Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
NIOSH to sustain heavy staff cuts under HHS reorganization plan
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
April 2, 2025
“Firing the NIOSH workforce sets up a domino effect of serious and dangerous consequences,” federation head Liz Shuler said in an April 1 statement. “The government will no longer research emerging health hazards, methods to prevent mine explosions, or certify the safety of respirators and other critical personal protective equipment.” Shuler added: “NIOSH is a highly skilled and efficient agency that delivers critical health and safety expertise for both workers and employers – protecting workers in some of the most dangerous industries, like coal mining, firefighting, construction and health care – and is responsible for providing medical monitoring and services to 9/11responders and survivors.”
The Latest: Business leaders warn Trump tariffs will raise prices for US consumers
Newsday
By The Associated Press
April 2, 2025
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said strategic tariffs can be an effective tool for supporting U.S. industries and protecting jobs, but they must be accompanied by policies that invest in manufacturing and promote workers’ right to organize. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s attacks on trade union workers’ rights at home, gutting of the government agency that works to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs and efforts to erode critical investments in U.S. manufacturing take us backward,” Shuler said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for trade policy that prioritizes the interests of working people without causing unnecessary economic pain for America’s working families.”
POLITICS
Fast Company
By Jennifer Mattson
April 2, 2025
The protests are organized by Indivisible, a grassroots movement aimed at rebuilding democracy and defeating Trump, which is partnering with a broad coalition of groups including: the Women’s March, the United Federation of Teachers, Public Citizen, the Progressive Democrats of America, Common Cause, Human Rights Campaign, MoveOn, the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, and some unions including AFL-CIO, UAW, and SEIU.
Unions Ask Judge to Stop Second 'Fork in the Road' Exit Offer
Bloomberg Law
By Courtney Rozen
April 2, 2025
Federal worker unions are reviving their lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s “fork in the road” voluntary resignation offer to their members. The American Federation of Government Employees, joined by two other unions, is seeking to stop federal agencies from giving their employees the option to exit voluntarily rather than wait out future workforce cuts. The amended complaint, filed March 31 at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, is the latest legal challenge seeking to block President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk‘s plans to shrink the federal workforce.
Maine Congressman Jared Golden seeks to overturn Trump’s executive order about collective bargaining
WABI
By WMTW
April 2, 2025
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine, introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would overturn an executive order from President Donald Trump that ends collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government. “These are really important jobs for our national security,” Golden said in an interview with our media partner, WMTW. “It’s just not true that these unions’ collective bargaining rights in any way undermine national security.” The executive order appears to touch most of the federal government. Affected agencies include the Departments of State, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Justice and Commerce and the part of Homeland Security responsible for border security.
Pro-labor Republicans push Trump to rescind order busting most federal unions
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
April 2, 2025
President Trump’s controversial decision last week to sign an executive order stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of their collective bargaining rights has drawn the ire of even some House Republicans. Trump’s order, which cites a rarely used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to exclude agencies and agency subcomponents from federal labor law under the guise of national security—despite decades of successful labor-management relationships in both peace and wartime and several implicated agencies’ tenuous at best connection to national security. The edict effectively denies union representation to two-thirds of the federal workforce and three-quarters of feds who are already part of a union bargaining unit.
Exclusive: Dem senators condemn Trump's order against federal unions
Axios
By Cuneyt Dil
April 2, 2025
Democratic senators on Wednesday called President Trump's executive order aiming to curtail federal unions a "gross overreach." Why it matters: Trump's order impacts over a million civil servants, including a third who are veterans. It reclassifies them as workers assigned to national security matters in order to exclude them from labor protections. What they're saying: "The national security exemption has existed for nearly 50 years and has been used only sparingly by Republican and Democratic Administrations," says a letter to Trump, signed by all 45 Democratic senators and two independents, Bernie Sanders and Angus King.
Fitzpatrick says Trump order cutting union contracts 'weakens' national security
Philly Burbs
By Chris Ullery
April 3, 2025
A bipartisan bill cosponsored by Bucks County Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick seeks to stop an executive order ending collective bargaining agreements from over a dozen federal departments. The March 27 order from President Donald Trump stripping hundreds of thousands of federal workers of their ability to negotiate working conditions would weaken national security, Fitzpatrick and other lawmakers say.
Michigan union advocates react to Trump cuts, vow to fight against them
WDET
By Russ McNamara
April 2, 2025
Ron Bieber is the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He told WDET that he’s seen this anti-union playbook before. “If you remember, after 2010 the Republicans took total control of state government. They went after seniors and instituted a pension tax. They went after kids and attacked public education. They went after the working poor and gutted the Earned Income Tax Credit; went after workers and unions and passed Right to Work; and they did all that so they could give business and corporations and their wealthy friends a huge tax cut,” he said. “Working folks organized. We had each other’s back. We stood together and fought back together. We clawed our way back together, and then finally, in the last legislative session, we restored those workers rights.”
Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon
Politico
By Rachael Bade
April 2, 2025
President Donald Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader and Washington hatchet man. Musk’s looming exit comes as some Trump administration insiders and many outside allies have become frustrated with his unpredictability and increasingly view the billionaire as a political liability, a dynamic that was thrown into stark relief Tuesday when a conservative judge Musk vocally supported lost his bid for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by 10 points.
4 key takeaways as Trump’s sweeping HHS layoffs begin
WJBF
By Joseph Choi, Nathaniel Weixel, and The Hill
April 2, 2025
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, called the mass layoffs at HHS “dangerous, irresponsible, and unacceptable.” “Cutting 10,000 critical public health jobs puts every American at risk — weakening our defenses against disease outbreaks, unsafe medications, and contaminated food,” said Kelley. “Congress and citizens must join us in pushing back. Our health, safety, and security depend on a strong, fully staffed public health system.”
Mass layoffs are underway at the nation's public health agencies
Chattanooga Times Free Press
By Carla K. Johnson
April 2, 2025
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans' health. The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues.
Labor union protests in Boston, calling for Tufts student to be released from ICE custody
WBUR
By Chloe Jad
April 2, 2025
A union leader led a chant for a crowd of more than 200 people, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and state Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who gathered in downtown Boston Tuesday evening to protest the arrest of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk by immigration agents. “Come for one, face us all,” said David Foley, president of the Service Employees International Union, Local 509. The crowd shouted back: “Free Rümeysa, free them all!”
Wisconsin Republicans Hit Their Vote Target, but Democrats Blew Past Theirs
The New York Times
By Reid J. Epstein
April 2, 2025
Again and again, Republicans repeated their goal for the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on Tuesday: Get more than 60 percent of President Trump’s voters to back Judge Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate, and they would win, flipping the court’s majority back to the right. Judge Schimel hit his mark: He won 62 percent of Mr. Trump’s November total in the state. He drew more votes even than Justice Janet Protasiewicz had received in Wisconsin’s 2023 contest for the court, when she delivered an 11-point thumping to the conservative candidate. That was the last judicial race that Democrats had turned into a national cause.
Miners express concerns over recent Trump actions
The Hill
By Rachel Frazin
April 1, 2025
On Tuesday, massive layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) were expected to result in 873 staff cuts from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), according to CBS News. This agency conducts research and makes recommendations to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
Exclusive: Trump administration moves to more easily fire some agency employees
Reuters
By Leah Douglas and Timothy Gardner
April 2, 2025
The Trump administration has begun the process of reclassifying workers at some agencies to a new job category with fewer protections, according to two sources familiar with the situation and an email seen by Reuters. The moves, which the sources said are taking place at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy, are the first evidence the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is following through on a plan announced in his first day in office to recategorize tens of thousands of government workers to facilitate layoffs and remove career civil servants that may oppose its policies.
Labor Solicitor Pick Wrote Conservative Wage Policy Blueprint
Law360
By Max Kutner
April 2, 2025
President Donald Trump's choice to be the U.S. Department of Labor's top lawyer helped write Project 2025's book outlining policy suggestions for a future conservative administration, and that document provides a glimpse into how the nominee might approach wage and hour issues if confirmed. Employment law observers for months had expected that Trump would nominate Boyden Gray PLLC managing partner Jonathan Berry for a DOL leadership role, and the president named him for labor solicitor Monday. If confirmed, Berry would lead the agency's legal services office that includes 400 lawyers and 300 other staffers.
TRADE
'Welp, There Goes the Economy': Trump Tariffs Trigger Global Alarm
Common Dreams
By Jessica Corbett
April 2, 2025
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, also said that "the strategic use of tariffs can be an effective tool to support our industries and protect jobs at home. But they must be accompanied by policies that invest in our manufacturing base and a strong commitment to promoting workers' fundamental right to organize trade unions and bargain collectively." "Unfortunately, the Trump administration's attacks on trade union workers' rights at home, gutting of the government agency that works to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs, and efforts to erode critical investments in U.S. manufacturing take us backward," she asserted. "We will continue to fight for trade policy that prioritizes the interests of working people without causing unnecessary economic pain for America's working families."
Trade groups, analysts react to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs
Star Advertiser
By Reuters
April 2, 2025
Liz Shuler, President, American Federation Of Labor And Congress Of Industrial Organizations: “The Trump administration’s attacks on trade union workers’ rights at home, gutting of the government agency that works to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs and efforts to erode critical investments in U.S. manufacturing take us backward.”
Trump announces 10 percent tariffs on all imports, additional taxes for some 60 countries
The Washington Post
By David J. Lynch and Jeff Stein
April 2, 2025
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will impose a new 10 percent tariff on all imported goods along with an additional punitive import tax tailored for each of about 60 countries that his advisers say maintain the most unfair barriers against U.S. products. The president’s long-awaited tariff plan is designed to spur a renaissance in domestic manufacturing and to fill government coffers with tax revenue, even as many economists warn that he is steering the U.S. economy toward slower growth and higher prices.
The Latest: Business leaders warn Trump tariffs will raise prices for US consumers
WHEC
By The Associated Press
April 2, 2025
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said strategic tariffs can be an effective tool for supporting U.S. industries and protecting jobs, but they must be accompanied by policies that invest in manufacturing and promote workers’ right to organize. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s attacks on trade union workers’ rights at home, gutting of the government agency that works to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs and efforts to erode critical investments in U.S. manufacturing take us backward,” Shuler said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for trade policy that prioritizes the interests of working people without causing unnecessary economic pain for America’s working families.”
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Teachers’ Union Urges Public Pensions to Seek Tesla Stake Review
Bloomberg
By Shruti Singh
April 2, 2025
A national teachers’ union is urging public pensions to ask their money managers how they will safeguard retirement assets given the steep plunge in Tesla Inc. shares this year. In a letter to more than 75 state and city chief fiduciary officers of US public pension funds, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is requesting they reach out to money managers overseeing their investments “to urgently review their current holdings” in the electric carmaker led by Elon Musk, according to a statement Wednesday.
ORGANIZING
At Delta Air Lines, A Labor Union Gets A Foot In The Door
Forbes
By Ted Reed
April 2, 2025
Delta Air Lines has long been successful at battling labor unions, but the Transport Workers Union is nibbling around the carrier’s edges. The union, which has about 65,000 airline industry workers, said last week that it had organized about 100 bus operators and supervisors who provide shuttle services for Delta at John F. Kennedy International Airport. TWU said it won about 80% of the vote.
Baristas in Colorado vote to join Starbucks' national union wave
9 News
By Melissa Reeves
April 2, 2025
Baristas at two Starbucks locations in Colorado have taken the first step toward unionizing, joining a growing movement among the coffee chain’s workers nationwide. Starbucks Workers United announced that employees at the store at College Avenue and Stuart Street in Fort Collins filed a petition on Monday for a union election. Workers at a separate location in Colorado Springs have also filed for an election.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Game Developer
By Chris Kerr
April 2, 2025
Hundreds of unionized workers at The Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer ZeniMax Media have voted to authorize a strike. The bargaining unit—represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Locals 2100, 2108, and 6215 (ZeniMax Workers United-CWA)—is priming for strike action following two years of contract negations with ZeniMax parent company Microsoft.
RTD, driver’s union reach tentative 3-year deal
CPR News
By Nathaniel Minor
April 2, 2025
The Regional Transportation District and its largest union have reached a tentative labor deal that will mean significant raises for the transit agency’s bus drivers, mechanics and other frontline workers. Union officials were not immediately available for comment. But a bulletin posted to the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001’s website said the 15.5 percent raise over three years is 1.5 percentage points higher than what RTD had offered. “Thanks to the ATU 1001 Membership standing up, showing up, and letting RTD hear from them, there was movement,” the bulletin said.
What's in the latest CTU-CPS proposed contract agreement
Axios
By Monica Eng
April 2, 2025
After a year of contentious negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates (HOD) will vote today on a proposed contract. Why it matters: Approval from the HOD would go a long way in convincing the CTU rank and file, who have the final say, to vote for the contract next week.
UC professional workers stage one-day strike. Why labor power matters now
KAZU
By Erin Malsbury and Elena Neale-Sacks
April 2, 2025
In today's newscast, thousands of professional and technical workers went on strike yesterday at UC campuses across the state, including at UC Santa Cruz. Plus, the director of the UCSC Center for Labor and Community discusses the importance of labor power at this political moment.
‘I’m ashamed to go here’: Wellesley non-tenure faculty strike continues, students voice support
The Daily Free Press
By Samantha Genzer and Eli Pekelny
April 1, 2025
As Wellesley College’s non-tenure track faculty strike entered its fifth day Monday, students and faculty gathered near the town’s Central Street, holding signs in support of the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers Union. “We believe, as students, that it’s just as important for us to be out here, to stand for our faculty, as it is for the faculty to stand up here for themselves,” said Wellesley senior Luca Quintana, as they held a poster that read “we support our faculty.”
Northwestern University dining hall staff strike paused, but no agreement reached
The Daily Northwestern
By Laura Horne
April 2, 2025
As Northwestern students return from Spring Break, University dining hall workers have temporarily paused their strike. The workers’ strike had been ongoing since March 10, demanding fairer wages and increased pension contributions. Dining workers’ previous contract between their union representative body, UNITE HERE Local 1, and NU’s food service provider, Compass Group, ended August 31.
Wichita Falls, IAFF Local 432 begins contract talks in April
Texomas
By Dylan Jimenez
April 1, 2025
Contract negotiations providing collective bargaining dates have been set between the City of Wichita Falls and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 432. The first day of open deliberations between the city and the association is Tuesday, April 22, at 1 p.m. May 8 and 9 have also been set for 9 a.m. on both days.
STATE LEGISLATION
America’s Only Half-Right-to-Work State May Finally Treat Unions Fairly
The American Prospect
By Brock Hrehor
April 3, 2025
“We’re looking for him to choose to stand with us and Colorado’s families over mega-corporations and billionaires and CEOs,” says Dennis Dougherty, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. “I don’t think he wants the moniker ‘Right-to-Work Polis’ hovering around him for the rest of his political career.” Colorado’s labor movement is continuing to apply pressure. On March 19, hundreds of Colorado Worker Rights United workers and supporters rallied in Denver to urge Polis to sign the act into law, and delivered thousands of postcards supporting the bill to his office.
Future of union organizing in Colorado remains fuzzy as legislative session enters home stretch
The Colorado Sun
By Jesse Paul
April 2, 2025
After about three months of negotiations, the future or union organizing in Colorado remains fuzzy as the 2025 lawmaking term slowly winds down. At stake is a roughly 80-year-old requirement in the Colorado Labor Peace Act that requires 75% of workers at a company to sign off before a union can begin discussions with an employer over union security. That’s when workers are forced to pay collective bargaining representation fees whether they are in a union or not.
IN THE STATES
Dropkick Murphys to play acoustic set at anti-Trump/Musk rally in Boston
Boston Globe
By Matt Juul
April 2, 2025
In addition to the acoustic set from the Dropkick Murphys, Senator Ed Markey will appear at the event, as will Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts; Chastity Bowick, founder of Trans Resistance; Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO; Jessica Tang, president of AFT Massachusetts; Jaya Savita, executive director of Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network; and Dr. Kylie Ariel Bemis, an athlete advocate for Rising Hearts.
Unions fearing federal cuts urge more funding at state Labor Dept.
The Chief
By Crystal Lewis
April 2, 2025
“New York is a leader in worker protections — that’s why we have to stand up to federal threats and make sure workers aren’t left behind. We are proud to stand with our allies in labor and community to urge the Governor to fund the Department of Labor and keep workers safe,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, which also signed the letter.
Northern California Public Media
By Suzanne Potter
April 2, 2025
More than 1,000 protests against the policies of President Donald Trump are set for Saturday across the country, with 117 planned in California alone. Locally, a group called Indivisible Sonoma County is planning a "Hands Off mass mobilization" for Santa Rosa's Courthouse Square from 3 to 5 p.m. Some of the groups involved in the protests include the Women's March, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Indivisible, MoveOn.org, Human Rights Campaign, the AFL-CIO and the League of Conservation Voters.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
Variety
By Matt Minton
April 2, 2025
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation has set up a fundraiser that calls for actors to bring their industry-related memorabilia and heirlooms to the union’s headquarters for an “Antiques Roadshow”-style appraisal. The charitable arm of the performers union has partnered with Heritage Auctions to help raise money for the foundation to mark its 40th anniversary. On May 3-4, the foundation will host “The Actors Auction,” a free two-day appraisal event held in the lobby of SAG-AFTRA’s mid-Wilshire headquarters in Los Angeles. All proceeds raised in the forthcoming auction will to go support the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.