Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Ruling on Mass Layoffs
The New York Times
By Abbie VanSickle
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to block a judge’s ruling that had temporarily paused plans for mass layoffs and program closures at federal agencies. Last week, Judge Susan Illston of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California called for a two-week pause on the administration’s actions, which she said were illegal without congressional authorization. Her order barred two dozen federal agencies from moving ahead with the largest phase of President Trump’s efforts to downsize the government.
DOJ Asks High Court to Allow Trump’s Federal Worker Layoffs
Bloomberg Law
By Parker Purifoy and Ian Kullgren
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration urged the US Supreme Court to allow federal agencies to layoff thousands of employees by halting a lower court order pausing the widespread workforce cuts. In an emergency application filed Friday, the Justice Department argued that a California federal judge’s ruling is overbroad and irreparably harms the federal government.
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow mass layoffs of federal workers
Politico
By Hassan Ali Kanu
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to immediately proceed with its plan to lay off tens of thousands of workers across federal agencies. In an emergency appeal, the administration urged the justices to quickly lift a lower-court order that has temporarily blocked the layoffs.
Trump turns to US Supreme Court to pursue mass federal layoffs
Reuters
By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung
May 16, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a federal judge's order to halt large-scale staffing cuts and the restructuring of agencies, part of his campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government. The Justice Department's request came after U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco blocked large-scale federal layoffs known as "reductions in force" for 14 days in a May 9 ruling siding with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments that challenged the administration.
Labor unions representing laid off NIOSH, CDC workers to protest in D.C. next week
West Virginia Watch
By Caity Coyne
May 16, 2025
Unions representing workers laid off at federal health and oversight agencies are heading to Washington D.C. next week to protest past and continued cuts to their workforces by the federal government’s new Department of Government Efficiency. In a news release Friday, the American Federation of Government Employees — which represents workers at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said it will join other labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, in a protest outside the federal Department of Health and Human Services headquarters at noon on Thursday, May 22.
Federal workers union says HHS layoffs ‘targeting science’
The Hill
By Joseph Choi
May 16, 2025
Labor unions say layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are threatening science even as some employees get their jobs back. In a statement released Friday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said the layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “gut frontline science and shut down life-saving public health programs.”
US court could back Trump's firing of Democratic labor board members
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
May 16, 2025
Judges on a U.S. appeals court panel on Friday expressed agreement with claims Republican President Donald Trump has made that he has broad powers to fire members of independent federal agencies, in a challenge to his removal of two Democrats from federal labor boards.
Court lifts block on Trump order to strip federal workers of union rights
The Washington Post
By Frances Vinall
May 17, 2025
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block on an executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks to strip union rights from federal workers at dozens of agencies and offices. Trump in March issued an executive order that said that parts of the United States Code that protect federal workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain would no longer apply to agencies including most or all of the Departments of Treasury, Defense, Veterans Affairs, State and Justice. The executive order covers about two-thirds of the federal workforce, according to the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which filed a lawsuit challenging it.
Court gives go-ahead to Trump's plan to halt union bargaining for many federal workers
Reuters
By Nate Raymond
May 19, 2025
A federal appeals court lifted an order on Friday that blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to unionize and collectively bargain over working conditions. A 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put on hold, opens new tab an injunction a judge issued at the behest of the National Treasury Employees Union that had blocked implementation of an executive order Trump issued in March.
Appeals court lifts block on Trump executive order targeting federal worker unions
Politico
By Josh Gerstein
May 16, 2025
The appeals court’s majority said there was insufficient evidence that the National Treasury Employees Union faced “irreparable harm” that would justify the preliminary injunction, Friedman said in his ruling. Judges Karen Henderson, a George H. W. Bush appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, said the national security exception the president invoked in federal labor relations law is an added reason for courts to tread lightly.
Federal Worker Contracts Stripped as Trump Appeals Injunction
Bloomberg Law
By Parker Purifoy
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration was granted a victory in its efforts to nullify collective bargaining rights for federal workers after an appeals court said a lower court’s order shouldn’t remain in place pending an appeal. An injunction ordering the government to continue following union contracts for a majority of federal workers cannot stand while the government appeals it, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in its order to grant the administration’s motion to stay.
How DOGE’s grand plan to remake Social Security is backfiring
The Washington Post
By Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein and Meryl Kornfield
May 16, 2025
The U.S. DOGE Service arrived at the Social Security Administration this year determined to slash staff and root out what it claimed was widespread fraud and wasteful spending — a mission Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team has pursued across the government. But as of this week, many of the major changes DOGE pushed at Social Security have been abandoned or are being reversed after proving ineffective, while others are yielding unintended consequences and badly damaging customer service and satisfaction. The problems come as the agency struggles to cope with a record surge of hundreds of thousands of retirement claims in recent months.
The Trump administration is pausing RIFs but probationary firings are resuming
Government Executive
By Eric Katz
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration is abiding by a court order to pause layoffs across most federal agencies, but it is still finding ways to shrink the federal workforce through involuntary means. The Housing and Urban Development Department has begun once again firing its probationary employees—those recently hired or promoted—through a process distinct and separate from a reduction in force. Other agencies, including the Labor Department and National Science Foundation, meanwhile, are walking back recent RIFs due to a court-issued temporary restraining order.
Writers Guild Of America East Calls For Reinstatement Of “Unlawfully Fired” Register Of Copyrights
Deadline
By Ted Johnson
May 16, 2025
The Writers Guild of America East is calling for the reinstatement of the Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, tying her dismissal by the Trump administration to a release of a report on AI and copyright. The WGAE said that Perlmutter was “unlawfully fired,” and noted that it came after the release of a report that failed to give credence to the argument that the use of copyrighted material in AI training models was a fair use.
Judge orders restoration of jobs in health program for West Virginia coal miners
CBS News
By Staff
May 18, 2025
A judge on Tuesday ordered the restoration of a health monitoring program for coal miners in West Virginia and rescinded layoffs the federal government implemented in a unit of a small U.S. health agency. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by a coal miner who was diagnosed with a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung disease. Nearly 200 workers at a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown were told last month that their jobs were being terminated as part of restructuring within Health and Human Services. Berger ordered that jobs be restored within NIOSH's respiratory health division in Morgantown, although her ruling didn't specify a number.
Thousands of federal employees are on a roller coaster of being fired, rehired
USA Today
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
May 18, 2025
In recent months, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, rehired and threatened with firing again. For now, they have a two-week reprieve, after a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration not to carry out any additional firings for two weeks, but the administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
Trump’s tax and immigration bill clears hurdle after late-night vote
The Washington Post
By Marianna Sotomayor and Mariana Alfaro
May 19, 2025
The House Budget Committee passed a massive tax and immigration package central to President Donald Trump’s agenda late Sunday, overcoming opposition from hard-line conservatives over spending. Four fiscal conservatives — all deficit hawks aligned with the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus — changed their vote to “present,” allowing the legislative package to be recommended “favorably” to the House, 17-16. But their hesitance to vote the One Big Beautiful Bill Act out of committee is a reminder that the far-right flank of the Republican conference remains skeptical.
Musicians Union Slams Trump’s Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen Tantrum
Rolling Stone
By Tomás Mier
May 16, 2025
The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is standing by its artists. On Friday, the union issued a statement defending Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen after Donald Trump attacked the two stars on social media. “[We] will not remain silent as two of our members—Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift—are singled out and personally attacked by the President of the United States,” read the statement from AFM President Tino Gagliardi. “Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift are not just brilliant musicians, they are role models and inspirations to millions of people in the United States and across the world.”
Trump orders the government to stop enforcing rules he doesn’t like
The Washington Post
By Maxine Joselow, Hannah Natanson and Ian Duncan
May 18, 2025
At the Transportation Department, enforcement of pipeline safety rules has plunged to unprecedented lows since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump recently ordered Energy Department staff to stop enforcing water conservation standards for showerheads and other household appliances. And at one Labor Department division, his appointees have instructed employees to halt most work related to antidiscrimination laws. Across the government, the Trump administration is trying a new tactic for gutting federal rules and policies that the president dislikes: simply stop enforcing them.
IMMIGRATION
Ending Migrant Parole Would Spell Workplace Chaos, AFL-CIO Warns
Bloomberg Law
By Andrew Kreighbaum
May 16, 2025
The Trump administration’s bid to nix deportation protections for half a million immigrants would cause unprecedented disruption to the US workforce, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions told the US Supreme Court. Employers in the automotive, manufacturing, and airport contracting sectors would face sudden labor shortages if the Department of Homeland Security is allowed to summarily rescind parole grants and work permits for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the AFL-CIO said in a brief to the high court Friday.
Trump administration faces court pressure to return deported migrants
The Washington Post
By Steve Thompson and Spencer S. Hsu
May 17, 2025
A federal judge in Washington on Friday gave the Trump administration one week to identify its efforts to return Kilmar Abrego García, as well as 137 Venezuelan men deported to an El Salvador prison under the wartime Alien Enemies Act — a ruling that came a few hours before the U.S. Supreme Court maintained a block of some deportations of migrants under that law. Separately on Friday, a federal judge in Maryland overseeing the case of Abrego García expressed skepticism of claims by Trump administration lawyers that it has tried in good faith to follow orders from three courts, including the Supreme Court, to bring about the release of the wrongly deported Maryland resident.
US claim of state secrets privilege in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is ‘inadequate,’ judge says
AP
By Ben Finley and Michael Kunzelman
May 16, 2025
A federal judge told the Trump administration Friday that its explanation for invoking the state secrets privilege in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is inadequate, describing the government’s reasoning for withholding information as “take my word for it.” Trump administration attorneys have argued that releasing details in open court — or even to the judge in private – about returning Abrego Garcia to the United States would jeopardize national security. For example, they said it would reveal confidential negotiations with foreign countries.
Judge says Trump administration not detailing efforts to return wrongly deported man
Reuters
By Blake Brittain
May 17, 2025
A U.S. judge expressed frustration on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration had yet to provide sufficient details about its efforts to bring back a man deported in error from the United States and sent to a prison in El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing that the government had not produced information from high-level officials that adequately explained how it was complying with her order to "facilitate" the return of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Federal Courts’ Emerging Bottom Line: Due Process Rights for Immigrants
The New York Times
By Alan Feuer and Abbie VanSickle
May 17, 2025
If there has been a common theme in the federal courts’ response to the fallout from President Trump’s aggressive deportation policies, it is that the White House cannot rush headlong into expelling people by sidestepping the fundamental principle of due process. In case after case, a legal bottom line is emerging: Immigrants should at least be given the opportunity to challenge their deportations, especially as Trump officials have claimed novel and extraordinary powers to remove them.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
The Building Trades Want to Save the IRA
Jacobin
By Paul Prescod
May 18, 2025
“It’s unfathomable to us. Unfathomable. In the history of our union hall, 134 years, we’ve never even come close to these numbers.” Trent Mauk, a training specialist at the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) in Michigan, said these words to Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein just over a year ago.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Carman: Feeling ripped off at the grocery store? You’re not alone. (Opinion)
The Colorado Sun
By Diane Carman
May 18, 2025
“With these price tags, we’ve told them, and they haven’t even flinched,” Kim Cordova, Local 7’s president and international vice-president for UFCW, told The Guardian.
NLRB
2 officials fired by Trump return to court to challenge his power
NPR
By Andrea Hsu
May 16, 2025
Appellate judges in Washington, D.C., considered a key question on Friday: Does the president have the constitutional authority to fire board members at agencies created by Congress to be independent of the White House? More specifically, did President Trump overstep when he removed National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris from their positions without cause?
ORGANIZING
Employees at DC's Kennedy Center seek to unionize amid job security concerns
WCYB
By Ida Domingo
May 16, 2025
Employees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are moving to unionize, citing concerns about job security and the future of artistic programming under new leadership. In a statement posted Thursday to Instagram, the newly formed Kennedy Center United Arts Workers (KCUAW) announced its intent to unionize in partnership with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), one of the largest labor unions in North America.
Center for Fiction Employees Seek to Unionize
Publishers Weekly
By Sam Spratford
May 16, 2025
A supermajority of employees at the Center for Fiction have filed to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and requested recognition from the Center, according to an announcement Thursday evening. Employees of the Brooklyn organization cited cost of living concerns and a desire to have a voice in how the Center is run as the impetus for unionizing.
Sesame Workshop employees approve vote for union representation
Current
By Julian Wyllie
May 17, 2025
Sesame Workshop employees won certification of their vote for representation under the Sesame Workers Union Thursday and will now seek their first collective bargaining agreement with management. In votes cast in April and counted in a National Labor Relations Board office in New York City, the group formally joined the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 153. The bargaining unit includes early childhood education experts, fundraisers, facilities staff, producers and paralegals.
Disdain on full display as UR administrators and pro-union demonstrators clash on Commencement Day
WXXI
By Noelle E. C. Evans
May 16, 2025
Hundreds of striking graduate students and supporters gathered outside of commencement ceremonies Friday on the University of Rochester’s River Campus. Striking PhD students say they support this year’s graduates but are protesting the university administration, which they say is acting in bad faith and refusing to allow students to vote on forming a union. The administration has said that students can go to the National Labor Relations Board instead.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Pratt & Whitney needs to build a fair deal for workers(Opinion)
CT Post
By Wayne McCarthy, Howie Huestis
May 17, 2025
At Pratt & Whitney, our IAM Union members do more than build jet engines; we build excellence. The engines powering some of the world’s most advanced aircraft, including Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and the Airbus A320, are forged in East Hartford and Middletown. Each component represents the skill, experience, and pride of the union workers behind it.
'You are going to win,' CT Sen. Chris Murphy tells striking Pratt & Whitney workers
CT Insider
By Paul Schott
May 16, 2025
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited several hundred Pratt & Whitney machinists Friday on their picket line in Middletown, the latest of a number of elected officials to show their support for the striking workers. On the 12th day of the strike by more than 3,000 machinists at Pratt & Whitney’s plants in East Hartford and Middletown, Murphy said that he was backing their push for a contract with better compensation and benefits, as well as stronger job-security guarantees. He also framed the strike as part of a broader struggle for workers' rights.
Northwestern University food service workers ratify new contract after March strike
CBS News
By Todd Feurer
May 17, 2025
Food service workers at Northwestern University have agreed to a new contract, after going on a 12-day strike earlier this year. About 500 workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 1 – including cooks, cashiers, dishwashers, and catering staff – ratified the new contract on Friday with Compass Group, the university's food service provider.
VFX Workers on ‘Avatar,’ Marvel and Disney Projects Ratify IATSE Contracts
Variety
By Gene Maddaus
May 16, 2025
Visual effects workers on “Avatar,” as well those who work at Marvel and Disney, have ratified their first labor contract, in a significant step for the VFX industry. The contracts include standard union protections like overtime pay, eligibility for the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan, meal penalties, rest periods and turnaround times. The Disney/Marvel contract also includes raises of 4% in the first year and 3.5% in the second year, matching the raises negotiated last year by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
VFX Workers Behind Marvel, Disney and ‘Avatar’ Ratify First Labor Contracts
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
May 16, 2025
Visual effects professionals who help realize the often fantastical worlds of the Marvel, Disney and Avatar films have ratified their first union contracts. Unionized staffers have “overwhelmingly” voted to ratify two labor contracts covering work on these projects, the crew union IATSE announced on Friday, without offering a specific tally. One agreement covers work on Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures titles, while another spans labor for Walt Disney Studios subsidiary TCF US Productions 27, Inc., which collaborates with James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment on the Avatar films. The Avatar deal was ratified in February, while the Marvel/Disney agreement was ratified on Wednesday.
Disney, Marvel & ‘Avatar’ Franchise VFX Workers Ratify First IATSE Contracts
Deadline
By Patrick Hipes
May 16, 2025
IATSE said Friday that visual effects workers at Disney‘s Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures and the Avatar franchise have voted to approve their first collective bargaining agreements since unionizing in 2023. The union said the Disney and Marvel contracts are four years before renegotiation, and include overtime pay and minimum hours guarantees; inclusion in MPI Healthcare & Pension (an increase in total compensation of about $13 per hour worked for every employee in the form of health care and retirement contributions paid by the studios); and pay raises on minimum rates retroactive to January 1, 2025.
Butler Hospital strike continues for third day
WJAR
By NBC 10 News
May 17, 2025
The strike launched by healthcare workers at Butler Hospital goes on to its third day. As part of their challenge to Care New England to improve working conditions and wages for their employees, members of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO union stood in solidarity with the striking workers. The staff members started the strike on Thursday, weeks after 91% of the staff voted to authorize the strike.
Staff members planning to strike at 11 Western New York nursing homes next week
WKBW
By Michael Schwartz
May 16, 2025
As of Friday afternoon thousands of staff members from 11 nursing homes are planning to go on a seven-day strike starting Tuesday morning. The original list included 27 facilities, but negotiations have progressed between more than a dozen nursing homes and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
New Jersey Transit and Engineers’ Union Agree to Deal to End Strike
The New York Times
By Patrick McGeehan
May 18, 2025
An agreement was reached on Sunday to end New Jersey’s first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years just three days after it started, New Jersey Transit and a union spokesman said. The terms of the deal with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen were not immediately available. An announcement by Gov. Philip D. Murphy was expected Sunday night.
NJ Transit strike ends after shutting down New Jersey trains for weekend, union says
Politico
By Ry Rivard
May 18, 2025
The strike that idled NJ Transit trains is over after three days. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said Sunday night that after two days of post-strike negotiations they’d reached a deal and “will return to work.” State officials said rail service wouldn’t begin again until Tuesday, though the union had said it would be back on Monday.
New Jersey Transit reaches tentative deal with engineers union that could end strike
CNN
By Chris Isidore
May 18, 2025
Negotiators for New Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), the union representing 450 striking engineers, have reached a tentative labor agreement that would bring an end to the three-day strike, according to the union. New Jersey Transit did not have a comment on the union’s statement, but CEO Kris Kolluri and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy have scheduled a news conference for Sunday at 7:45 p.m. ET.
UR Medicine Homecare workers vote to approve three-year contract, avoiding strike
WHEC
By News10NBC
May 16, 2025
Professional and clinical workers at UR Medicine Homecare have voted to ratify their first three-year union contract. The planned five-day strike, which was set to begin on Sunday, has been canceled. The workers are represented by 1199 SEIU. This agreement comes after more than a year of negotiations. The contract includes more than an 11.5% increase in general wages over three years and improved health insurance coverage.
The Middletown Press
By Paul Schott
May 17, 2025
Marine drafters at submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat will go on strike on Monday if their union and the company do not reach an agreement on a new contract by Sunday night, union leaders confirmed at a rally on Friday evening. The possibility of a strike has grown because there appears to have been little progress in contract talks this week between the Groton-based company and the UAW union, which represents the approximately 2,500 marine drafters, a group of employees focused on submarine design. The company is now offering greater wage increases than it originally proposed, according to documents reviewed by CT Insider. But union officials said that the company still needs to do more to meet its key demands, which focus on profit sharing, a cost-of-living adjustment and expanded access to pension plans.
Bookmans employees hold walkout amid contract negotiations
KGUN
By Madison Thomas
May 18, 2025
On Saturday, employees at multiple Bookmans Entertainment Exchange locations participated in a one-day strike, following contract negotiations between the company and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99, which represents employees at both Tucson and Flagstaff locations. Workers at the eastside location unionized last August, followed by workers at a Flagstaff location in September and then the second Tucson location on Stone and River last fall.
JOINING TOGETHER
Federal workers rally at Boise Airport for TSA union rights
KTVB
By Abby Davis
May 16, 2025
Federal workers rallied outside Boise Airport Friday eveningin support of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees after the Trump administration terminated their union contract. Demonstrators held signs and chanted for two hours, urging the administration to reverse its decision regarding TSA officers' collective bargaining rights.
Hawaii Island nurses hold informational picket
Hawaii News Now
By HNN Staff
May 17, 2025
Nurses from the Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital held an informational picket Saturday morning. The nearly 100 nurses from the hospital have been working without a contract since March 31, when their contract expired. The picket started at 8 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m. The nurses are being represented by the Hawaii Nurses Association and said contract negotiations started in December.
STATE LEGISLATION
Gov. Polis vetoes Colorado bill that would have eased union formation
Colorado Newsline
By Sara Wilson
May 16, 2025
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bill on Friday afternoonthat would have repealed a requirement for a second election to form a union, a provision that’s unique to the state. The veto was expected, as Polis, a Democrat, said from the start of the 2025 state legislative session that he wanted to see a compromise between labor and business interests over the issue. That never came. Senate Bill 25-5 would have repealed the state requirement for a second election following a simple majority vote, per federal law, to form a union. The second vote requires 75% approval for workers to be able to negotiate whether every employee must pay into representation fees, regardless of union membership. Colorado is the only state to have that system. It was created through the Labor Peace Act over 80 years ago.
IN THE STATES
Planned plant closure impacting around 60 employees in Trumbull County
Mahoning Matters
By Kelcey Norris
May 16, 2025
A Trumbull County plant that produces automotive parts is set to close in 2025, impacting more than 60 residents. On July 14, Aptiv’s facility in Howland Township is set to close, according to a letter sent by the local chapter of the IUE-CWA union.
Easton school board passes school budget with reductions to staffing budget
WAGM
By Karri Triplett
May 17, 2025
In response to the ongoing budget discussions, the Easton Teachers Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) issued a joint statement: “We understand the financial challenges that the town, the school and your committee face. However, we urge you to explore alternative areas for potential cuts rather than eliminating the positions of our highly qualified, dedicated, and certified educators. We also question whether adding new positions at this time, at the expense of those already serving our students, is a responsible or wise decision.” As the June 2nd vote approaches, the community remains engaged and concerned about how the final budget decisions will impact students, staff, and the future of education in Easton.
CIVIL, HUMAN, & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Some Republicans Push to Put School Desegregation Officially in the Past
The New York Times
By Sarah Mervosh
May 16, 2025
Republican leaders in Louisiana are pushing to end the last remnants of federally ordered school desegregation in their state, arguing that the era of racial exclusion is in the past and that the U.S. government has forced burdensome requirements on school districts long enough.
Federal judge strikes down workplace protections for transgender workers
AP
By Claire Savage
May 16, 2025
A federal judge in Texas struck down guidance from a government agency establishing protections against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday determined that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued guidance to employers against deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, and barring employees from wearing dress code-compliant clothing according to their gender identity because they may constitute forms of workplace harassment. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
International Cinematographers Guild Launches Podcast
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
May 15, 2025
On May 22 the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) is set to unveil a podcast called Outside the Frame. Hosted by the executive editor of the film’s internal publication ICG Magazine, David Geffner, the show promises to take listeners “behind the scenes with the creative teams shaping today’s film and television industry,” particularly through conversations with ICG members themselves.