Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Field hearing held in Davenport discusses Trump Administration’s cuts to federal agencies
KWQC
By Kate Kopatich and Brad Burton
April 22, 2025
“What we’re doing is really getting interviews from people being affected,” Fred Redmond, secretary treasurer with the national AFL-CIO, said. “People who’s being affected by the cuts and government service, the people that’s being affected by being released from their jobs for no apparent reason and we’re really trying to capture in the impact.”
Union members discuss Trump admin cuts to federal agencies in Davenport
WQAD
By Joe Habersham
April 22, 2025
"We wanna make sure that those programs continue to survive and thrive, so that the Iowa economy and the people of Iowa and the workers of Iowa can survive and thrive as well," Elissa McBride, secretary and treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said.
EPA to fire or reassign nearly 300 staffers working on environmental justice, DEI
The Washington Post
By Amudalat Ajasa
April 22, 2025
The Environmental Protection Agency has informed about 280 employees working on environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion that they will either be fired or reassigned, according to an agency spokesman, part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to reshape the agency.
Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Dismantle Voice of America
The New York Times
By Minho Kim
April 22, 2025
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America, a government-funded news organization that President Trump has accused of being biased against him, and mandated that its journalists be allowed to resume their work. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered the administration to halt its effort to shut down two other federally funded outlets, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
US judge blocks Trump's shutdown of government-funded news broadcasts
Reuters
By Dietrich Knauth
April 22, 2025
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, whose news broadcasts are funded by the government to export U.S. values to the world. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of U.S. Agency for Global Media, ordered the administration to "take all necessary steps" to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts.
Unions, lawmakers attempt to block Trump administration’s civil service overhaul
Federal News Network
By Drew Friedman
April 22, 2025
The Trump administration’s effort to create a new federal employment classification in the career civil service is likely about a month away from becoming reality. As the Office of Personnel Management moves forward with its new proposed regulations, lawmakers, federal unions, advocacy groups and other “good government” organizations have taken steps to try to push back against the administration’s broad workforce changes. Democracy Forward, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed two separate lawsuits in January against the Trump administration’s move to reclassify federal employees, which is similar to the previous “Schedule F” executive order from 2020.
United Steelworkers union still 'unalterably opposed' to US Steel-Nippon deal
Reuters
By Andrea Shalal
April 23, 2025
USW President David McCall told Bessent in a letter sent late on Monday that the union did not believe any mitigations offered during an initial Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of the deal answered its deep national security and economic concerns.
Watchdog Bars Staff from Investigating Federal Staff Firings
Bloomberg Law
By Courtney Rozen
April 22, 2025
The new head of a federal watchdog tasked with protecting federal workers’ rights ordered staff to halt investigations into the Trump administration’s firings, according to memos obtained by Bloomberg Law. Investigators and prosecutors at the Office of the Special Counsel, which prosecutes violations of civil service laws, should not communicate with federal agencies about dismissed employees, according to a memo Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer sent to the office’s staff on April 3.
Rubio Outlines Drastic Changes at State Department
The New York Times
By Edward Wong and Michael Crowley
April 22, 2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping reorganization of the State Department, calling the government’s diplomatic agency “bloated, bureaucratic” and “beholden to radical political ideology.” Mr. Rubio released the plan in the form of an organizational chart and a brief official statement, with few other details. The move is the latest by President Trump’s administration to downsize and reshape the government to a degree unseen in generations, which critics have called a shortsightedly blunt assault on the federal bureaucracy.
Trump administration proposes major shake-up of US State Department
Reuters
By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk
April 22, 2025
The Trump administration is proposing a major overhaul of the U.S. State Department that would eliminate more than 100 offices including some working on war crimes and rights advocacy to ensure the agency is in line with President Donald Trump's "America First" priorities. The plan, which Congress has been notified about, would eliminate 132 of the department's 734 bureaus and offices, an internal State Department memo seen by Reuters said. Undersecretaries will submit plans to reduce staff by 15%, the document added.
Interior secretary gives DOGE member with oil-industry ties power to remake department
Los Angeles Times
By Salvador Hernandez
April 22, 2025
A former oil executive and representative of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has been given wide authority to make significant changes to the Department of Interior, the agency tasked with overseeing national parks and more than 500 million acres of federal land. The move has alarmed conservation groups, including some that have accused Interior Secretary Doug Burgum of stepping aside to give Musk and his team “carte blanche” to possibly fire park rangers, public land managers and wildfire specialists across the country.
Labor Department to Lose 20% of Staff to Resignation Offers
Bloomberg Law
By Rebecca Rainey
April 22, 2025
Nearly one in five workers at the US Department of Labor opted to leave their jobs later this year as part of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, according to two DOL employees briefed on the matter. More than 2,700 of the DOL’s 14,578 employees agreed to voluntarily separate from the agency under the exit offer, which allows federal employees to receive pay and benefits through September if they resign, the employees said.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Deaths at work decreased slightly in 2023: report
Axios
By Maya Goldman
April 23, 2025
Fewer workers died on the job in 2023, though nearly 400 fatalities a day were still attributed to dangerous conditions, according to the latest installment of the AFL-CIO's annual health and safety report. The big picture: The findings, first shared with Axios, come as the Trump administration moves to eliminate nearly all roles at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's occupational safety arm and the only federal agency dedicated to researching worker health and safety, the union said. "The most recent policy decisions that we're seeing at the national level are only going to make the situation worse," said Rebecca Reindel, AFL-CIO's safety and health director.
NLRB
Ex-Labor Board Top Lawyer to Wear Two Hats in Private Practice
Bloomberg Law
By Robert Iafolla
April 22, 2025
Former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has two new jobs, working for the Communications Workers of America and a California-based law firm that represents unions. Abruzzo will serve as senior advisor to CWA President Claude Cummings, the union announced Tuesday. She worked at that union during her break from the NLRB during the first Trump administration. She’s also joining Bush Gottlieb as of counsel, the firm announced.
Google Dodges Joint Employer Bargaining Order Via Court Test
Bloomberg Law
By Robert Iafolla
April 22, 2025
Google LLC escaped a National Labor Relations Board order directing it to negotiate with a union representing contract workers it jointly employed through a now-expired contract for YouTube staffers. The NLRB case involving Google and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.’s shared responsibility to bargain was rendered moot when Google let its labor contracting deal with Cognizant run out, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday. Beyond vacating the board’s bargaining order, the court also voided the agency’s finding that the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary jointly employed the Cognizant workers. That holding could have helped the Alphabet Workers Union’s pending unfair labor practice charges filed against Google and Cognizant as joint employers that are related to the workers’ organizing.
ORGANIZING
Writers Guild West Staffers Launch Their Own Unionization Drive
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
April 22, 2025
Nearly two years ago, the Writers Guild of America launched a historic 148-day strike that shut down scriptwriting industry-wide, made picket lines a staple of the Los Angeles landscape and compelled CEOs to the bargaining table. While rank-and-file writers populated the picket lines and eventually voted through the strike-ending contract, much of the sturm und drang of that work stoppage was also facilitated by the work of internal union staffers in member organizing and legal departments (among others).
U of R grad student workers continue strike on campus
Spectrum News
BY Keegan Trunick and Spectrum News Staff
April 22, 2025
Graduate students at the University of Rochester continue to strike on Tuesday as they push for what they say is a fair process in efforts to form a union. The U of R Graduate Labor Union started the strike on Monday. The union organizing committee voted to authorize the strike earlier this month. The workers allege the school broke a signed commitment allowing them a fair unionization process.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Long Beach Convention Center operator reaches deal with union after wage complaint
Los Angeles Times
By Suhauna Hussain
April 23, 2025
The Southern California union representing hospitality workers has reached a deal to secure employment for about 100 workers at the Long Beach Convention Center. The agreement between United Here Local 11 and ASM Global, the company that operates the city-owned convention center, resolves a dispute that erupted last month after the union accused a subcontractor of underpaying workers and avoiding payroll taxes.
Wichita Falls firefighters, city begin collective bargaining talks
Times Record News
By Lynn Walker
April 22, 2025
The Wichita Falls Professional Firefighters Association began contract negotiations with city officials Tuesday as representatives of both sides gathered at the Multi-Purpose Events Center. A proposition approved by voters in November 2024 allows the union to bargain with the city but not to strike. Al Vitolo, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 432, read a proposed contract between the union and the city, saying much of it mirrors current policies.
With no contract in place, UMC nurses union plans third strike in one year on May Day
Nola.com
By Emily Woodruff
April 22, 2025
Nurses at University Medical Center in New Orleans will strike for the third time on May 1 as negotiations over a first union contract with LCMC Health continue without resolution. The nurses, represented by National Nurses United, previously held strikes in October 2024 and February of this year, each time citing concerns over staffing, pay, and workplace safety. Nurses said the hospital system has “tried to stall” negotiations in an effort to “wait us out,” according to bargaining committee member Heidi Tujague, an emergency department nurse. Tujague said patients would benefit from a contract that improves the hospital.
STATE LEGISLATION
Public labor unions pacing well in anti-collective bargaining referendum
ABC4
By Lindsay Aerts
April 22, 2025
New numbers released Tuesday in the referendum effort to overturn Utah’s ban on collective bargaining show the public labor unions are seeing strong returns in their attempt to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. Utah’s Election Office reports that the coalition, called Protect Utah Workers, turned in more than the 320,000 signatures the coalition initially said they had. While noting that their numbers are not exact, the office reports a total of 344,467 signatures turned in.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Returns May 10th
KNSI
By Jennifer Lewerenz
April 22, 2025
The largest single day food collection event in the country is returning for its 33rd year. The National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association are again hosting the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. It’s easy to participate. Postal customers are asked to leave a bag of nonperishable food items near their mailbox on May 10th. Letter carriers will pick up the bags during regular mail delivery times. Every item collected stays local.