Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
ICE arrested a California union leader. Does Trump understand what that means?
Los Angeles Times
By Anita Chabria
June 7, 2025
Perhaps more importantly, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, speaking for her 15 million members, issued a statement. Huerta “was doing what he has always done, and what we do in unions: putting solidarity into practice and defending our fellow workers,” she said. “The labor movement stands with David and we will continue to demand justice for our union brother until he is released.”
Arrest of Union Leader Highlights Link Between Workers’ and Immigrants’ Rights
The New York Times
By Ben Casselman
June 8, 2025
“He was doing what he has always done, and what we do in unions: putting solidarity into practice and defending our fellow workers,” the leaders of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of U.S. labor unions, said in a statement.
POLITICS
DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts
Pro Publica
By Brandon Roberts, Vernal Coleman and Eric Umansky
June 6, 2025
As the Trump administration prepared to cancel contracts at the Department of Veteran Affairs this year, officials turned to a software engineer with no health care or government experience to guide them. The engineer, working for the Department of Government Efficiency, quickly built an artificial intelligence tool to identify which services from private companies were not essential. He labeled those contracts “MUNCHABLE.”
Republicans worry Medicaid cuts would hurt their communities, poll finds
The Washington Post
By Sabrina Malhi and Paige Winfield Cunningham
June 6, 2025
More than 4 in 10 Republicans worried significant cuts to Medicaid would hurt health-care providers in their communities and lead to people losing insurance, according to a KFF poll released Friday. The findings illustrate the political perils of upending the public health insurance program as Senate Republicans feud over Medicaid cuts. As they face pressure to slash spending to finance President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and immigration legislation, they risk alienating their own supporters who depend on the program.
It’s not just Medicaid: GOP eyes possible Medicare cuts in megabill
MSNBC
By Steve Benen
June 6, 2025
About a month into his second term as president, Donald Trump told Fox News interviews they shouldn’t worry about Republican plans for the nation’s largest health care programs. “Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched,” Trump said. As the GOP’s domestic policy megabill — the inaptly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — took shape, the president’s promise related to Medicaid quickly evaporated. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republicans’ reconciliation package would cut Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years.
Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people
The Washington Post
By Hannah Natanson, Adam Taylor, Meryl Kornfield, Rachel Siegel and Scott Dance
June 6, 2025
At the Social Security Administration’s call center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, IT workers were told by managers in mid-April that they needed to request a transfer or face possible firing, said Barri Sue Bryant, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2809. Nearly all of the 40-plus workers in that office did so, sending their laptops and spare equipment to the agency’s Baltimore headquarters and awaiting a new assignment while the union attempted to explain to leadership how essential these employees were, Bryant said.
Cards in deck: Trump keeps stack of orders ready to play as needed
The Washington Post
By Natalie Allison, Emily Davies and Michael Birnbaum
June 6, 2025
The announcement was the latest example of how the Trump administration has dipped into its large reserve of proclamations and executive orders — many of which have been long in the making — to drive its chosen narrative, push the president’s priorities and sometimes change the subject when news coverage focuses on topics that Trump officials prefer to downplay.
They served the nation. Now, these veterans say they’re protesting to save it.
The Washington Post
By Olivia George
June 6, 2025
Later in the afternoon, Cecil Roberts, a sixth-generation coal miner and combat veteran of the Vietnam War, climbed upon the stage, the bright white dome of the Capitol gleaning behind him. “I’m glad people recognize the service of people who were in the Army,” said Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America. “But we shouldn’t be having a parade until every veteran has the health care they deserve.”
'Unite for Vets' rally in Washington, D.C., protest overhaul of VA
UPI
By Allen Cone
June 6, 2025
"Are you tired of being thanked for our service in the public and stabbed in our back in private?" Army veteran Everett Kelly, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, asked the crowd. "For years, politicians on both sides of the aisle have campaigned on their support of veterans, but once they get into office, they cut our benefits, our services. They take every opportunity to privatize our health care."
Veterans protest against Trump cuts at DC rally: ‘Promises made to us have come under attack’
The Guardian
By Aaron Glantz
June 6, 2025
A flurry of red, white and blue American flags fluttered across the National Mall on Friday as more than 5,000 military veterans and their allies descended on Washington to protest against the planned elimination of 80,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the cancellation of hundreds of contracts for veterans services with community organizations.
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to leave mass layoffs at Education Department in place
AP
By Mark Sherman
June 6, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to pause a court order to reinstate Education Department employees who were fired in mass layoffs as part of his plan to dismantle the agency. The Justice Department’s emergency appeal to the high court said U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston exceeded his authority last month when he issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs of nearly 1,400 people and putting the broader plan on hold.
Federal workforce advocates flood opposition to renewed Schedule F
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
June 6, 2025
With just a day remaining until the window to comment on the Trump administration’s proposal to reinstate Schedule F and strip tens and thousands of federal employees of their civil service protections, groups representing or otherwise advocating on behalf of federal workers have formally registered their opposition to the measure. The Office of Personnel Management in April published proposed rules to revive President Trump’s abortive first-term effort to reclassify federal workers in “policy-related” roles outside of the competitive service, effectively making them at-will employees. Saturday marks the deadline for members of the public to provide input on the plan, since renamed Schedule Policy/Career.
After His Trump Blowup, Musk May Be Out. But DOGE Is Just Getting Started.
The New York Times
By Christopher FlavelleCoral DavenportNicholas NehamasKate Conger and Zach Montague
June 7, 2025
Elon Musk’s blowup with President Trump may have doomed Washington’s most potent partnership, but the billionaire’s signature cost-cutting project has become deeply embedded in Mr. Trump’s administration and could be there to stay. At the Department of Energy, for example, a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency is now serving as the chief of staff. At the Interior Department, DOGE members have been converted into federal employees and embedded into the agency, said a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. And at the Environmental Protection Agency, where a spokeswoman said that there are two senior officials associated with the DOGE mission, work continues apace on efforts to dismantle an agency that Mr. Trump has long targeted.
Trump Can Restrict A.P. Journalists’ Access, Appeals Court Rules
The New York Times
By Zach Montague and Minho Kim
June 6, 2025
A federal appeals court on Friday paused a lower court’s ruling that had required the White House to allow journalists from The Associated Press to participate in covering President Trump’s daily events and travel alongside their peers from other major news outlets. By a 2-to-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that many of the spaces in the White House complex or on Air Force One where members of the press have followed the president for decades are essentially invite-only, and not covered by First Amendment protections.
This Musk counterpart actually knows how to use the government to dismantle it
Politico
By Sophia Cai and Megan Messerly
June 7, 2025
The Elon Musk era of the Trump administration’s fiscal sturm und drang is over. But his much more understated — and savvy — counterpart, Russ Vought, is just hitting his stride. Vought, the two-time director of the Office of Management and Budget, is the most strategic player in executing the Trump administration’s effort to slash the federal government. Just this week, Vought has been everywhere from doing TV hits at the White House and on the Sunday shows to sitting in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office to sell the “big beautiful bill” and lay the groundwork for codifying the DOGE cuts.
'Dangerous Power Grab' as Supreme Court Sides With DOGE on Social Security Data
Common Dreams
By Jon Queally
June 7, 0224
Defenders of Social Security are responding with critical anger to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that side with the Trump administration in a legal battle over access to sensitive data of tens of millions of Americans by the Department of Government Efficiency, the government-eviscerating agency first spearheaded by right-wing libertarian and mega-billionaire Elon Musk.
IMMIGRATION
SEIU president injured and detained during ICE operations in downtown LA, mayor says
NBC Los Angeles
By Missael Soto
June 4, 2025
The Service Employees International Union California (SEIU) issued a statement Friday that the labor union's president, David Huerta, was detained during the ICE raids across Los Angeles. The labor union is calling for the release of Huerta, who they say was injured during the federal agency's operations. Mayor Karen Bass confirmed to NBC4 that the labor union president was under ICE detention and he was also pepper-sprayed.
Riot police, anti-ICE protesters square off in Los Angeles after raids
Reuters
By Jane Ross and Steve Gorman
June 7, 2025
Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. One organized labor executive, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was injured and detained by ICE at one site, according to an SEIU statement. The union said Huerta was arrested "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity." No details about the nature or severity of Huerta's injury were given. It was not clear whether he was charged with a crime.
Agents Use Military-Style Force Against Protesters at L.A. Immigration Raid
The New York Times
By Orlando Mayorquín and Jesus Jiménez
June 7, 2025
The U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, said agents arrested David Huerta, the California president of the Service Employees International Union, for impeding federal agents carrying out the raid by blocking their vehicle. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California leaders condemned the detention of Mr. Huerta, who is a well-known figure in the state’s labor movement. “David Huerta is a respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people,” the governor said in a social media post. “No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action.”
Protests erupt in Los Angeles after dozens detained in immigration raids
The Washington Post
By Kelsey Ables
June 7, 2025
Among demonstrators detained Friday was David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, the state’s largest public-sector union, who was injured at one of the ICE raids and treated in custody. SEIU California is calling for his immediate release.
Deportee’s Lawyers Push for Contempt Proceedings Despite His Return
The New York Times
By Alan Feuer
June 8, 2025
Just because Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is back on U.S. soil to face criminal charges after being wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador does not mean that the Trump administration’s troubles in the monthslong civil case have come to an end. On Sunday, lawyers for Mr. Abrego Garcia in the civil case filed blistering court papers arguing that even though the White House had finally complied with an order to return their client, the judge overseeing the case should still pursue contempt proceedings against Trump officials. The administration, the lawyers wrote, had spent much of the past three months “engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders.”
SUPREME COURT
Trump asks Supreme Court to let him dismantle Education Department
Reuters
By John Kruzel
June 6, 2025
Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to permit it to proceed with dismantling the Department of Education, a move that would leave school policy in the United States almost entirely in the hands of states and local boards. The Justice Department asked the court to halt Boston-based U.S. District Judge Myong Joun's May 22 ruling that ordered the administration reinstate employees terminated in a mass layoff and end further actions to shutter the department.
Trump Administration Asks Justices to Clear the Way for Cuts to Education Department
The New York Times
By Abbie VanSickle
June 6, 2025
Lawyers for the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to move ahead with plans to dismantle the Education Department by lifting a lower court order that had prevented department workers from being fired. The request came as an emergency application, the latest in a flurry of such appeals to the Supreme Court filed since the start of the second Trump administration.
US Supreme Court allows DOGE broad access to Social Security data
Reuters
By John Kruzel
June 6, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. At the request of the Justice Department, the justices put on hold Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law.
Justices Grant DOGE Access to Social Security Data and Let the Team Shield Records
The New York Times
By Adam Liptak and Abbie VanSickle
June 6, 2025
The Supreme Court on Friday let members of the Department of Government Efficiency, formed by Elon Musk, have access to sensitive records of many millions of Americans held by the Social Security Administration. The court’s order was brief and unsigned, which is typical when the justices rule on emergency applications. The Trump administration said it needed the data to root out waste and fraud and to modernize the agency’s operations. Two labor unions and an advocacy group represented by Democracy Forward Foundation sued to block access, saying that much of the information was deeply personal and protected by privacy laws. The court responded that the agency “may proceed” to allow DOGE access to the records necessary to do its work.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
US job growth cools in May amid tariff-related headwinds
Reuters
By Lucia Mutikani
June 6, 2025
U.S. job growth slowed in May amid uncertainty about the Trump administration's import tariffs, but solid wage growth should keep the economic expansion on track and potentially allow the Federal Reserve to delay resuming its interest rate cuts. The ebbing labor market momentum reported by the Labor Department on Friday was underscored by sharp downward revisions that showed 95,000 fewer jobs were added in March and April than previously estimated over the two month period.
More Federal Workers Are Flooding the Job Market, With Worsening Prospects
The New York Times
By Eileen Sullivan and Lydia DePillis
June 6, 2025
With Mr. Musk’s time in Washington now done, a fuller picture of just how completely he and Mr. Trump have upended the role of government is coming into view. Federal tax dollars underpin entire professions, directly and indirectly, and the cuts led by Mr. Musk’s operation have left some workers with nowhere to go. In Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area, the disruption has the hallmarks of the collapse of an industrial cluster, not unlike the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in the upper Midwest during the 2000s. Except this time, it is moving at lightning speed.
Trump’s attacks on the Department of Labor will hurt wages and working conditions
Economic Policy Institute
By Margaret Poydock
June 6, 2025
In just a few months, the Trump administration has demonstrated its willingness to abandon workers and undermine their wages and working conditions. This includes repeated attacks to the Department of Labor (DOL)—the federal agency that oversees federal wage and hour laws, worker safety, workforce development, and employee benefits protection programs. Anti-worker nominations to key DOL positions—currently under Senate consideration—pose future risk to workers’ rights.
Machinists union warns of more furloughs beginning next week at Spirit AeroSystems
KAKE
By Staff
June 6, 2025
"As of the close of business last Friday, the company officially confirmed that additional employees will be included in the temporary layoffs that began on May 12th," the emailed letter from International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge No. 839 said.
U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May as the labor market steadily cools
NBC News
By Rob Wile
June 6, 2025
The United States added 139,000 jobs in May, more than expected but pointing to a labor market that continues to slow. The employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics exceeded forecasts for about 120,000 payroll gains but marked a decline from the revised 147,000 jobs added in April. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, remaining near historic lows.
ORGANIZING
Adjunct professors win election to unionize
The Simmons Voice
By Alanna Quirk-Aboujaoude
June 7, 2025
After nearly two months of negotiations and campaigning, Simmons University adjunct faculty won their union election with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509 on June 2. Adjunct faculty are continuing the unionization process, after successfully organizing and voting by mail for their union. Now, they are completing their bargaining survey and solidifying their priorities and needs for contract negotiations.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Anaheim Regional Medical Center nurses’ union wins pay boost, security upgrades
Los Angeles Times
By Gabriel San Román
June 6, 2025
Registered nurses who work at the Anaheim Regional Medical Center voted to ratify their first-ever labor contract with the hospital on Wednesday night, an agreement they claim will improve patient care. As negotiations carried on, safety remained a top priority for nurses represented by SEIU Local 121RN. The union in April held an info picket outside of the hospital to draw attention to such issues.
Striking journalists and the Post-Gazette meet for a rare bargaining session
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Bob Batz Jr.
June 6, 2025
In the first contract bargaining session since November 2024, during a strike that’s almost two years and eight months long, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh journalists and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette got a bit closer on a few small things, but they’re still very, very far apart. The meeting started at about 10:15 a.m. Thursday in the Lawrence Welk Room of Downtown’s Omni William Penn Hotel. First the guild’s bargaining committee of 14 people, including some of their lawyers, moved their long table closer to the table where sat the company’s attorney, Richard Lowe, and the PG’s director of operations, Rob Weber.
Thousands of Kroger, Albertsons grocery store workers vote to strike
KIRO
By KIRO 7 News Staff
June 6, 2025
A union representing thousands of workers at Kroger and Albertsons grocery stores have voted to strike. After five months at the bargaining table, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) 3000 union voted to reject their employers’ latest contract by more than 97%. The union represents nearly 30,000 grocery employees at Kroger-owned stores like Fred Meyer and QFC, and Albertsons-owned stores like Safeway.
Colorado Safeway union workers agree to go on strike
CBS News
By Justin Adams
June 6, 2025
The United Food Commercial Workers Local 7 said union members in Colorado have agreed to go on strike. This comes after a 2-day voting period where union members agreed to strike and after nine months of negotiations. The Local 7 union is accusing Albertsons, which owns Safeway, of unfair labor practices by not offering retroactive wage increases and cutting out the union when addressing employee grievances. The union also wants better pay and health care.
Met singers' union gets 5% increase partly funded by $5M appropriation from New York state
Yahoo! News
By Staff
June 6, 2025
The deal between the Met and the American Guild of Musical Artists starts Aug. 1 and runs through July 31, 2026. It must be ratified by the union. AGMA also represents dancers, full-time actors, stage managers, stage directors and choreographers. The Met said AGMA helped lobby the state government for the appropriation, and the additional 2.5% rise will sunset when the deal expires.
Texas Ballet Theater becomes first DFW dance company to reach a union contract in 40 years
Dallas Morning News
By Elizabeth Myong
June 6, 2025
Texas Ballet Theater has reached its first collective bargaining agreement with the American Guild of Musical Artists, marking the first time a North Texas dance company has reached a union contract in over 40 years. Griff Braun, national organizing director of AGMA, said “this is an important step for dance and for union artists in the North Texas area.”
California nurses union ratifies contract with Dignity Health
The Sacramento Bee
By Lia Russell
June 7, 2025
A union representing nurses working for Dignity Health announced Friday that its members had agreed to a new four-year contract with the San Francisco-based health care system. California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee said a majority of members had voted to approve the contract, which goes into effect June 30 through June 30, 2029. The union, an affiliate of National Nurses United, represents 13,500 workers across Dignity Health’s 27 facilities in Nevada and California, which include Mercy hospitals in the Sacramento area.
Bennington College finalizes collective bargaining agreements with union
VT Digger
By Henry Fernandez
June 6, 2025
Bennington College has finalized its collective bargaining agreements with the three groups that make up the college’s union, according to a June 5 press release. The agreements come after a unionization process that began in 2023, after 150 faculty, staff and campus safety workers formed Bennington College United. The union — which is backed by AFT Vermont, an umbrella labor union for higher education and health care workers — cited concerns about high staff turnover, a lack of policy surrounding raises and a lack of transparency about the college’s finances.
Metropolitan Opera Reaches One-Year Agreement With Soloists and Chorus Union
Broadway World
By Joshua Wright
June 6, 2025
The Metropolitan Opera and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union representing its soloists, chorus, dancers, actors, and other stage professionals, announced a new one-year agreement on Friday.
Union reaches agreement with Tailgate N’ Tallboys
WMBD
By Ed Hammond
June 7, 2025
The union representing theatrical stage employees is calling off any planned pickets or protests outside the country music festival Tailgate N’ Tallboys after the two reached an agreement. Last month, the local International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees chapters for both Bloomington and Davenport, Iowa, condemned the festival for not hiring union employees. 25 News reports under the deal, Tailgate N’ Tallboys will recognize IATSE Local 85, the Davenport chapter, and Local 193, the Bloomington chapter, as exclusive bargaining representatives for festival workers in subsequent years.
Strike averted at N.J. hospital as nurses agree to contract
NJ.com
By Nicolas Fernandes
June 8, 2025
Nurses at Southern Ocean Medical Center agreed to a contract on Sunday, averting a strike less than 24 hours before the scheduled walkout. The nurses, who are part of the Health Professionals & Allied Employees (HPAE) Local 5138, were negotiating with the hospital over nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, wages and other benefits. After a day of talks Saturday that continued into early Sunday morning, the union said it reached a tentative deal on a three-year contract.
Safeway, King Soopers employees could head to the picket line by next week
Denver 7
By Claire Lavezzorio
June 7, 2025
Workers for two of Colorado's grocery giants could go on strike by Monday. According to United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7, 99% of Safeway employees across the Denver metro area voted to authorize a strike unless Albertsons, the grocer's parent company, responds to the union’s demands. "They're not paying a liveable wage. They don't want to fully fund health care and pension while they're making profit on high grocery prices with less service," Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, said in a Facebook video released Friday.
JOINING TOGETHER
Deadline
By Katie Campione
June 6, 2025
The Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) has staged a protest against nonfiction production company Story Syndicate outside the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of its OceanGate submersible documentary Titan. Audience members were greeted outside the Village East by Angelika theater Friday evening by guild members distributing fliers that call attention to Story Syndicate’s “anti-union conduct” and put pressure on management amid contentious negotiations.
STATE LEGISLATION
Nevada legislation to establish nurse, patient ratios goes to governor
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Emerson Drewes
June 6, 2025
Two sides are warring over the passage of a bill mandating nurse-to-patient ratios and increasing transparency in work protections. Senate Bill 182, sponsored by Sen. Rochelle Nguyen, D-Las Vegas, pass ......We hope you appreciate our content. Subscribe today to continue reading this story, and all of our stories.
Earnings of child actors protected by Hawaii law
The Garden Island
By Talia Sibilla
June 8, 2025
Rep. Mike Lee (D, Kailua-Kaneohe Bay), lead introducer of HB 874 and a freshman legislator, was grateful for the support from the local chapter of the screen and theater actors’ union — SAG-AFTRA — and the governor. Lee called the new law “a win for our keiki. And a win for our keiki is a win for our future.”
IN THE STATES
Alabama organizations urge lawmakers to oppose health care cuts
Alabama Political Reporter
By Alex Jobin
June 6, 2025
On Wednesday, 52 organizations from across Alabama sent a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey and the members of Alabama’s state legislature urging them to contact members of Congress and express concerns about the U.S. House’s budget reconciliation bill — also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Specifically, the letter highlights the cuts which the Republican budget proposal would make to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and the harmful impact these cuts would have on Alabama families.
INCOME INEQUALITY
Despite Achieving Pay Parity, Some Costume Designers Say ‘We’re Underpaid’
Variety
By Jazz Tangcay
June 6, 2025
Last year, after decades of fighting, costume designers achieved pay parity. As part of the General Basic Agreement Negotiations with IATSE, the Costume Designer Guild reached a deal which saw costume designers receiving a wage increase of over 40%, bringing the scale rate in line with similar creative peers. It was a landmark win for the guild, which had spent years fighting for pay equity.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Gaschk elected to lead ND AFL-CIO
Inforum
By Forum staff
June 6, 2025
Ashley Gaschk was elected to serve as the president and secreatary-treasurer of the North Dakota AFL-CIO at its convention. “Being a union member has improved my life in many ways, and I look forward to spending the next four years working to improve the lives of union members across our state,” Gaschk said via news release. “On the job and in our communities, union members fight for fairc pay and benefits, secure retirement, and expanded opportunities for all of North Dakota’s working families. I’m honored to have been elected and eager to get to work.”
North Dakota AFL-CIO Elects New President
KVRR
By Gabriel Ostler
June 7, 2025
The AFL-CIO in North Dakota has new leadership for the first time in six years. Delegates to the North Dakota AFL-CIO convention elected Ashley Gaschk to a four-year term as President, Secretary-Treasurer – the top role in the state federation of labor unions. Gaschk is succeeding outgoing president Landis Larson, who is retiring after 40 years of dedicated service to the labor movement – the last 6 of which were served as AFL-CIO president. Gaschk said in part, quote, “Being a union member has improved my life in many ways, and I look forward to spending the next four years working to improve the lives of union members across our state.”