Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Unions push Congress to help bring back NIOSH staff
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
May 7, 2025
A coalition of 28 labor unions is calling on congressional lawmakers to “fulfill the promise of a safe job” by helping in the effort to reverse staffing cuts at NIOSH. In an open letter to the lawmakers, the unions, including the AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Mineworkers of America and United Steelworkers, write: “Fifty years ago, our elected leaders made that promise to every working family in America by establishing NIOSH, OSHA, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which were all entrusted by Congress to have distinct and imperative responsibilities that have allowed us to make critical progress over time.
Johnson Rules Out an Aggressive Plan to Cut Medicaid as G.O.P. Moderates Waver
The New York Times
By Catie Edmondson and Margot Sanger-Katz
May 7, 2025
Speaker Mike Johnson has dropped one of the most aggressive options the G.O.P. was considering to cut Medicaid costs to help pay for President Trump’s domestic agenda, bowing to pressure from politically vulnerable Republicans and underscoring the deep party divisions imperiling the plan. Leaving his office on Tuesday night after meeting with a group of more moderate members, Mr. Johnson told reporters that House Republicans had ruled out lowering the amount the federal government pays states to care for working-age adults who became eligible for the program through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.
NBC News
By Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong and Kyle Stewart
May 7, 2025
Republicans on Capitol Hill are scrambling to resolve intense divisions over Medicaid as they hammer out a key piece of their massive bill for President Donald Trump’s agenda with hopes of advancing it through a House committee next week. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing new conflicting pressure from within his narrow majority: Swing-district Republicans are growing increasingly wary of significant Medicaid cuts as they face political heat, while conservative hard-liners are threatening to torpedo the bill unless it contains $2 trillion in cuts.
Republicans want to shift safety-net costs to states. It’s not going over well.
Politico
By Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Ben Leonard
May 7, 2025
Congressional Republicans agree that the federal government has a spending problem. Now top GOP leaders want to make it someone else’s problem — by shifting some safety-net programs onto state budgets. The plans under discussion could generate hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to finance the GOP’s domestic policy megabill. But they’re vexing Republican lawmakers — many of them former governors and state legislators — who are not interested in addressing Washington’s fiscal woes by creating them in state capitals, including those run by their own party.
How Trump unleashed executive power
Reuters
By Prinz Magtulis
May 7, 2025
Beyond the numbers however, Mayer said the scale and coverage of some of Trump’s executive orders have reflected his administration’s desire to test the legal limits that traditionally constrained executive power. An executive order, while having the force of law, cannot override existing legislation and the Constitution. Sharece Thrower, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University who studies the executive branch, said recent U.S. presidents had been more circumspect of legal boundaries when issuing orders to avoid litigation, which could erode public trust. That appears not to be the case for Trump.
DOGE aims to pool federal data, putting personal information at risk
The Washington Post
By Hannah Natanson, Joseph Menn, Lisa Rein and Rachel Siegel
May 7, 2025
The U.S. DOGE Service is racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents, a campaign that often violates or disregards core privacy and security protections meant to keep such information safe, government workers say. The team overseen by Elon Musk is collecting data from across the government, sometimes at the urging of low-level aides, according to multiple federal employees and a former DOGE staffer, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The intensifying effort to unify systems into one central hub aims to advance multiple Trump administration priorities, including finding and deporting undocumented immigrants and rooting out fraud in government payments.
Entertainment Unions ‘Prepared to Fight Back’ Against Trump-Ordered Elimination of NEA, NEH and CPB
The Wrap
By Sharon Knolle
May 7, 2025
The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition within AFL-CIO said it is prepared to fight back against Trump’s proposed cuts that would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Trump’s 2026 “Skinny” Budget Request went out last week, continuing his attacks on nonprofit arts organizations such as National Public Radio and PBS. “Unions are prepared to fight back again against efforts to eliminate the NEA, NEH, and CPB,” said Katie Barrows, Communications Director at the Department of Professional Employees at the labor union in a statement released Wednesday.
'Aggressive Step' Toward Privatization as Trump Picks FedEx Board Member to Lead USPS
Common Dreams
By Jake Johnson
May 7, 2025
Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers—a union representing nearly 300,000 active and retired letter carriers—called the decision to place Steiner at the head of the USPS "an aggressive step toward handing America's mail system over to corporate interests."
Trump Administration Is Said to Target Park Service Grants
The New York Times
By Lisa Friedman
May 7, 2025
The Trump administration has earmarked dozens of National Park Service grants for elimination, including several that aim to protect public lands from the effects of climate change, according to an internal agency document detailing the plans. A spreadsheet of grants likely to be canceled claims the cuts could save $26 million by canceling grants to universities, state historic preservation offices, tribes and youth corps.
DOGE Killed Dozens of Grants That Supported Women Workers
Mother Jones
By Julianne McShane
May 7, 2025
President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to support women, grow jobs, and revive American manufacturing in his second term. But a recent round of cuts by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appears to undermine all three of those supposed priorities. On Tuesday, the Department of Labor (DOL) terminated more than two dozen grants to increase women’s representation in trades like construction, manufacturing, and information technology, and to fund programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and workplace harassment. The grants were administered by the Women’s Bureau, an office created by congressional mandate in 1920 to support women’s employment.
Every arts director at the NEA exits federal culture agency
The Washington Post
By Sophia Nguyen and Janay Kingsberry
May 7, 2025
“Following the budget release, grantees that fell outside of the Administration’s priorities began receiving abrupt grant termination notices — over 50% of open NEA awards are being terminated,” the AFGE Local 3403 wrote. “While these cuts benefit Trump’s agenda, they are detrimental to organizations that provide vital arts programming and arts education to communities nationwide, especially in rural communities.”
EDUCATION
On Teacher Appreciation Week, union leaders say teachers are underpaid and under attack
NPR
By Ayana Archie
May 8, 2025
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said with their skill sets and the amount of time they dedicate to their jobs, public school teachers could earn about 24% more than their current pay working in non-teaching jobs in the private sector. But teachers often stay in the profession "because they're making a difference in the lives of kids," she said. Weingarten added, "You're seeing this over and over and over again that people in communities know the importance of teachers and the importance of public schools. That's why teachers are one of the most trusted professions in the country. But they need to be supported 365 days a year, not just one day a year."
MAY DAY
Liles Taylor’s speech at the Lexington May Day rally
Forward Kentucky
By Berry Craig
May 6, 2025
Liles Taylor, Kentucky State AFL-CIO director of mobilization, started his speech at Lexington’s International Workers’ Day rally with a history lesson. “May 1st is not just a date – it’s the day we stand shoulder to shoulder with working people around the world,” he said. “It began 139 years ago in the streets of Chicago, when workers, many of them immigrants, risked everything for an eight-hour workday. They stood together to demand dignity, safety, and a fair share of the wealth they created.”
IMMIGRATION
Trump administration formally invokes state secrets privilege in Abrego Garcia case
The Hill
By Zach Schonfeld
May 7, 2025
The Trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege Wednesday to avoid handing over documents in the legal battle over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, court records show. Justice Department officials had long previewed they would do so, but a new order issued by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis indicates the government formally invoked the privilege in a sealed filing earlier Wednesday.
Court orders detained Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk returned to Vermont
The Guardian
By Sam Levine and agencies
May 7, 2025
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted a judge’s order to bring a Turkish Tufts University student from a Louisiana immigration detention center back to New England for hearings to determine whether her rights were violated. A judicial panel of the New York-based US second circuit court of appeals ruled in the case of Rümeysa Öztürk after lawyers representing her and the US justice department presented arguments at a hearing on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
VOICES: Let’s protect federal clean energy investments
Planet Detroit
By Jim Soosik
May 7, 2025
Nestled just outside downtown Detroit in the Corktown neighborhood resides one of my favorite places: the union hall for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 58. Since 1914, the members of this local have served as a positive force in our neighborhood, within the city itself, throughout the metro Detroit region, and across the broader state of Michigan. We’ve opened our doors to host community meetings, town halls, forums, and charities. With close to 5,000 members, we aim to empower working people across Southeast Michigan in everything we do.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Fed sees rising risks to economy as it leaves rates unchanged
Reuters
By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
May 7, 2025
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but said the risks of higher inflation and unemployment had risen, further clouding the U.S. economic outlook as its policymakers grapple with the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs. At this point, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, it isn't clear if the economy will continue its steady pace of growth, or wilt under mounting uncertainty and a possible coming spike in inflation.
As Fed Holds Rates Steady, Powell Says Next Step Is ‘Not at All Clear’
The New York Times
By Colby Smith
May 7, 2025
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday for a third meeting in a row, as officials pointed to heightened uncertainty about how significantly President Trump’s tariffs will raise inflation and slow growth. The unanimous decision to stand pat will keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, where they have been since December after a series of cuts in the second half of 2024.
ORGANIZING
Legacy Health Faces Unions Boosted by OHSU’s Failed Bid
Willamette Week
By Anthony Effinger
May 7, 2025
Oregon Health & Science University’s drive to buy Legacy Health hit the wall May 5, blowing up 20 months of time and likely burning millions in expenses. But there are almost certainly survivors. Among them are attorneys at Washington, D.C.-based Hogan Lovells who advised OHSU on the deal. They like to win, but they get paid no matter the outcome. Legacy executives, meantime, get to keep high-paying positions that might have been cut in a merged hospital system. Chief operating officer Jonathan Avery, for example, made $1.4 million in salary and other pay in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2024, according to a Legacy tax filing. Board chair Charles Wilhoite will keep his $45,000 stipend. (OHSU’s board is all volunteer.)
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
NJ Transit, largest union reach tentative contract deal as engineers' strike looms
ABC 7
By Eyewitness News
May 7, 2025
NJ TRANSIT and its largest union reached a tentative contract agreement, but the mass transit agency is still negotiating with the engineers' union to try to avert a walkout next week. The agreement on Wednesday covers more than 5,500 employees represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). Specific details of the agreement were not released pending ATU leadership's notification of its members.
SAG-AFTRA and Nickelodeon Reach Tentative Agreement
Animation News Network
By Dan Sarto
May 7, 2025
Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Nickelodeon have reached a tentative agreement on terms for their 2025 SAG-AFTRA/Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Inc. Basic Cable Television Animation Agreement (“Nickelodeon Animation Agreement”). SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “I’d like to thank our hardworking negotiating committee for their dedication to their colleagues who provide their voice artistry to Nickelodeon’s programming. I’m especially pleased that Nickelodeon agreed to commonsense A.I. protections for voice actors.”
NowThis Workers Unanimously Ratify New 3-Year WGA East Contract
Deadline
By Katie Campione
May 7, 2025
Staff at the short-form video news outlet NowThis have officially reached a deal with management on a new three-year contract. Per the Writers Guild of America East, the new collective agreement — which establishes higher wage minimums and key protections against generative artificial intelligence — was unanimously ratified by the 9-member bargaining unit.
Champaign County union employees hold rally as contract negotiations continue
The News-Gazette
By Jana Wiersema
May 7, 2025
“Dismal.” “Insulting.” “A slap in the face.” “Not fair.” “Not enough.” These are a few of the ways Champaign County workers described the county’s proposed contract for AFSCME union employees when asked for their two cents by The News-Gazette. “The county employees are the ones that do everything,” said court clerk Leslie Erdman. “We make the county run. All the county programs, they’re administered by us, the people who are standing here. And we’ve never been the priority.”
University of Oregon student workers say they're close to a deal to end their strike
KLCC
By Nathan Wilk
May 6, 2025
Student workers on strike at the University of Oregon say they’re getting close to a deal on a new contract. The union has been on the picket line since last week, seeking higher wages, more protections against harassment, and progress towards a shorter pay period. On Tuesday morning, Izzie Marshall with the union's bargaining team said the pressure of striking workers seemed to be helping with negotiations—and they expected to reach a tentative agreement with the university very soon.
PeaceHealth unions plan for five-day strike
Lynden Tribune
By Racquel Muncy
May 7, 2025
Two of the three unions at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham have given notice that they will go on a five-day strike starting May 12. A rally is planned for May 16, the same day the nurses union, represented by Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) will be at the negotiating table. According to a news release from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare 1199NW, a notice of intent to strike was given to PeaceHealth on May 1, after a supermajority of the more than 900 members voted to strike. SEIU represents CNAs, housekeeping workers, phlebotomists, imaging technicians and other essential hospital staff, according to the release.
Mass General residents reach historic union contract after two-year battle
WGBH
By Marilyn Schairer
May 7, 2025
A coalition of more than 2,600 resident physicians, interns and fellows at Mass General Brigham reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday night at a time of economic strife for the state’s largest private employer. The agreement includes a pay increase of up to $25,000 for each resident across the health care system’s hospitals, including major Boston-area hospitals like Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear and Mass General Hospital. At Mass General Hospital, it’s the first union contract every for resident physicians. The first-of-its-kind contract comes after a nearly two-year fight.
County takes legal action seeking to delay union negotiations
Boulder Weekly
By Kaylee Harter
May 7, 2025
Boulder County commissioners have filed another legal action relating to the Boulder County Employees Union in a move some employees and union representatives have characterized as union busting. Commissioners, along with Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) and Boulder County Housing Authority (BCHA), filed a motion last month seeking to pause bargaining, scheduled to begin May 19, with the Boulder County Employees Union, which formed in January.
Hundreds of union workers locked out of Mount Pleasant factory
ABC 12
By Sheryl Coonan
May 7, 2025
Hundreds of union workers in Isabella County were locked out of their jobs on Wednesday due to failed contract negotiations with Delfield. The United Steelworkers Union members gathered at the corner of Pickard and Isabella in Mount Pleasant, holding signs and chanting to express their demands for fair work conditions. "We're steelworkers," said Mike Bilodeau, a staff representative for the United Steelworkers Union District 1. "We don't give up fighting. We don't give up wanting to work."
JOINING TOGETHER
Hotel workers union launches campaign to highlight ‘resort fee ripoff’ at Orlando hotels near Disney
Orlando Weekly
By McKenna Schueler
May 7, 2025
Hospitality workers at Orlando-area hotels represented by the labor union Unite Here Local 737 appeared at the Orange County administration building Tuesday morning to bring county leaders’ attention to the resort fees that Hilton-owned hotels near Disney World force guests to pay — regardless of whether they use the amenities or not. The union called out several Hilton-owned hotels near Disney World that charge what they call “junk fees,” including Hilton Buena Vista Palace, Conrad Orlando, Embassy Suites by Hilton Orlando, Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Signia by Hilton Bonnet Creek, and Waldorf Astoria Orlando.
IN THE STATES
Republican Gives Up Fight to Overturn Defeat in N.C. Judicial Race
The New York Times
By Eduardo Medina
May 7, 2025
A six-month battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat ended on Wednesday when the Republican challenger, who had embarked on an extraordinary effort to throw out thousands of votes, conceded the race. The challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin, said in a statement that he would not appeal a federal court ruling issued on Monday that ordered the state elections board to certify the victory of the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs.
Chicago labor union spars over Trump’s claims about Obama Presidential Center
Fox 32
By Elizabeth Matthews and FOX 32 Digital Staff
May 7, 2025
In a conversation with Canada’s new prime minister, Trump veered off-topic to claim the project in Chicago’s Jackson Park was "a disaster," attributing delays and cost overruns to the hiring of what he described as "woke people." Trump alleged that former President Barack Obama insisted on diversity-focused hiring, resulting in halted work and budget issues. "He’s building his library in Chicago. It’s a disaster," Trump said. "He said, ‘I only want DEI. I only want woke.’ He wants woke people to build it. Well, he got woke people and they have massive cost overruns. The job is stopped."
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
WV coal miners ask federal judge for injunction to keep NIOSH functioning to protect from black lung
West Virginia Watch
By Caity Coyne
May 7, 2025
As the federal government moves forward with a “reorganization” that has left the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program largely unstaffed, attorneys for West Virginia coal miners are asking a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction to keep the program running and grant miners a protection against developing dangerous black lung disease. In a hearing Wednesday, attorneys for the coal miners argued that the shutdown of the CWHSP — which operates within the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health — means the government is not meeting its legal obligation to coal miners or others as the work the agency is statutorily required to do is no longer being performed.
Lawsuit filed against US government as NIOSH cuts hinder coal miners' black lung transfers
WCHS
By Bailee Tucker
May 7, 2025
Kanawha County coal miner Harry Wiley was diagnosed with black lung last November and is still working underground where the severity of his condition could get worse. He recently filed a lawsuit against the federal government following cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency that could help him with the resources he needs to get better according to his lawyer Sam Petsonk.
Judge asked to force NIOSH to keep miner health programs in place at least for now
WV Metro News
By Chris Lawrence
May 7, 2025
Testimony before U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in federal court in Charleston disputed whether the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and its black lung screening program is actually shut down. Lawyers representing a West Virginia coal miner contend staff layoffs announced for NIOSH have made black lung screening programs impossible to carry out. Attorneys for the federal government countered that the final decisions have not been made yet, the programs could be reorganized and that it’s too soon to sue.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People of 2025
Washingtonian
By Washingtonian Staff
May 7, 2025
Each year, we publish a special issue featuring the 500 most influential people in Washington. With a new administration now in place, these power players’ expertise and strategic insight are especially crucial as they navigate shifting priorities and relationships across the capital.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Learn about the largest one-day food drive in the nation and how to contribute
KGNU
By Gabrielle Mendoza
May 7, 2025
Every second Saturday in May for over 30 years now, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities across America participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers – or NALC – Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive. It’s the largest one-day food drive in the nation. This Saturday, May 10, will be the NALC’s 33rd Drive.