Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Unions, local governments sue to block Trump administration’s workforce cuts
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
April 28, 2025
A coalition of labor unions, local governments and nonprofits sued the Trump administration in federal court Monday evening, seeking to block the U.S. DOGE Service’s federal workforce cuts because they lack approval from Congress. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argued that the administration’s “reduction in force” plans and reorganization of the federal government violate the Constitution’s separation of powers. The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — the largest federal workers union, representing more than 800,000 members — and other labor unions including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Trump Sued by Labor Unions Over Workforce Reduction Efforts
Bloomberg Law
By Quinn Wilson
April 28, 2025
President Donald Trump is exceeding his constitutional authority by ordering mass workforce reductions across federal agencies, a coalition of labor unions and local US governments alleged in a new lawsuit Monday. Trump’s February executive orders directing “large-scale” reductions in force violate the US Constitution’s separation of powers as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, the unions say in their complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs seek a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Trump from implementing the executive orders.
How Trump’s mass firings could quickly hollow out the Black middle class
Fast Company
By Mark Kreidler and Capital and Main
April 29, 2025
The AFGE and several other unions filed suit in federal district court in Northern California seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump’s mandate from taking effect. Caught in the middle, meanwhile, are hundreds of thousands of federal employees whose jobs are on the line, including Black workers who may have spent their entire careers in a single area of public-sector service.
Trump Order on Union Contracts Fails Legal Scrutiny, Judge Says
Bloomberg Law
By Parker Purifoy
April 28, 2025
A union representing more than 100,000 federal workers is likely to win its case alleging the Trump administration illegally rescinded collective bargaining rights for two-thirds of the federal workforce, a D.C. federal judge said. President Donald Trump’s executive order excluding federal employees from labor protections was unlawful because it sought to further “unrelated policy goals” and was designed to retaliate against unions that challenge the administration, Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said in an injunction opinion Monday in another legal setback for the administration.
DOGE Was Bad. Schedule F Will Be Worse.
The Atlantic
By Robert P. Beschel Jr.
April 28, 2025
Opponents of the expansive new executive order have been quick to respond. Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia, issued a joint statement: “President Trump has made it clear that he wants the power to hire and fire these workers based on their politics, not their qualifications—and that makes all of us less safe.” Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the move an attempt “to corrupt the federal government and replace qualified public servants with political cronies.” The National Treasury Employees Union already filed a lawsuit arguing that such a reclassification of federal workers violates Congress’s intent to establish broad protections for civil servants. Various good-governance groups have also come out against the rebranded Schedule F rule; the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service characterized it as “both misguided and counterproductive.”
Trump Recasts Mission of Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Office, Prompting ‘Exodus’
The New York Times
By Devlin Barrett
April 28, 2025
Traditionally the department has protected the constitutional rights of minority communities and marginalized people, often by monitoring police departments for civil rights violations, protecting the right to vote and fighting housing discrimination. Now, more than a dozen current and former civil rights division lawyers say, the new administration appears intent on not simply modifying the direction of the work, as has been typical during changeovers from a Democratic administration to a Republican one.
Democrats in Congress warn cuts at top US labor watchdog will be ‘catastrophic’
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
April 28, 2025
Democrats have warned that cuts to the US’s top labor watchdog threaten to render the organization “basically ineffectual” and will be “catastrophic” for workers’ rights. The so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has targeted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for cuts and ended its leases in several states. Representatives Bobby Scott, Mark DeSaulnier and Greg Casar have written to NLRB’s chair, Marvin Kaplan, and the acting general counsel, William Cowen, requesting answers on the cuts. “If the NLRB reduces its workforce and closes a number of regional offices, it will render the NLRB’s enforcement mechanism basically ineffectual, thereby chilling workers from exercising their rights to engage in union organizing and protected concerted activities,” they wrote.
In Just 100 Days, Trump Has Already Achieved One-Third of Project 2025 Agenda
Ms. Magazine
By Carrie N. Baker
April 28, 2025
In Trump’s first 100 days in office, he has achieved over one-quarter of Project 2025 policy recommendations eroding reproductive health and rights and is working on another 17 percent of these objectives. In the area of LGBTQIA rights, Trump has achieved over half of the Project 2025 policy objectives and is actively working to achieve another 20 percent. Items accomplished in just these two areas—reproductive rights/health and LGBTQI rights—comprise close to one-quarter of all that Trump has done so far to accomplish the Project 2025 agenda.
Dems stage 12-hour ‘moral moment’ at US Capitol, rejecting Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
WCCS Radio
By Staff
April 28, 2025
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., staged a sit-in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, taking a “moral moment” to reject President Donald Trump’s agenda as Congress returns to Washington to negotiate the “big, beautiful bill.” On the final day of the two-week congressional recess, Booker and Jeffries discussed their relationship with faith, invited Americans to share their experience of Trump’s first 100 days and sounded off on “what’s at stake with Trump’s budget.” The sit-in’s hours-long livestream had amassed hundreds of thousands of views on X and YouTube. Instead of church on Sunday, the Democratic leaders opted for a “sacred civic space” outside the Capitol for more than 12 hours. Activists and politicians joined the Democrats throughout the day, including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
100 DaysHow President Trump’s Second Term Is Changing the Federal Government
The New York Times
By Staff
April 28, 2025
There have never been 100 days like this. President Trump was sworn in for a second term in January intent on transforming America and its place in the world. From his first hours in office, he has relentlessly driven domestic, economic and foreign policy in risky new directions; taken a chain saw to the federal work force; challenged the authority of the courts; and sought to purge liberal influence from government, education and culture.
IMMIGRATION
Campus Unions Call on Harvard to Protect International Workers at Visitas Rally
The Harvard Crimson
By Hugo C. Chiasson and Amann S. Mahajan
April 27, 2025
More than 50 protesters supporting Harvard’s unions called on the University to protect non-citizen workers and draw on its endowment to ride out funding cuts at a Sunday rally in the Science Center Plaza. Labor organizers at the rally urged the University to ensure that non-citizen and time-capped workers would not face layoffs amid Trump administration’s threats to federal funding and international workers.
ORGANIZING
Penn research associates, postdocs file petition to unionize
The Daily Pennsylvanian
By Daniya Siddiqui
April 27, 2025
RAPUP will represent Penn’s postdoctoral researchers and research associates in bargaining with the university if a majority vote in favor of unionization. Organizers say they aim to negotiate improvements in wages, benefits, job security, and institutional support — especially for international scholars. The petition comes shortly after 1,600 postdoc researchers at Johns Hopkins University filed for union recognition. Both efforts are affiliated with the United Auto Workers, which represents more than 120,000 higher education workers nationwide.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
"Fed up" Los Angeles County workers set to hold two-day strike over contract negotiations
CBS News
By Lauren Pozen
April 28, 2025
Several Los Angeles County services could experience temporary interruptions when workers represented by the Service Employees International Union go on strike starting Monday night. SEIU 721 members will begin their strike at 7 p.m. on Monday and continue through 6:59 p.m. on Wednesday. "We are closely monitoring the situation and are preparing our operations for the strike's potential impact on library services," said Sky Patrick, a librarian for Los Angeles County. "In the event we have to temporarily close our libraries, we recommend customers access our Digital Library, which is open 24/7. We encourage customers to stay informed by checking our website for regular updates as the events unfold."
LA County union workers set to strike, alleging unfair labor practices
LAist
By Erin Stone
April 28, 2025
Tens of thousands of L.A. County workers plan to strike starting at 7 p.m. today through Wednesday. The action comes as the county's largest union — SEIU Local 721, which represents more than 55,000 county workers in 36 of 38 departments — has been in contract negotiations with the county for months. The union contract for healthcare professionals, social workers, public works employees, custodians and others expired in March. The strike is expected to disrupt or delay some public services.
About 55,000 L.A. County workers go on strike, disrupting services
Los Angeles Times
By Rebecca Ellis
April 28, 2025
About 55,000 L.A. County workers walked off their jobs Monday night, disrupting public services from healthcare and social work to libraries and parks. Leaders of SEIU Local 721 said the two-day strike started at 7 p.m. Monday, sparked by what they characterized as a failure by the county to fairly negotiate a new contract. “Clearly, they thought they were above the law. They thought we would never strike,” said union head David Green in a statement. “They thought wrong.”
NCCC, IBB Ratify National Agreement
Railway Age
By Carolina Worrell
April 28, 2025
The National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) on April 25 announced that members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) have voted to ratify a national collective bargaining agreement, marking the eighth national agreement ratified in the 2025 bargaining round. The ratified IBB agreement follows the pattern set by dozens of local and national agreements ratified as part of the 2025 bargaining round, according to NCCC.
UAW Local 291 remains on strike in Oshkosh
The Advance-Titan
By Anya Kelley
April 28, 2025
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 291 line High Avenue in front of the cream colored brick Cummins factory holding signs declaring “UAW on strike” for unfair labor practices. The strikers, bundled up to beat the spring cold snap, mill up and down the road waving at passing cars and cheering when someone honks their horn. The wind whips through the bushes lining the building.
JOINING TOGETHER
Labor Actions Heat Up With Minnesota Grocers
Progressive Grocer
By Lynn Petrak
April 28, 2025
Grocery worker issues are bubbling up in Minnesota, ahead of the labor-centric May Day this week. On April 27, around 200 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 and supporters attended a rally outside a Lunds & Byerlys store in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina alongside the state’s Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat.
STATE LEGISLATION
Referendum to repeal anti-union law meets threshold to qualify for 2026 ballot
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Robert Gehrke
April 28, 2025
Labor groups have met the requirements to put a measure on the 2026 ballot to repeal a law banning police, firefighters and teachers unions from representing their members in contract negotiations. As of Monday morning, the referendum backers had reached their target in the required 15 senate districts, in addition to the 146,480 verified signatures statewide, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.
IN THE STATES
Healthcare leaders rally in Albany against federal funding cuts
CBS6
By Sean Cavanaugh
April 26, 2025
Healthcare industry leaders and union representatives gathered at the Albany Labor Temple on Saturday to protest federal funding cuts they say threaten jobs, patient care, and essential services. The rally was organized in response to policies and proposals from the Trump administration that they argue negatively impact healthcare services and workers.
May Day protesters rally in downtown Dallas against Trump policies on labor rights
The Dallas Morning News
By Julia James and Zacharia Washington
April 27, 2025
Organizers from several groups in the coalition that planned the event, including the Dallas AFL-CIO, Texas Alliance for Retired Americans and the Palestinian Youth Movement, spoke about the importance of coming together and fighting back against attacks on working class people.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Deaths on the Job Continue, Says AFL-CIO
EHS Today
By Staff
April 28, 2025
The AFL-CIO released its 34th annual “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” on April 23. The report analyzes the state of workers’ health and safety at the national and state levels. The union says that the fundamental right of every worker to come home safe at the end of their workday is under attack. “Workers fought and died for generations for the health and safety laws and protections we have today, and this year’s report shows we need to do even more," said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, in a statement.
Workers Memorial Day reminds us to remember the dead and fight for the living (Opinion)
Alabama Political Reporter
By Adam Keller
April 28, 2025
Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, promising every worker the right to a safe job. Working people and their unions have fought to make that promise real, winning life-saving protections and forcing employers to take safety more seriously. Those victories have saved countless lives and prevented numerous injuries. But the fight isn’t over. Every single day, roughly 385 U.S. workers die from work-related injuries and illnesses. And these usually aren’t freak accidents. They are often preventable tragedies caused by employers cutting corners, politicians refusing to act, or regulators not being staffed or empowered to do the work.
Worker protection structure under threat
Minot Daily News
By Landis Larson
April 26, 2025
This week is Workers Memorial Day, April 28th, a day when working families, union members and labor leaders come together to remember each worker killed, injured and sickened from their jobs, and to organize for an end to these preventable deaths of our brothers and sisters. This is a time for us to organize for a safer future for all workers. The workplace protections we have today exist because workers organized, fought and died for them. Yet each day in the United States, 360 workers lose their lives due to their job — 14 a day from injury alone — and millions more suffer from work-related injuries or illnesses.
West Virginia honors fallen workers, calls for better protection at Workers Day Memorial
WTOV
By Olivia Zinn
April 28, 2025
The West Virginia AFL-CIO hosted its 37th annual Workers Day Memorial on Monday, emphasizing the theme "Fight for Our Lives." The event mourned the loss of eight West Virginians who died on the job last year, spanning industries from coal mining to transportation. "The children now don't have a father, right, or the wife is now a widow and she didn't plan on this. She might be 20 years old or 25 years old or whatever. Maybe she doesn't work and now has to find a job. The entire world gets turned upside down," said Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America.
Worker deaths were down in Mass. in 2024, but advocates say rate is still ‘alarming'
NBC Boston
By Chris Lisinski
April 28, 2025
Forty-eight Massachusetts workers died on the job in 2024, a decline from 2023 but still what workplace safety advocates described as "alarming rates" as they called for new state protections. The annual report from the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and the Mass. AFL-CIO counted 40 people who died from traumatic injuries at work last year and eight firefighters who died from occupational-related disease. Authors pointed to another 21 worker deaths by suicide or fatal overdoses, a figure they said could rise as more cases are identified.
Labor groups mark Workers Memorial Day to highlight workplace deaths
Wisconsin Examiner
By Erik Gunn
April 28, 2025
Of the 112 Wisconsin worker deaths in 2023, 15 were from assaults and other violent acts, 37 from transportation incidents, 17 from falls, 19 from exposures to harmful substances or environments, and 23 from “contact with objects or equipment,” according to the AFL-CIO. “Every worker in Wisconsin has the right to a safe job,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale. “We need collective bargaining rights and strong unions for all to best ensure that safety concerns are adequately and timely addressed in the workplace.” Union groups around Wisconsin held events, including in Madison, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Wausau.
Mishawaka hosts Workers Memorial Day observance
WNDU
By WNDU.com
April 28, 2025
Brett Voorhies of Indiana’s AFL-CIO made a plea for improved workplace safety. “The state of Indiana, we’re one of the lowest states in the country that has a lack of inspectors,” Voorhies said. “They are supposed to be going out through IOSHA and inspect every single work site when necessary. Whether it is sickness on the job, whether it’s hurt on the job. And there is a number of things that we could be working with our government to make sure our workplaces are safe.” Voorhies was among a large contingent of labor leaders representing the unions of the Northern Indiana Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
Dozens of people gather in honor of Workers Memorial Day in North Carolina
CBS17
By Brea Hollingsworth
April 28, 2025
More than 100 North Carolinians who lost their lives on the job were honored Monday for Workers Memorial Day. Dozens of local workers, union members and others gathered at Bicentennial Plaza in Raleigh calling for stricter standards when it comes to workers’ safety. They rang a bell 177 times, one for each person in North Carolina who died while on the job in 2023, according to the most recent data.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Texas Standard
By Sarah Asch
April 28, 2025
Senior citizens and elected officials in the Houston area have been raising alarm bells over longer wait times on the phone and in person at social security offices. On the phone, many folks are waiting more than two hours just to speak with someone. And in person, it’s not uncommon for people to wait for four hours when visiting a social security office. Many worry recent cutbacks in Washington will exacerbate this – with more staff cuts and potential slashes to benefits. Joel Smith is the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Union, Local 3184 in the Houston area. He spoke with Texas Standard.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
SAG-AFTRA National Board Overwhelmingly Approves Commercials Contracts Deal
Deadline
By Natalie Oganesyan
April 27, 2025
SAG-AFTRA’s National Board overwhelmingly approved 2025’s Commercials Contracts tentative agreements reached with the Joint Policy Committee April 12, meaning the agreements will now move on to the membership for ratification. The decision, made at the regularly scheduled, two-day, in-person assembly, yielded a deal valued at an increase of $218.4 million in new earnings and benefit plan contributions over three years. If ratified, the agreements would provide compounded increases in performer compensation at a rate of 5% in year one, 4% in year two and 3% in year three.
Stephanie Ruhle Sets MSNBC Primetime Special With Laid-Off Federal Workers
The Hollywood Reporter
By Alex Weprin
April 28, 2025
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle will host a primetime special featuring an audience of federal workers whose jobs were slashed by DOGE. “100 Days of Trump: A Town Hall With Forced Out Federal Workers,” will air Thursday, May 1 at 9 p.m. “It has been like drinking from a fire hose, whether it’s executive orders, deportations, tariffs, and what’s happened to all the federal workers because of the DOGE situation,” Ruhle tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “We thought DOGE and this enormous impact on federal workers would be a great way for us to press pause and show people what’s happening.”