Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
America’s Labor Unions Are Souring on Trump
Slate
By Steven Greenhouse
May 5, 2025
But now, five weeks later, it’s abundantly clear that most unions are angry as hell about Trump 2.0. “We’ve been facing a barrage of attacks from the administration,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main union federation, in an interview. “They’re slashing jobs. They’re ripping up union contracts. They’re cutting services. Trump’s delivered on nothing that he promised. We would say his scorecard is a fail.” Trump’s anti-union moves have come faster and been vaster than labor leaders had anticipated. He and Elon Musk have fired tens of thousands of federal workers while ignoring job protections in their union contracts. Trump dismissed the chair of the National Labor Relations Board well before her term ended, leaving the board without a quorum to function. He issued an executive order to destroy collective bargaining rights for 1 million federal employees. “That’s the biggest assault against labor in our history,” Shuler said.
The Bulwark
By Adrian Carrasquillo
May 2, 2025
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler highlighted Abrego Garcia’s case as well as that of Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk in a statement, while condemning President Donald Trump’s unlawful overreach. “The Trump administration also has illegally targeted our fellow workers—union members like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was separated from his family in Maryland and sent to a prison in El Salvador without due process, and Rümeysa Öztürk, detained while walking to dinner in Massachusetts and thrown into a detention center thousands of miles away, despite neither of them having committed a crime,” Shuler said, before invoking a well-known labor slogan. “An injury to one is an injury to all. When Trump targets immigrant families like Kilmar’s and Rümeysa’s, he targets all workers.”
Federal Cuts to VA Would be Devastating, Union Leaders Warn
Midcoast Villager
By Daniel Dunkle
May 2, 2025
The question was rhetorical, but the answer was resounding. “Does it make sense to anybody here to gut jobs at the Togus VA Medical Center, 20 minutes from here, so that it's harder for our heroes to get their health care?” Asked national AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler asked. “Does it make sense to do those things in the name of government efficiency just to give billionaires another tax cut that they don't need?” “Hell no!” replied the more than 50 veterans and union workers gathered April 30 in Augusta.
POLITICS
Trump proposes $163 billion cut to federal budget
Reuters
By Andrea Shalal, James Oliphant and Bo Erickson
May 2, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Friday proposed a $163 billion cut to federal spending next year, which would eliminate more than a fifth of the non-military spending excluding mandatory benefit programs. The proposed budget would raise defense spending by 13% and homeland security spending by nearly 65% from 2025 enacted levels. Non-defense discretionary spending would be cut by 23% to the lowest level since 2017, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
White House budget calls for $163 billion in federal cuts next year
The Washington Post
By Jeff Stein and Jacob Bogage
May 2, 2025
The White House released a partial budget proposal Friday calling for $163 billion in cuts to federal spending in the next fiscal year, pushing reductions to health care, education and many other government programs while boosting spending on defense and homeland security. The White House’s 2026 fiscal budget plan would codify for next year many of the spending cuts already unilaterally implemented this year by President Donald Trump or billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service. The administration has struggled to convince Republicans in Congress to enshrine even a small portion of those cuts into law, and the courts have also ordered the White House to resume much of the spending, leaving the fate of the changes unclear for now.
Funds for Low-Income Students Are on the Chopping Block in Trump’s Budget
The New York Times
By Michael C. Bender
May 2, 2025
President Trump’s budget proposal would shrink the Education Department, which he has called on Congress to eliminate, by slashing its funding by 15 percent, or $12 billion. The most significant chunk of that reduction, about $4.5 billion, would come from the Title I budget for high-poverty schools, a cut of nearly 25 percent at a time when the rate of children living in poverty in America is on the rise. The administration said this reduction would come from a plan to provide “streamlined, flexible funding to the states” and relieve the federal government of the responsibility of administering the money and enforcing compliance.
Trump’s Budget Calls for Deep Cuts to Public Health Programs and Research
The New York Times
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
May 2, 2025
Two of President Trump’s favorite targets — the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — will have their funding cut nearly in half under Mr. Trump’s proposed budget, which also wipes out a $4.1 billion program that helps low-income Americans pay their heating and cooling bills.
Left in limbo: How federal workers still on the job are coping with chaos
CNN
By Eric Bradner, Tami Luhby, Sarah Owermohle, Sunlen Serfaty, Brian Todd and Marshall Cohen
May 2, 2025
More than 100 days into Donald Trump’s presidency, many federal workers have decided to do something that was unthinkable on inauguration day: quit their jobs. As the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency cuts budgets and headcounts across the government, a workforce used to job security is now beset by low morale and deep uncertainty. Among those who’ve been fired or quit are tens of thousands of highly trained experts and specialists, draining the agencies of their knowledge base. Deeper cuts are likely to come.
'It makes me feel angry': Workers forced out by Trump and Musk speak at MSNBC town hall (Video)
MSNBC
May 1, 2025
Federal workers who were forced out of their jobs by President Trump and Elon Musk speak out in a live MSNBC town hall — “100 Days of Trump: Forced Out Federal Workers.” See the workers talk with Stephanie Ruhle and Jacob Soboroff about their experience and what these actions mean for all Americans.
Public media executives push back against Trump targeting NPR and PBS: ‘Blatantly unlawful’
Politico
By Juan Benn Jr.
May 2, 2025
Public media executives are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s late Thursday executive order seeking to strike federal funding for NPR and PBS, arguing it is unlawful. Trump’s Thursday order directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private nonprofit that Congress awards more than $500 million annually to fund public media, to “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law” to NPR and PBS.
Trump Signs Executive Order Directing Federal Funding Cuts to PBS and NPR
The Hollywood Reporter
By Associated Press
May 2, 2025
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting. The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
Trump signs order to cut federal funding for NPR, PBS broadcasters
Reuters
By Kanishka Singh and Karen Freifeld
May 2, 2025
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS, two U.S. broadcasters that rely partially on government financial support, his administration's latest effort to sanction institutions it views as opposed to his political agenda. The order, announced late on Thursday, instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding to the PBS television and NPR radio networks, to "cease direct funding" them.
Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from dismantling library services agency
AP
By Michael Kunzelman
May 2, 2025
A federal judge agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from taking any more steps to dismantle an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the U.S. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled Thursday that plaintiffs who sued to preserve the Institute of Museum and Library Services are likely to show that the Republican administration doesn’t have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the agency, which Congress created. The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit last month to stop the administration from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as “unnecessary.”
Judge Halts Trump’s Cuts to Museum and Library Funding Agency
Hyperallergic
By Isa Farfan
May 2, 2025
As Trump threatens to eliminate government-funded arts and culture agencies in a newly released budget proposal, a federal judge has temporarily halted the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Thursday, May 1, after a series of cuts to IMLS grants and staff intended to dismantle the agency. The ruling responds to a lawsuit filed last month by the American Library Association (ALA) and the union group American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO), which alleges that the Trump administration cannot dismantle the agency without congressional approval and that doing so would cause “irreparable harm.”
Trump turns to Supreme Court in bid to allow DOGE access to Social Security data
Reuters
By John Kruzel
May 2, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to intervene in its bid to allow the Elon Musk-spearheaded Department of Government Efficiency unfettered access to the U.S. Social Security Administration data of millions of Americans. The Justice Department asked the justices to put on hold a federal judge's order that halted the agency from giving DOGE access after finding the data-sharing arrangement likely violated a federal privacy law.
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
May 3, 2025
A “catastrophic” exodus of thousands of employees from the US Department of Labor threatens “all of the core aspects of working life”, insiders have warned, amid fears that the Trump administration will further slash the agency’s operations. The federal agency has already lost about 20% of its workforce, according to employees, as nearly 2,700 staff took retirement, early retirement, deferred resignation buyouts or “fork in the road” departures earlier this year. Remaining workers fear further cuts are on the way, as the threat of a mass “reduction in force” firing looms large after a February order from the White House for agencies to draw up “reorganization” plans.
Actors’ Equity Condemns Trump’s Plan to Defund the National Endowment for the Arts
Broadway World
By A.A. Cristi
May 2, 2025
Actors' Equity Association is raising alarm over President Donald Trump’s latest budget proposal, which calls for the elimination of federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and other cultural agencies. The NEA’s current appropriation—just $207 million, or less than $1 per American—is once again on the chopping block, echoing annual proposals made during Trump’s previous administration.
Trump proposes eliminating the NEA and NEH as arts grants are canceled
The Washington Post
By Samantha Chery
May 3, 2025
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, reviving his failed first-term attempts to scrap the grantmaking agencies as he moves to reshape the nation’s artistic and cultural landscape.
AFM Local 802 Union President Decries Trump Termination Of NEA Grants
Broadway World
By A.A. Cristi
May 3, 2025
Musicians union AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann has issued a statement following the news that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is cancelling grants following President Trump's attempt to eliminate the NEA: “This is a dark day for the independence of the arts and musicians across the country – and it is an attack on American excellence and creativity. NEA grants have been crucial in establishing the American artistic sector as the premier in the world, providing predictable funding for employers in a world of unpredictability. Communities across our nation will be worse off with dwindling resources for musicals, plays, and other performances that were made possible with NEA funding. Importantly, the elimination of these grants is going to hurt arts workers the most, and ultimately, it's going to mean fewer shows, jobs, and economic activity.
US court halts ruling ordering Voice of America employees back to work
Reuters
By David Shepardson
May 3, 2025
A federal appeals court on Saturday blocked a ruling, opens new tab that had ordered the Trump administration to return more than 1,000 Voice of America employees back to work. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on April 22 ordered the administration to "take all necessary steps" to restore employees and contractors to their positions at the U.S. news service and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts and some grants.
V.O.A. Reporters Are Set to Return to Work, but Court Ruling Clouds Next Steps
The New York Times
By Tim Balk
May 3, 2025
Voice of America, which for eight decades brought news to corners of the globe where reliable journalism was scarce, went dark in March after the Trump administration cut its funding and put its workers on leave. But next week, journalists for the organization, a U.S.-funded international news broadcaster, are expected to return to work, its director said, after a decision in federal district court ordering it to resume programming.
After paying people to leave, one federal agency is scrambling to fill positions
NPR
By Andrea Hsu
May 3, 2025
As the Trump administration marches forward with its plan to dramatically slash the federal workforce, agencies are bidding farewell to employees who have agreed to resign now in exchange for pay and benefits through September. But at least one agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is already scrambling to fill some of those newly vacant roles, according to internal communications obtained by NPR.
Proposed retirement cuts cast renewed pall over deferred resignations
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
May 2, 2025
The advancement of a series of proposals to cut federal workers’ retirement benefits in the House this week has revived long-simmering worries about the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program among employees who have accepted or are still considering the so-called ‘fork in the road.’ The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted mostly along party lines Wednesday to advance its portion of Republicans’ budget reconciliation legislation, a broad effort to reduce spending to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and expanded defense and immigration enforcement.
Republicans in Congress Use Obscure Law to Roll Back Biden-Era Regulations
The New York Times
By Maya C. Miller
May 3, 2025
As President Trump moves unilaterally to slash the federal bureaucracy and upend longstanding policies, Republicans in Congress have embarked on a spree of deregulation, using an obscure law to quietly but steadily chip away at Biden-era rules they say are hurting businesses and consumers. In recent weeks, the G.O.P. has pushed through a flurry of legislation to cancel regulations on matters large and small, from oversight of firms that emit toxic pollutants to energy efficiency requirements for walk-in freezers and water heaters.
Trump 'shows an openness' to Medicaid work requirements, committee chair says
Reuters
By Leah Douglas
May 4, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump "shows an openness" to work requirements for Medicaid, Jason Smith, chair of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, said on Fox News Sunday, as lawmakers try to agree on spending cuts to partly offset the cost of a sweeping tax-cut bill. Congressional Republicans are weighing steep cuts to Medicaid in their efforts to piece together a landmark tax-cut bill they hope to enact by July 4.
V.A. Mental Health Care Staff, Crowded into Federal Buildings, Raise Patient Privacy Alarms
The New York Times
By Ellen Barry and Nicholas Nehamas
May 4, 2025
“People walking by can hear everything that’s going on,” said Bill Frogameni, an acute care psychiatric nurse at the Miami V.A. hospital and director of the local chapter of the National Nurses United union, referring to the patient intake setup in a V.A. outpatient facility in Homestead, Fla., outside Miami.
Worker safety agency NIOSH lays off most remaining staff
CBS News
By Alexander Tin
May 3, 2025
Nearly all of the remaining staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health were laid off Friday, multiple officials and laid-off employees told CBS News, gutting programs ranging from approvals of new safety equipment to firefighter health. Much of the work at NIOSH, an arm of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had already stalled after an initial round of layoffs on April 1 at the agency ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Politico
By Andres Picon
May 5, 2025
Conservative Republicans have spent more than a decade working toward a wholesale rollback of federal regulations — and now they think they have the legislative battle plan to make it happen. Advocates of the rule-shredding proposal are seeking to give their legislation a coveted spot in the GOP’s party-line energy, tax and border security megabill, a maneuver that would defuse the filibuster threat that has repeatedly thwarted their dreams. They say they have spent the better part of the past year crafting ways to ensure their latest iteration can pass muster in the Senate.
MAY DAY
Large crowd gathers at Anchorage’s Park Strip for May Day rally
Anchorage Daily News
By Chris Bieri
May 2, 2025
Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, said the rally was important as a support system as well as to communicate to elected officials many Alaskans’ dissatisfaction with how workers have been treated. “Today, my heart is thinking about federal workers who have lost their right for collective bargaining,” she said. “With the stroke of a pen, decades of protections (have disappeared). These are our neighbors who have lost their jobs. And for what? To give a tax benefit to who? This is just insanity.”
May Day protests in Alaska seek to send message to Trump Administration
Alaska’s News Source
By Olivia Nordyke
May 1, 2025
In another wave of statewide protests, Alaskans are demonstrating their discontent on May Day. Historically, May Day represented workers and honored their labor, according to the Associated Press. In recent years, the first of May has also been used for demonstrations over economic conditions and better rights for workers. Some of the demands relayed on Thursday have included a stop to federal layoffs and reinstatement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies.
Anchorage May Day rally draws hundreds to downtown park strip
Alaska Public Media
By Wesley Early
May 1, 2025
Hundreds gathered in the rain at Anchorage’s Delaney Park Strip as part of a national rally for May Day on Thursday night. The main theme of the event was to support workers, with a focus on health care, education and other union laborers, but many took the opportunity to criticize the Trump administration.
Thousands gather across Pennsylvania for May Day rallies
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
By John Cole and Ian Karbal
May 2, 2025
Pennsylvania’s capital and largest city were home to May Day rallies on Thursday – as people took to the streets to protest President Donald Trump’s economic, social, and immigration policies. A few thousand traveled to Philadelphia on a warm Thursday afternoon to celebrate a “Workers over Billionaires” rally, hosted by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, featuring U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Daniel Bauder, President of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, described Philadelphia as the “birthplace of America’s labor movement.”
‘Courage is contagious’: About 600 gather for Fargo May Day event
Minnesota Reformer
By Erin Hemme Froslie
May 2, 2025
A day for bringing attention to organized labor and worker rights extended into an opportunity to denounce President Donald Trump’s agenda and expansion of executive power. Around 600 demonstrators attended a May Day event in Fargo-Moorhead Thursday. Holding signs that addressed topics from demands for due process for deported immigrants to concerns about cuts to Social Security, they stood in the rain on the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Activists emphasized importance of standing in solidarity with union workers
KOMO
By Karina Vargas
May 4, 2025
Hundreds of demonstrators filled the streets of downtown Olympia on May 3, rallying for workers' rights, healthcare access, and immigrant protections. The "All Labor March," organized by local labor leaders, began at the Tivoli Fountain on the Capitol Campus and concluded at Sylvester Park. “We want to get behind these union folks here too. We depend on them here, they’re bringing a lot of good job and good quality work," said James Elsner an activist who attended the protest.
Georgia workers unite, demand more rights at May Day labor rally
Georgia Public Broadcasting
By Amanda Andrews
May 2, 2025
Hundreds of workers and union members from around the state gathered at the Georgia state Capitol on Thursday for a May Day labor rally. The event was part of a national day of labor organizing. The rally began with a variety of speakers from farm laborers to baristas to teachers all stressing the importance of solidarity and workers’ rights. Speaker Katie Giede represented the Union of Southern Service Workers. She said they’re pushing back against the idea that all fast food workers are teenagers who don’t need benefits.
IMMIGRATION
Trump, in a new interview, says he doesn’t know if he backs due process rights
AP
By Aamer Madhani
May 4, 2025
President Donald Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he does not know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee.
SUPREME COURT
US Supreme Court Justice Jackson criticizes Trump's attacks on judges
Reuters
By Kanishka Singh
May 2, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said on Thursday attacks by Republican President Donald Trump and his allies on judges were "not random" and seemed "designed to intimidate the judiciary." U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump in March for urging the impeachment of a federal judge, laying bare tensions between the country's executive and the judiciary as Trump's sweeping assertions of power encounter judicial obstacles.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs as job market shows resilience. Unemployment stays at 4.2%
The Washington Post
By Paul Wiseman
May 2, 2025
Friday’s report showed employment, one of the strongest aspects of the U.S. economy, remains solid, yet many economists anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers and potentially, President Trump.
US federal employment drops again as DOGE cuts stack up
Reuters
By Reuters
May 2, 2025
The ranks of U.S. government workers fell for a fourth straight month in April with non-postal employment falling by 8,500 as President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk aim for drastic cuts in the federal workforce. With the latest reductions, reported on Friday in the monthly nonfarm payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, federal government non-U.S. Postal Service employment has declined by more than 23,000 so far this year. That makes Trump the most aggressive president in cutting the federal workforce since Ronald Reagan, who oversaw a reduction of about 46,000 in early 1981.
NLRB
"Whole Foods lost, the workers won": NLRB officer sides with union in certification fight
Salon
By Charles R. Davis
May 2, 2025
ANational Labor Relations Board report has dealt a setback to union-busting efforts by Amazon, a regional hearing officer rejecting the company's arguments that workers at a Whole Foods in Philadelphia should not be afforded the right to collectively bargain. In January, a majority of employees at Whole Foods' flagship Philadelphia location voted to join a union. Prior to the vote, a spokesperson for Whole Foods Market, which Amazon acquired in 2017, had said the company "recognizes the rights of our Team Members to make an informed decision on whether union representation is right for them."
ORGANIZING
Production Assistants, Seeing Work Dwindle, View a Union as Their Future
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
May 2, 2025
But one group believes longstanding norms around these roles can and should change. For a bit less than a year, Production Assistants United has been taking steps to unionize these workers nationwide with the backing of Burbank-based LiUNA Local 724, which represents electricians, plumbers and carpenters on Hollywood productions. Organizers are aiming to increase wages, enshrine turnaround times and provide access to union health benefits — in other words, to give these workers some of the same benefits as their union colleagues on set.
Utah has its first union of library workers, capping big week for public-sector labor groups
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Jose Davila IV
May 2, 2025
Utah has its first union of public library employees. Salt Lake City library workers voted overwhelmingly, 92% of eligible employees to be exact, to form a union this week. The election caps a big week for public union organizers in the Beehive State after a referendum effort to overturn a bill that would prohibit public-sector collective bargaining gathered enough signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot. “We, as workers, are looking forward to negotiating our first contract,” associate librarian Christina Ordonez said in a news release. “We’ve always been here for our community, and we finally have the tools to advocate for ourselves and for each other.”
Employees at Austin Alamo Drafthouse Location Vote to Unionize
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
May 3, 2025
Another Alamo Drafthouse theater is poised to go union. On Friday, a majority of eligible employees at the Sony-owned theater chain’s Slaughter Lane location in Austin, Texas voted to affiliate with the United Auto Workers in a National Labor Relations Board election, according to union organizers. Workers voted 52-16 to join the UAW, with 94 percent of those eligible participating in the election. The results are still pending certification from the NLRB, which would make the union official.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Volkswagen and UAW at odds over contract negotiations in Chattanooga
News Channel 9
By Ray Collado
May 1, 2025
Contract negotiations between Volkswagen and workers who voted to join the United Auto Workers Union continue to face challenges. That's as both sides remain at an impasse over key issues. Union officials and Chattanooga Area Labor Council members gathered on Thursday to rally support for a fair contract.
Deadline
By Katie Campione
May 2, 2025
The Writers Guild of America East did not mince its words when addressing the news that Vox Media had sold video game website Polygon, reportedly resulting in mass layoffs. Pointing out that there was only about a month left on the current contract between the WGAE and Vox Media, the union called Polygon an “essential part of what has made Vox Media a profitable and top-tier online media company.” “It is hard to fathom management’s commitment to its workers and its readers when this marks the fifth round of layoffs in just the last six months,” the WGAE statement continued.
Unionized workers at PeaceHealth announce five-day strike
My Bellingham Now
By Jason Upton
May 2, 2025
Over 1,000 unionized workers at PeaceHealth are going on strike. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will hold a five-day, joint picket starting Monday, May 12. The two unions represent physicians, advanced practice clinicians, service workers, lab assistants and imaging technicians at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.
SMART-TD members ratify agreement with Keolis
Trains Magazine
By Trains Staff
May 3, 2025
Conductors and assistant conductors have ratified a new five-year agreement with the contract operators of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter trains. Some 92% of members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division, or 359 out of 387 who cast ballots, voted in favor of the agreement with Keolis Commuter Services, the union announced.
CT-based jet-engine maker Pratt & Whitney announces contract offer for machinists
CT Post
By Paul Schott
May 3, 2025
Jet-engine maker Pratt & Whitney announced Saturday the terms of the new three-year contract it is offering to machinists in Connecticut, with the proposed terms including wage increases and larger pension and 401(k) plan payments. “Late last night, Pratt & Whitney concluded negotiations with IAM (the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) and provided an offer that generously compensates our workforce while ensuring P&W can grow in Connecticut and stay competitive in a challenging market,” Pratt & Whitney officials said in a written statement on Saturday. “Our message to union leaders has been simple: higher pay, better retirement savings, more days off and more flexibility.”
Pratt & Whitney workers vote to strike for 'fair contract' after rejecting company's offer
Fox61
By Sean Humphrey
May 4, 2025
Pratt & Whitney union workers said they voted to go on strike beginning Monday to "fight for a fair contract" after rejecting an offer from the company. The Pratt & Whitney International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM, said that 3,000 members of the IAM Union Locals 700, in Middletown, and 1746, in East Hartford, rejected a proposed three-year employment contract from the company.
Thousands of machinists at Pratt & Whitney vote to go on strike
NBC Connecticut
By Staff
May 4, 2025
Thousands of machinists at Pratt & Whitney have voted to go on strike on Monday. Union officials said over 3,000 members of Machinist (IAM) Locals 700 and 1746 are going on strike at Pratt & Whitney's Middletown and East Hartford plants. They are reportedly citing inadequate wage increases, weakening of their retirement benefits, rising health insurance costs and a lack of job security commitments. “For months, we have negotiated in good faith with Pratt & Whitney in hopes of reaching a fair contract that reflects the billions in profits our members make for the company,” said Wayne McCarthy, President of IAM Local 700.
Chattanooga is a union town (Opinion)
Chattanooga Times Free Press
By Jaclyn Michael, Geoffrey Meldahl and Eric Atkins
May 4, 2025
Chattanooga is a union town. At one time boasting a union density of around 40% of the work force, our city has been the center of innumerable hard fights and historic victories for wages, safety and dignity at work. In 1916 and 1917, street car operators staged multiple strikes for union recognition. Supported by thousands of Chattanoogans standing in solidarity, they battled strike-breakers sent by the Philadelphia-based company and won their way to the negotiating table.
IN THE STATES
Cherokee Dems Host 'People's Town Hall' with State Lawmakers
Cherokee Tribune
By Staff
May 2, 2025
The Cherokee County Democrats and the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council of AFL-CIO hosted a town hall with Democratic state lawmakers Thursday night, giving constituents the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns. Organizers reported over 450 residents from Cherokee County and north Georgia attended “The People’s Town Hall” at Allen Temple AME Church in Woodstock.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
UMWA’s Cecil E. Roberts condemns “cowardly” layoffs at NIOSH, warns of severe worker safety risks
WV News
By WV News Staff Reports
May 3, 2025
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts is strongly condemning the sudden layoffs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), calling the move “cowardly” and warning of dire consequences for worker safety, especially among coal miners. In a sharply worded statement released Saturday, Roberts denounced the layoffs, which he said took place at 6:30 p.m. Friday without warning.
“What happened at NIOSH last night is nothing short of shameful,” Roberts said. “Telling hardworking, dedicated employees that they no longer have a job at 6:30 on a Friday night — after the workday is done and with no forewarning — is cowardly, heartless, and utterly unacceptable.”
WOWK 13
By Christian Meffert
May 3, 2025
On Saturday, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued a statement in response to Friday’s layoffs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). “What happened at NIOSH last night is nothing short of shameful. Telling hardworking, dedicated employees that they no longer have a job at 6:30 on a Friday night — after the workday is done and with no forewarning — is cowardly, heartless, and utterly unacceptable. “Let me be clear: this is not just an attack on jobs. This is an attack on the very foundation of worker safety in the United States of America. The dismantling of the Respiratory Disease Division at NIOSH is not just a bureaucratic shuffle. It is the elimination of our nation’s leading defense against black lung disease and other respiratory illnesses that afflict miners and workers across this country.
Trump cuts demolish agency focused on toxic chemicals and workplace hazards
NPR
By Will Stone
May 2, 2025
Studies on how workplace exposure to chemicals like formaldehyde and phthalates may harm reproductive health, an investigation into a possible cancer cluster at a state university, the only national program tracking blood lead levels in adults. These are among the many casualties of the Trump administration's decision to level a research agency that has devoted much of its energy over the past five decades to reducing people's exposure to harmful chemicals and other dangerous conditions in the workplace.
VOTING RIGHTS
Justice Department will switch its focus on voting and prioritize Trump’s elections order, memo says
AP
By Nicholas Riccardi
May 3, 2025
The Justice Department unit that ensures compliance with voting rights laws will switch its focus to investigating voter fraud and ensuring elections are not marred by “suspicion,” according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. The new mission statement for the voting section makes a passing reference to the historic Voting Rights Act, but no mention of typical enforcement of the provision through protecting people’s right to cast ballots or ensuring that lines for legislative maps do not divide voters by race. Instead, it redefines the unit’s mission around conspiracy theories pushed by Republican President Donald Trump to explain away his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.