Texas, Indiana, Florida and Ohio.
US teachers union sues education agency for shutting student loan repayment plans
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
March 19, 2025
“By effectively freezing the nation’s student loan system, the new administration seems intent on making life harder for working people, including for millions of borrowers who have taken on student debt so they can go to college,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT. “The former president tried to fix the system for 45 million Americans, but the new president is breaking it again.”
Social Security workers in Maine say job cuts could lead to longer wait times and mistakes
Spectrum News
By Susan Cover
March 18, 2025
The AFL-CIO, which represents some of the Social Security staffers in Maine, highlighted the potential impacts of staff cuts on Tuesday in Hallowell. In Maine, more than 355,000 people receive Social Security, which includes retirees and those with disabilities. And while some offices are currently at full staff, others are not. That puts pressure on other offices to absorb extra work, said Ray Thompkins of Rockland, a claims specialist.
Union warns that cuts to Social Security Administration staff would have severe impacts
Maine Public
By Kaitlyn Budion
March 18, 2025
The agency is already struggling to hire and retain employees, and staffing is at a 50-year low, said Christine Lizotte, a social security claims specialist and an officer of the union representing agency workers in New England. "People with disability already face long delays in receiving their benefits," she said. "This will make it worse. I agree with our foremost Social Security Administration Commissioner, Martin O'Malley, these cuts will cause a meltdown of the system within 90 days."
Social Security workers, union say staffing cuts would gut the agency
Portland Press Herald
By Randy Billings
March 18, 2025
Federal workers and union representatives in Maine warned Tuesday of possible staffing cuts to Social Security offices here and across the country, saying they say could shutter Aroostook County’s only office and lead to delayed services for Maine beneficiaries. The group says proposed staffing reductions could eliminate 12% to 50% of the Social Security Administration’s workforce nationwide, and include closing the Presque Isle office. The cuts are being discussed at a time when staffing is already at a 50-year low, they say. And those cuts could be made in tandem with cuts to phone services.
Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients
AP
By Fatima Hussein
March 19, 2025
In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone. Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
Social Security Administration Will No Longer Allow Changes Made by Phone
The New York Times
By Tara Siegel Bernard
March 19, 2025
The Social Security Administration said on Tuesday that people who wanted to file for benefits or change the bank where their payments were deposited could no longer do so by phone and must first verify their identity online or go into a field office. The change, which takes effect on March 31, is expected to add stress to the agency’s already thinning work force, which is being significantly downsized as part of the broad effort to aggressively shrink the federal government. At the same time, the change would also make things more difficult for older and disabled beneficiaries who might have trouble getting into an office or struggle with online services.
A list of the Social Security offices across the US expected to close this year
AP
By Meg Kinnard
March 19, 2025
Dozens of Social Security Administration offices across the country are slated to close this year due to actions taken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as part of the Trump administration’s unprecedented effort to shrink the size of government. DOGE has published a list of nearly 800 federal real estate leases that it is seeking to cancel. The Associated Press has obtained an internal planning document from the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, which shows when nearly two-thirds of those cancellations are expected to go into effect.
Air traffic control centers struggle with understaffing amidst DOGE layoffs
NBC 4
By Carol Chen
March 19, 2025
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a labor union and aviation safety organization for air traffic controllers, would prefer to adopt the crisis group's staffing model. According to NATCA’s former president Rich Santa, the model is based on data that was collected by the union and FAA’s Air Traffic Organization "through a survey of air traffic experts at every air traffic facility on position coverage needs for a typical busy day.” “The CRWG staffing targets represent the most effective approach to addressing the air traffic controller staffing shortage," he said.
Trump Fires Democrats on Federal Trade Commission
The New York Times
By David McCabe and Cecilia Kang
March 19, 2025
President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, a rejection of the corporate regulator’s traditional independence that may clear the way for the administration’s agenda. The White House told the Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, that the president was terminating their roles, according to statements from the pair. The F.T.C., which enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws, typically has five members, with the president’s party holding three seats and the opposing party two.
Trump and his GOP move to abolish federal worker unions entirely
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
March 19, 2025
As Republican President Donald Trump and his handler, multibillionaire Elon Musk, take Musk’s chainsaw to federal agencies, programs and workers, right-wing Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., part of the Senate’s GOP majority, scheme to end federal worker unions, too. Their innocuously named Federal Workforce Freedom Act’s headline proclaims it wants to “abolish backroom deals” involving unions and the federal government. But its top paragraph—the “lede” in news jargon—makes its real purpose clear. They want “to put a stop to ‘collective bargaining’ agreements between federal agencies and labor unions, which harm productivity, increase labor costs, and reduce investment,” or so the two claim, without proof. Doing so would rob the entire labor movement of a significant share of members.
Federal workers think Trump won’t improve their agencies. Even his voters.
The Washington Post
By Olivia George, Scott Clement and Emily Guskin
March 19, 2025
As President Donald Trump accelerates his push to slash the civilian workforce, less than half of the federal workers who voted for him think he will improve the ability of their agency to fulfill its mission, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll. Still, a majority of them approve of his job performance in general. Federal workers overall predict Trump will worsen the government’s service to ordinary Americans and say their workplace satisfaction has tanked, according to the poll of more than 600 federal workers nationwide conducted from Feb. 28 to March 10. The survey offers the first comprehensive look at government employee sentiment since he returned to the Oval Office.
AFT sues Education Department over removal of IDR student loan applications
The Hill
By Lexi Lonas Cochran
March 19, 2025
“The AFT has fought tirelessly to make college more affordable by limiting student debt for public service workers and countless others — progress that’s now in jeopardy because of this illegal and immoral decision to deny borrowers their rights under the law,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Today, we’re suing to restore access to the statutory programs that are an anchor for so many, and that cannot be simply stripped away by executive fiat,” Weingarten added.
Trump’s Policies Are Making Project 2025’s Vision a Reality (Video)
The Wall Street Journal
By Kaitlyn Wang
March 18, 2025
On the campaign trail, President Trump distanced himself from Project 2025’s radical conservative vision. Now, more than half of his executive orders align with recommendations made in the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint.
More than a dozen judges have said Trump and Co. probably broke the law
The Washington Post
By Aaron Blake
March 20, 2025
From the start of his second term, President Donald Trump and his administration signaled a willingness — even a desire — to flout the law in their quest to overhaul the federal government. And while the wheels of justice turn slowly, less than two months later a procession of judges have already ruled the administration has done exactly that. In more than a dozen cases — and in three major rulings this week alone — a federal judge has ruled that the administration either has violated the law or has probably done so.
KPBS
By Melissa Mae
March 19, 2025
On Wednesday, members of the Association of Flight Attendants marched with signs in front of Terminal 2 at the San Diego International Airport. The union members were calling for an end to contract negotiations. Rallying alongside them about a different contract were off-duty transportation security officers (TSO) — members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — who work for the Transportation Security Administration. On March 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended collective bargaining for TSOs.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
We need to protect workers from dangerous ‘bossware’ technology (Opinion)
Commonweath Beacon
By Chrissy Lynch, Amanda Ballantyne and Matthew Scherer
March 19, 2025
In an era where the lines between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, the rise of new worker surveillance and control technologies is creating a dystopian reality that demands urgent attention from policymakers. Legislation filed on Beacon Hill, An Act Fostering Artificial Intelligence Responsibility, known as the FAIR Act, would provide Massachusetts workers with much-needed protection against reckless and harmful uses of “bossware” technologies. Employers use these electronic and algorithmic decision systems to automate managerial functions, including determining whether workers get a job, tracking workers’ locations and communications throughout — and sometimes even after — the workday, and deciding how much workers get paid and whether they get promoted, demoted, or fired.
Hollywood Actors Take the Fight Against AI to Sacramento
KQED
By Rachael Myrow
March 19, 2025
The bill is sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and co-sponsored by the Creative Artists Agency and the National Association of Voice Actors. Joely Fisher, SAG-AFTRA Secretary-Treasurer and chair of its government affairs and public policy committee, said the fight over AI was at the heart of the union’s strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that ran 118 days in 2023. The language about AI in the contract wasn’t approved until the 11th hour, she said, “always knowing that we needed legislation to enforce some of the things that we talked about and our studio partners agreed to.”
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Fed keeps policy rate outlook intact amid projected growth slowdown, temporary inflation jump
Reuters
By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
March 19, 2025
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, as expected, but U.S. central bank policymakers indicated they still anticipate reducing borrowing costs by half a percentage point by the end of this year in the context of slowing economic growth and, eventually, a downturn in inflation. Taking stock of the Trump administration's rollout of tariffs, Fed officials actually marked up their outlook for inflation this year, with their preferred measure of price increases expected to end the year at 2.7% versus the 2.5% pace anticipated in December. The Fed targets inflation at 2%.
ORGANIZING
United Videogame Workers Union Launches in Partnership With Communication Workers of America
Variety
By Jennifer Maas
March 19, 2025
“The formation of United Video Game Workers-CWA is an exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry,” CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. said. “As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more an afterthought. They are subject to endless cycles of layoffs and rehiring as corporate executives pursue short-term profits at the expense of a sustainable future.”
Game Developers Launch North America's First Industry-Wide Union Anyone Can Join
Kotaku
By Ethan Gach
March 19, 2025
Game industry unionization efforts that exploded across Sega of America, Bethesda, and others have recently been on pause. A new initiative by the Communications Workers of America could jumpstart things again. At the Game Developers Conference 2025 happening this week, the group announced the founding of the United Videogame Workers, a new sister organization that hopes to enlist developers from all different disciplines and studios in broader labor battles across the industry.
Video Game Union Organizers’ New Tactic for Workers: Don’t Unionize, Technically
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
March 19, 2025
The predominant union organizing video game workers in the U.S. has announced an initiative that will attempt to change industry conditions outside of “traditional legal frameworks.” On Wednesday the Communications Workers of America announced the launch of a new direct-join organization, United Videogame Workers-CWA, at a labor-organizing panel at the Game Developers Conference. The group — not a certified union, but something more like a large-scale organizing group — is open to a wide range of workers in the field across employers, from full-time employees to contractors to former staffers who have been laid off. The group’s first initiative will be to circulate a petition addressing recent industry workforce cuts, while it is later planning on producing a worker “bill of rights” that will demand specific workplace standards.
Union Looks to Sign Video-Game Workers in Stepped-Up Organizing Drive
Bloomberg
By Cecilia D'Anastasio
March 19, 2025
The Communications Workers of America union is stepping up its organizing efforts in video games following thousands of job losses in the industry.
Video game workers in North America now have an industry-wide union
Engadget
By Lawrence Bonk
March 19, 2025
There’s now an industry-wide union for video game workers in the US and Canada. The United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA) has a mission to bring together "artists, writers, designers, QA testers, programmers, freelancers and beyond to build worker power irrespective of studio and current job status." The union makes its official debut at the "Video Game Labor at a Crossroads: New Pathways to Industry-Wide Organizing" panel at GDC. Workers will be sharing a petition at the event to gain support for the union and to shine a light on the recent glut of industry layoffs. As a matter of fact, the first major issue the union seeks to address is layoffs, given that one in ten developers were shown the door in 2024.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Philadelphia Community College Faculty and Staff Authorize a Strike
Inside Higher Ed
By Sara Weissman
March 19, 2025
The Community College of Philadelphia’s staff and faculty union overwhelmingly voted to allow their bargaining team to call a strike amid prolonged, contentious contract negotiations with the college. But college leaders say they’re working to delay a strike from occurring. The union, AFT Local 2026, or the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, held a vote between March 10 and 16; 90 percent of the roughly 1,200 faculty and staff members cast ballots, and 97 percent voted to authorize a strike. The outcome doesn’t mean the union has to strike but permits the bargaining team to declare a work stoppage at any moment.
United Airlines Flight Attendants Edge Closer To A Deal
Forbes
By Ted Reed
March 19, 2025
Contract talks between United Airlines and its flight attendant union appear to be nearing an end after four years. “We are just starting to see United get serious at the table,” Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, said Wednesday. “This management team has delayed, delayed, delayed. They are starting to take some of their concessions off the table.”
Polk County Commission approves Fire Rescue contract with pay raises and sick leave payout
The Ledger
By Paul Nutcher
March 18, 2025
The Polk County Commission unanimously approved a contract Tuesday with its workers in the Fire Rescue agency. The 476 members of the the International Association of Firefighters Union 3531 had previously voted to ratify the 2024-25 labor contract with the county, according to Jon Hall, president of the union local.
Workers at Cummins’ Oshkosh plant strike over pay, schedule, temp workers
WTAQ
By Staff
March 19, 2025
About 90 members of the United Auto Workers Chapter No. 291 in Oshkosh are officially on strike, walking out on Tuesday at noon from their jobs at Cummins. “We had a contract that expired at the end of January,” said Ryan Compton, president of the local chapter. “We’ve only met nine times since it’s been expired, so as of this point we are on strike.”
About 90 UAW members are on strike in Oshkosh
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Joe Schulz
March 19, 2025
About 90 members of the United Auto Workers in Oshkosh went on strike Tuesday in response to what they say have been delayed negotiations on a new union contract. The UAW Local 291 members work for Indiana-based Cummins Inc. at the company’s drivetrain and braking systems plant in Oshkosh. Ryan Compton, president of the local union, said they produce heavy duty axles for construction and military vehicles at the plant.
VTA, union leaders summoned to appear in court next week as transit strike continues
The Mercury News
By Caelyn Pender
March 19, 2025
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge denied the Valley Transportation Authority’s bid for a temporary restraining order to stop the ongoing strike Monday but granted an order requiring the union to appear in court and explain why their strike is legal, according to court documents. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 has entered its second week of striking after negotiations fell apart over issues of higher pay and guaranteed arbitration in early March, with a few sessions of mediation and negotiation resulting in little progress toward a resolution late last week and over the weekend. VTA filed the lawsuit on the first day of the strike claiming that the union violated a “no strike” clause in the previous collective bargaining agreement, while the union maintains that that previous agreement expired and the clause no longer applies.
JOINING TOGETHER
Want a Better Grocery Store? Support Union Workers.
The Nation
By Ella Fanger
March 19, 2025
At the King Soopers store in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, pallets of still-wrapped goods crowd the floor with their corresponding shelves left empty. On a typical day, just one or two registers are open, leaving customers waiting in a line stretching to the store’s back wall. The skeleton crew of store clerks hustle to pack an ever-growing queue of online orders for pickup, rushing against a 23-second countdown to collect each item. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mavis Austin, who normally works as a cheesemonger, was the only person loading pickup orders, because everyone else in her department had gotten sick or quit. “This corporation will grind you down to a pulp,” she told me.
STATE LEGISLATION
Hundreds rally in support of Colorado bill that would ease union formation
Denver 7
By Brandon Richard
March 19, 2025
Hundreds of Colorado workers gathered outside the State Capitol on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to support a measure that would ease the process of forming labor unions. “It is time to move Colorado into the future,” said Dylan Small, a registered nurse. “It is time working people had a fair seat at the table.”
IN THE STATES
Give striking workers a fighting chance (Opinion)
Oregon Live
By Graham Trainor
March 19, 2025
A bill to lift the current ban against striking workers applying for unemployment benefits is moving through the Oregon Legislature, lifted by the power of working people. Over 520 individuals testified in support, thousands of Oregonians contacted their legislators and nearly 200 union members met directly with legislators to advocate for it.
SoCal health care community rallies against proposed Medi-Cal spending cuts
ABC 7
By Jill Castellano and Rob Hayes
March 19, 2025
Concerns over potential Medicaid cuts have spurred rallies and demonstrations across the state and the country. In the Inland Empire, Representative Pete Aguilar held an event Tuesday in San Bernardino. And the S.E.I.U. staged a rally outside Representative Young Kim's office in Anaheim, demanding the Orange County Republican reject any cuts to Medicaid. "If we don't have these services and we don't have this funding, we are not going to be able to provide for our community," said Courtney Lee, an in-home health service provider who attended the S.E.I.U. rally.
Rep. Stanton addresses federal budget cuts impacting Phoenix
Fox 10 Phoenix
By FOX 10 Staff
March 19, 2025
Stanton, and American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees members also spoke at the event, including Local 2960 President Frank Piccioli, Local 2384 President Jason Henley, AFSCME member Kanika Jones, a Head Start Case Worker; and AFSCME member Sonya Alva, a 911 Operator and Dispatcher.
Letter Carriers to Protest Changes to USPS
KVRR
By Alex Bertsch
March 19, 2025
Reports about potential changes to the Post Office by the Trump administration has raised the alarm for letter carriers across the nation. It is reported that the administration is planning to fire the governing board of the U.S. Postal Service and merge the office with the Commerce Department. The National Association of Letter Carriers says that these changes would harm delivery services, and the independence of the Postal Service. The National Association of Letter Carriers is organizing protests across the nation to send a message about the support that the post office has.
'They're threatening your post office again.' USPS protest in Redding: What's at stake?
Record Searchlight
By Michele Chandler
March 19, 2025
One of the organizers of a local protest by unionized postal workers happening on Thursday as part of a national fight against possible reductions laid out the national mail delivery service's plight to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. "We want the word out to the public that they're threatening your post office again," Ruth Rhoades, who is involved with the local American Postal Workers Union protest effort, said in advance of her presentation to the supervisors on Tuesday. "They are threatening your services here locally, they want to shut down the smaller post offices."
Eugene letter carriers to protest Trump-proposed USPS restructure
The Register-Guard
By Alan Torres
March 19, 2025
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has taken controversial cost-cutting measures during his tenure, but as an independent agency, USPS has been exempt from the Department of Government Efficiency layoffs seen at other agencies. However, on March 13 DeJoy told Congress he had signed an agreement with DOGE to "assist (USPS) in identifying and achieving further efficiencies."
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Long Beach Memorial nurses say work conditions are unsafe — for themselves as well as patients
Long Beach Watch Dog
By Brandon Richardson
March 19, 2025
For two years, nurses at Long Beach Memorial have been requesting additional safety precautions, including metal detectors at entrances. In December, a patient brought a gun into Long Beach Memorial. While no violence occurred, the incident underscores their fear, staff says. The California Nurses Association and National Nurses United have been locked in contentious contract negotiations with Long Beach Memorial management since Feb. 5. Six bargaining sessions have taken place so far, with the contract set to expire at the end of March, according to CNA representative Sandra Ocampo.
Labor union argues nursing home staffing mandates will ease workforce shortage
Iowa Capital Dispatch
By Clark Kauffman
March 19, 2025
The Service Employees International Union recently filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the new staffing requirements, arguing that Iowa and the other states are confusing “a workforce shortage with workers’ reduced demand for understaffed, underpaid positions.” The union says it is the nation’s largest labor representative of nursing home caregivers, representing more than 150,000 workers in 23 states. In its brief, the union alleges that care facilities’ history of understaffing has not only put residents at risk, it has greatly increased employees’ workload and risk of injury — making the jobs less attractive than they’d otherwise be.
Trump admin looks to allow meat processers to permanently run faster line speeds
Food Dive
By Sarah Zimmerman
March 19, 2025
“Increased line speeds will hurt workers – it’s not a maybe, it’s a definite – and increased production speeds will jeopardize the health and safety of every American that eats chicken,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents more than 15,000 poultry workers at facilities across the southern U.S.
DIVERSITY & EQUITY
SAG-AFTRA Reaffirms Diversity Efforts as Hollywood Companies Cut Back
Rolling Stone
By Kalia Richardson
March 17, 2025
In recent weeks, several Hollywood studios and entertainment companies pulled back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives following pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. Despite this, the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reaffirmed its support for diversity reform. In a resolution passed by the SAG-AFTRA National Board Saturday, the actors union reported that the accurate portrayal of the “American Scene” is “essential to the integrity and credibility of the entertainment and media industry,” according to a letter by Fran Drescher, SAG president, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator. In addition, the letter states that SAG diversity measures have existed since the Sixties, when the formerly known Screen Actors Guild and producers agreed to the “American Scene” clause, which affirmed a non-discrimination policy for “any actor because of race, creed, color or national origin.”