Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Federal Judge Puts Freeze on DOL Termination of Job Corps
Bloomberg Law
By Rebecca Rainey and Sam Skolnik
June 5, 2025
“We are relieved that these students are secure for the time being, and we strongly urge the Department of Labor to reverse its decision to end the Job Corps program,” Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer respectively of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department said in a statement. “Simply put, Job Corps is a lifeline for students who are transforming their own lives by seeking a way out of the hand they’ve been dealt.”
Judge and lawmakers question the Trump administration’s plan to gut Job Corps centers
AP
By Cathy Bussewitz
June 5, 2025
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration’s plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. The Department of Labor last week announced a nationwide “pause of operations” for dozens of Job Corps centers run by private contractors. The department cited an internal review that concluded the program was costly and had a low success rate.
Trump administration must restore AmeriCorps programs in 24 states, judge rules
Reuters
By Nate Raymond
June 5, 2025
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to restore programs funded by AmeriCorps grants in 24 Democratic-led states but declined to bar the federal agency for national service and volunteering from cutting the bulk of its workforce. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Baltimore issued an injunction, requiring the administration to reinstate millions of dollars in grants in those states and the District of Columbia and ordered the administration to restore thousands of volunteer service workers the administration had sent home.
Judge orders Trump administration to reinstate AmeriCorps grants in 24 states
The Washington Post
By Mariana Alfaro
June 5, 2025
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate programs funded by AmeriCorps grants in 24 states and Washington, D.C. However, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman’s order Thursday does not stop the Trump administration’s push to place much of the agency’s workforce on administrative leave, with the intent of terminating their employment June 24. All 24 states involved in the suit — Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin — are Democratic-led.
Judge Orders Reinstatement of AmeriCorps Programs in 24 States
The New York Times
By Zach Montague
June 5, 2025
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s wholesale dismantling of AmeriCorps, an independent federal agency that facilitates public community service opportunities, reversing the termination of its grants and volunteer network across 24 Democratic-led states.
Medicare is a target as Senate GOP faces megabill math issues
Politico
By Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Robert King
June 5, 2025
Senate Republicans are eyeing possible Medicare provisions to help offset the cost of their megabill as they try to appease budget hawks who want more spending cuts embedded in the legislation. Making changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program primarily serving seniors, would be a political long shot: It would face fierce backlash from some corners of the Senate GOP, not to mention across the Capitol, where Medicare proposals were floated but didn’t gain traction.
Elon Musk is gone, but DOGE's actions are hard to reverse. The Institute of Peace is a case study
AP
By Gary Fields
June 5, 2025
The staff was already jittery. The raiders from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had disposed of the U.S. Institute of Peace board, its acting president and its longtime outside counsel. But until 9:30 p.m. on March 28, there was hope the damage might be limited. Then termination notices started popping up in personal emails. As he departs, Musk is leaving behind a wounded federal government. DOGE’s playbook has been consistent: Take over facilities, information technology systems and leadership. Dismiss the staff. Move too quickly for the targets or courts to respond or fix the damage.
Chavez-DeRemer testifies before House on Labor Department priorities (Video)
The Hill
By The Hill Staff
June 5, 2025
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is testifying Thursday morning before the House Education and Workforce Committee on the department’s policy and priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The hearing comes as the Labor Department’s fiscal 2026 budget request includes significant cuts to federal job programs — including Job Corps — and grant funding. It also comes amid continued layoffs in the federal workforce spearheaded by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
WorldPride gathers in Washington as Trump rolls back LGBTQ+ rights
Reuters
By Daniel Trotta
June 5, 2025
LGBTQ+ people from around the world gather in Washington this week for a parade, a political rally and cultural performances marking WorldPride to channel joy in sexual and gender diversity as well as outrage over the Trump administration's rollback of their rights. WorldPride, which takes place in a different city around the world every two years, has been running for weeks and will continue until the end of June, bringing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators nearly to President Donald Trump's doorstep.
Trump proposes policies that would increase the soaring national debt
The Washington Post
By Jacob Bogage and Theodoric Meyer
June 4, 2025
President Donald Trump is pursuing an agenda that would add trillions of dollars to the soaring national debt, ignoring warnings from Wall Street, Republican deficit hawks and his outgoing cost-cutting champion. Though Trump ran for office in part on pledges to slash the size of the federal government and rein in the debt, his record so far has been less fiscally disciplined.
What will Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' do to Medicare and SNAP?
ABC News
By Jay O'Brien, Lauren Peller, and Mariam Khan
June 5, 2025
A large part of funding for President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda would come from cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans and those with disabilities, and SNAP, which helps millions of lower-income Americans buy groceries every month. The bill passed by the House makes around $600 billion in cuts to Medicaid. About 10.9 million people could lose their coverage over the next 10 years, according to Wednesday’s estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. The SNAP cuts total an estimated $230 billion over 10 years.
Trump is at war with American workers. Let’s stop it.(Opinion)
The San Diego Union-Tribune
By Jim Miller
June, 2025
Sixteen million workers were represented by unions in 2024. However, there were millions more who would have joined a union but couldn’t. As the Economic Policy Institute observes: “The disconnect between the growing interest in unionization and declining unionization rates can be explained by the fact that there are powerful forces blocking the will of workers: aggressive opposition from employers combined with labor law that is so weak that it doesn’t truly protect workers’ right to organize.” Also, Congress never managed to pass legislations such as the PRO Act that would have lowered obstacles to organizing and helped increase density, particularly in the private sector.
Trump's Job Corps shutdown spurs Innamorato to form 'federal disruption' task force
Trib Live
By Julia Burdelski
June 5, 2025
“It is our duty as Americans to take care of our youth or we’re nothing,” said Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council. “We have always recruited such great workers out of the Job Corps, people that just wanted a chance.”
Tax Credit Increase Would Exclude Millions of Low-Income Children, Study Finds
The New York Times
By Jason DeParle
June 5, 2025
While the giant domestic policy bill that Republicans pushed through the House last month includes tens of billions of dollars to increase child-rearing subsidies, millions of low-income children would not benefit because their parents earn too little, a new analysis shows. The change involves the child tax credit, a once-obscure segment of the tax code that distributes about $110 billion a year and has ignited partisan debates over poverty and inequality. Republicans say their support for the credit, which President Trump doubled in his first term, shows concern for ordinary families, while Democrats fault income tests that exclude the neediest parents.
They served the nation. Now, these veterans say they’re protesting to save it.
The Washington Post
By Olivia George
June 6, 2025
Veteran-led protests will occur at hundreds of locations across dozens of states to protest the Trump administration’s VA cuts. Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of the federal workforce, are feeling the brunt of the rapid push to shrink the federal workforce, stirring ire in a reliable political base for Republicans.
VA employees rally in Philly: ‘Save our jobs, save our vets’
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Michelle Myers and Ariana Perez-Castells
June 5, 2025
Amid the uncertainty, Everett Kelley, AFGE national president, said the administration needs to realize what the cuts mean for federal workers. “Programs like Social Security and collective bargaining agreements aren’t just paperwork,” Kelley said. “They are the lifeline for millions of Americans.” AFGE has also expressed concerns about provisions included in the proposed federal budget bill that, union leaders say, would diminish federal workers’ rights. The bill passed in the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate.
Senate Commerce Republicans pitch spectrum, AI megabill provisions
Politico
By John Hendel and Anthony Adragna
June 5, 2025
Senate Commerce Committee Republicans reached a compromise Thursday to free up wireless spectrum in its portion of the GOP’s megabill, released late Thursday with several provisions critical to tech and telecom. And in a surprise twist, the committee also sought to make a 10-year moratorium on enforcement of state AI laws a condition for the receipt of billions in federal broadband expansion funds.
Millions Would Lose Their Obamacare Coverage Under Trump’s Bill
The New York Times
By Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz
June 5, 2025
Millions of Obamacare enrollees would lose health coverage under the Republicans’ major policy bill, which would make coverage more expensive and harder to obtain. Most of the proposals in the bill, which passed the House last month, are technical changes — reductions to enrollment periods, adjustments to formulas, and additional paperwork requirements. But together, they would leave about four million people uninsured in the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday.
IMMIGRATION
Fall River Reporter
By Ken Paiva
June 5, 2025
The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, the Boston Teachers Union, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association released the following statement Thursday in response to news that federal immigration Judge Jenny Beverly has ordered 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Milford High School student arrested last weekend by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, be released on $2,000 bond: “As educators, we are focused on justice and equal opportunities for all students. All children have a right to an education, no matter their immigration status. That right is protected by the U.S. Constitution and federal law prohibits anyone from attempting to restrict a child’s access to that education.
SUPREME COURT
US Supreme Court makes 'reverse' discrimination suits easier
Reuters
By Andrew Chung
June 5, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court made it easier on Thursday for people from majority backgrounds such as white or straight individuals to pursue claims alleging workplace "reverse" discrimination, reviving an Ohio woman's lawsuit claiming she was illegally denied a promotion and demoted because she is heterosexual. The justices, in a 9-0 ruling authored by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, threw out a lower court's decision rejecting a civil rights lawsuit by the plaintiff, Marlean Ames, against her employer, Ohio's Department of Youth Services. Ames said she had a gay supervisor when she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a gay woman and demoted, with a pay cut, in favor of a gay man.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
US weekly jobless claims rise for second straight week
Reuters
By Reuters
June 5, 2025
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits last week increased for a second straight week, pointing to softening labor market conditions amid mounting economic headwinds from tariffs. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 247,000 for the week ended May 31, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 235,000 claims for the latest week.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits last week rises to highest level in eight months
AP
By Matt Ott
June 5, 2025
Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in eight months last week but remain historically low despite growing uncertainty about how tariffs could impact the broader economy. New applications for jobless benefits rose by 8,000 to 247,000 for the week ending May 31, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the most since early October. Analysts had forecast 237,000 new applications.
NLRB
Going, Garmon, Gone: Why States May Now Be Free to Redesign Labor Law
On Labor
By Benjamin Sachs
June 4, 2025
When President Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox from her seat on the National Labor Relations Board, he left the Board without a quorum. Since that time, the Board has been legally incapacitated: it cannot fulfill its statutory function of adjudicating unfair labor practice cases. At the time of Wilcox’ removal, I argued that by incapacitating the Board in this way, Trump may have suspended Garmon preemption – the doctrine that prohibits states and cities from regulating conduct that is either protected or prohibited by federal labor law.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Negotiations between King Soopers, union set to resume(Video)
9 News
By 9news.com
June 5, 2025
King Soopers and UFCW Local 7 are expected to go back to the bargaining table this weekend.
Colorado Safeway union members vote to strike
KKTV
By Aspen Andrews
June 6, 2025
On Thursday night, UFCW Local 7 confirmed that more Colorado Safeway workers have voted to strike. The union said workers from several cities, including Metro Denver, Boulder, Broomfield, Castle Rock, Conifer, Evergreen, Fountain, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs and Vail voted to strike.
UAW strike in Oshkosh nears 3-month mark after 2 contracts have been rejected
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Joe Schulz
June 5, 2025
Around 90 United Auto Workers members in Oshkosh have been on strike for nearly three months. Members of UAW Local 291 went on strike March 18 after their contract with Indiana-based Cummins Inc. expired in January and negotiations stalled on a new collective bargaining agreement. They work at the company’s drivetrain and braking systems plant in Oshkosh. UAW Local 291 President Ryan Compton said his members have turned down a pair of contract offers from the company. He said the union’s biggest sticking points have been around wages and a stricter attendance policy.
IBEW Local 1 members at Killark Electric ratify new contract, avoiding strike
Labor Tribune
By Sheri Gassawy
June 5, 2025
IBEW Local 1 members at Killark Electric here have ratified a new four-year agreement, averting a strike at the electrical manufacturer. The agreement comes on the heels of a strike authorization vote members approved after earlier contract negotiations had failed with the company. The previous contract expired April 30. “We gave them two 15-day contract extensions, but we weren’t getting to where we needed to be with wages,” said Local 1 Business Representative Rob Dussold. “We were also wanting better sick time and double time language in the contract.”
Talks will continue between Lewiston, union workers
The Lewiston Tribune
By Elaine Williams
June 5, 2025
City of Lewiston officials will continue to negotiate a contract with the union representing employees who maintain its streets, parks, water system and sewer operations. The council supported proceeding with the talks, which started in early April, and set June 25 as the day for them to be completed. That decision was made on a split vote during a meeting Wednesday evening at Lewiston City Hall.
Here is what Meriter nurses won in their union contract
The Cap Times
By Erin McGroarty
June 5, 2025
Union contract negotiations are like a game of chess. That’s according to Pat Raes, who has worked as a nurse at Madison’s UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital for more than 30 years. The nurses union at Meriter is represented by the Service Employees International Union’s Wisconsin chapter, where Raes is president. The chess moves ended in a win for Raes and more than 900 other nurses when the SEIU ended its historic five-day strike over the weekend and ratified a contract that included increased pay across the board, better benefits for first-year employees, promises of increased safety measures and more seats at the table for nurses to be involved in security decisions moving forward.
JOINING TOGETHER
Stagehand union will have 3-day informational picket in Clinton
Our Quad Cities
By Linda Cook
June 4, 2025
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE) is taking action against the organizers of Tailgate N’ Tallboys, alleging USA Concerts and Events breached a labor agreement and refused to hire local stagehands in Clinton and Bloomington, Ill., according to a news release from the union.
Scoop: Democrats vow to boycott popular D.C. restaurants
Axios
By Andrew Solender and Cuneyt Dil
June 5, 2025
More than 50 House and Senate Democrats have signed onto Unite Here Local 25's pledge to avoid six of D.C.'s buzziest restaurants. Unite Here Local 25 says the boycott is necessary because "workers have endured months of union busting." Both restaurant groups deny those claims and accuse the union of being heavyhanded. Unite Here is continuing its organizing at all six establishments, though there are currently no unionization elections scheduled.
STATE LEGISLATION
Lawmakers strengthen public employee union law, adding fines for employer violations
Northwest Labor Press
By Anna Del Savio
June 5, 2025
A bill passed by the Oregon Legislature mandates fines of $1,000 to $10,000 for public employers that fail to send unions the dues deducted from member’s paychecks or share the lists of represented employees. Those are things that public employers are obligated to do under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act, but not all of them are complying. “Policy is only as good as its enforcement,” Oregon AFL-CIO Political and Legislative Director Catie Theisen told legislators in February, testifying in support of House Bill 2944.
Urban Milwaukee
By Staff
June 5, 2025
Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced a bill to protect striking workers from their employers terminating their health care benefits. The Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act would protect workers’ health care benefits and prevent employers from using their power to cancel or alter health insurance for workers exercising their right to strike. In Wisconsin, two unions faced threats from employers, including striking United Auto Workers (UAW) at Cummins in Oshkosh, in which workers’ health care through Cummins is still terminated as their strike for better working conditions nears the three-month mark.
IN THE STATES
Hochul nominates new chair for state cannabis regulatory board
Spectrum News
By Seamus Lyman and Kate Lisa
June 5, 2025
“Jessica García has served on the Cannabis Control Board for over three years, helping to bolster an equitable cannabis industry in New York State, and meets all of the requirements to serve as chair," Hochul’s spokesperson Kassie White said in a statement. "The state thanks Tremaine Wright for her service as chair over the past few years.” García is assistant to the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), according to the Office of Cannabis Management website. Hochul nominated García to the board in 2021.
San Francisco city workers aren’t happy with the mayor’s budget
KALW
By Wren Farrell
June 4, 2025
Many of the proposed cuts are for positions that are already vacant. But about 100 city workers across 17 city departments will lose their jobs under the proposed budget. Here’s Osha Ashworth, with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6. “ Reductions to the city workforce historically have either created longer times for completing work, cost more in overtime coverage, or ended up being contracted out due to a lack of an available workforce.”
Nevada legislature passes bill with maximum nurse-to-patient ratios
Becker’s Hospital Review
By Kelly Gooch
June 4, 2025
National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, celebrated the passage of the bill. “This is a day that will change nursing in Nevada for the better, forever,” Karen Pels-Jimenez, RN, said in a union news release. “Having legal limits to the amount of patients nurses can be assigned at one time is more than just commonsense regulation — it is the key to making our hospitals safer places to get care and better places to work.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
What to know about New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act
Fashion United
By Rachel Douglass
June 4, 2025
The RWSA was spearheaded by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSO), the president of which, Stuart Appelbaum, said retail workers across New York “will be safer because of this law”. His statement to FashionUnited continued: “Retail workers should not have to go to work every day in fear; and this law goes a long way towards ending that. The Retail Worker Safety Act provides for preventative measures that will help deter violence and harassment before it starts; and most importantly, will assist workers in getting help quickly in the event of an emergency.”
Black Lung Conference highlights ongoing fight for coal miners’ health
WVVA
By Tim Cha
June 4, 2025
We spoke with Cecil Roberts, the President of the United Mine Workers of America, who says change only comes when people push for it. “The people in this country have a responsibility and that is to demand of their government what the law provides and also to demand that their government, if they don’t like the way things are to change those laws, and we can’t just hope somebody is out looking after our best interests.” While miner health was front and center, Roberts also addressed the recent wave of coal mine layoffs in West Virginia.