Today's AFL-CIO press clips
BUDGET RECONCILIATION
The Labor Tribune
By Staff
July 2, 2025
The AFL-CIO condemned Senate Republicans today for passing a budget reconciliation bill that raises costs on working people, wipes out millions of jobs and rips health care away from 17 million Americans –– all to hand billionaires one of the biggest paydays in history. In a statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said: “Senate Republicans claimed to stand with working people, then picked our pockets to deliver a nearly $5 trillion gift to billionaires. Every senator who voted for this budget bill chose to make working families poorer, sicker and less safe.
House Republicans advance Trump's tax-cut bill to a final vote
Reuters
By Bo Erickson, David Morgan and Richard Cowan
July 3, 2025
Republicans in the House of Representatives advanced U.S. President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut and spending bill toward a final yes-or-no vote early Thursday morning, appearing to overcome internal party divisions over its cost. Following a day of closed-door meetings both on Capitol Hill and at the White House, lawmakers cleared a final procedural hurdle needed to begin debate on the bill in a 219-213 vote around 3:30 a.m. (0730 GMT). Lawmakers then reopened debate for a final vote that was expected around 5:30 a.m.
House Moves Ahead on Trump Policy Bill, Overcoming G.O.P. Resistance
The New York Times
By Michael GoldRobert Jimison and Megan Mineiro
July 3, 2025
The House took its first step early Thursday toward a final vote on President Trump’s marquee domestic policy bill, after Republicans put down a revolt by conservative holdouts that had threatened to sink it. After a day and night of paralysis on the House floor, and haggling and uncertainty in the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson scored a preliminary victory in his bid to overcome resistance within his party when the House voted to allow the bill to come up for debate. The 219-to-213 vote suggested he had won the backing of recalcitrant Republicans whose resistance had stalled the measure, though the House still had to take a final vote to approve it.
House clears procedural hurdle on Trump’s agenda, paving way for passage
The Washington Post
By Marianna Sotomayor, Jacob Bogage and Mariana Alfaro
July 3, 2025
House Republican leaders overcame a critical hurdle Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration legislation, paving the way to pass the legislation in the morning. All but one Republican voted to clear the procedural hurdle, known as a rule, that outlines the parameters for debate ahead of a final passage vote. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) confidently declared Trump and GOP leaders notched enough votes throughout Wednesday and early Thursday to send the president’s agenda to his desk before July 4.
House GOP clears key hurdle on Trump’s big bill, pushing it closer to vote
AP
By Kevin Freking, Lisa Mascaro and Joey Cappelletti
July 3, 2025
Up all night, House Republicans voted before dawn Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cuts package after GOP leaders worked almost around the clock trying to persuade skeptical holdouts as they race to send the bill to his desk by the Fourth of July deadline. A roll call that started late Wednesday finally closed almost six hours later, a highly unusual stall on a procedural step. Trump, who had hosted lawmakers at the White House earlier, lashed out at the delay. Once the gavel struck, 219-213, the bill advanced to a last round of debates toward a final vote, which is expected later Thursday morning.
House Republicans expected to pass President Trump's massive budget bill by July 4
NPR
By Claudia Grisales
July 3, 2025
After a vote that remained open for several hours as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried to convince five holdouts to advance President Trump's signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, House Republicans scored a procedural victory overnight that puts the megabill just one major vote away from final passage. Just one Republican voted against the rule — no Democrats voted for it. While the bill still faces a final vote in the House, Johnson's persistence allowed him and other Republican leadership to narrowly muster enough support to move the bill forward while navigating a narrow majority and a slew of internal party divisions over parts of the bill.
The ‘big, beautiful bill’ is one vote away from Donald Trump’s desk
Politico
By Katherine Tully-McManus
July 3, 2025
Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” is one vote away from President Donald Trump’s desk after clearing a key procedural hurdle that sets up a floor vote early Thursday morning. Pulling an all-nighter two days after senators did the same, House Republicans were finally able to unite on the test vote around 3:30 a.m. Thursday — closing out a six-hour voting window that might have been extraordinary if the previous vote hadn’t been held open nine hours for similar reasons.
Tax Cuts Now, Benefit Cuts Later: The Timeline in the Republican Megabill
The New York Times
By Tony Romm, Andrew Duehren, Margot Sanger-Katz, Brad Plumer and Daniel Wood
July 2, 2025
At the core of Republicans’ sprawling domestic policy package is an important political calculation. It provides its most generous tax breaks early on and reserves some of its most painful benefit cuts until after the 2026 midterm elections. The result is a bill that, if it becomes law, may generate bigger refunds for some taxpayers when they file their returns next spring, even as a series of significant changes to Medicaid and other aid programs loom as a future threat to the finances of poorer families.
Last chance to stop Trump’s class warfare budget bill
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg and C.J. Atkins
July 2, 2025
The American people have “one last chance to stop this job-slashing, health-care-gutting giveaway to the extremely wealthy from becoming law—but the vote is just hours away,” the AFL-CIO warned late Tuesday night. After the Republican-run Senate—in defiance of strong public opposition—passed what the labor federation called President Donald Trump’s “big bad budget bill,” it urged everyone to bombard their congressional representatives with telephone calls urging a no vote on the final reconciliation version of the bill, which is now before the House.
Republican Disputes Over Trump’s Bill Give Democrats More Chances to Attack It
The New York Times
By Carl Hulse
July 2, 2025
Congressional Democrats have been struggling since the beginning of the year to find an effective way to counter the second Trump administration as they debate what political message to embrace after their losses last November. Now they have found a rallying point: the Republican tax cut and domestic policy bill, which G.O.P. leaders were laboring on Wednesday to put before the House after it narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday. Democrats unanimously see it as a seriously flawed, even cruel, piece of legislation that would badly undermine the social safety net in the service of continuing tax cuts for the most affluent Americans.
The $3 Trillion Question at the Capitol: Will Conservatives Cave (Again)?
The New York Times
By Catie Edmondson
July 2, 2025
It is, by now, a well-worn routine. Spending hawks in the House declare their irrevocable opposition to the fiscal legislation G.O.P. leaders are advancing. They savage it for days as irresponsible and insupportable, condemning its impact on the already soaring federal debt. Suspense builds: Will this be the time they defy their leaders and President Trump and vote no? Then, after meetings and calls with Mr. Trump and much arm-twisting on the House floor, they cave.
POLITICS
Trump Asks Justices to Let Him Fire Consumer Product Safety Regulators
The New York Times
By Adam Liptak
July 2, 2025
President Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to let him fire the three Democratic members of the five-member Consumer Product Safety Commission, which monitors the safety of items like toys, cribs and electronics. A federal law shields the officials, allowing them to be terminated only for “neglect of duty or malfeasance.” Mr. Trump gave no reasons for removing them when his administration revealed his intentions in May, and has said that congressional limits on his ability to fire leaders of independent agencies are an unconstitutional check on his power to control the executive branch.
Federal Mediation Services’ Future Dim Despite Workers’ Return
Bloomberg Law
By Parker Purifoy and Elias Schisgall
July 2, 2025
Dozens of federal labor mediators are back on the job after all but four were fired by the Trump administration, just as the government forges ahead with plans to shutter their small but critical agency. Around half of the mediators at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service accepted offers to return following a May court order, according to two people familiar with the situation. The agency, which has played a pivotal role in resolving labor disputes at companies like the Boeing Co. and Apple Inc., had 143 mediators before Trump gutted it in a March executive order. But their re-employment could be short lived as the White House asks Congress for a sharp decrease in budget for fiscal year 2026, signaling efforts to dismantle the bureau for good.
90 Years After Its Passage, the National Labor Relations Act Is Under Siege
In These Times
By Steve Early
June 2, 2025
Ninety years ago this summer, Congress passed legislation hailed at the time and for many years after as “labor’s Magna Carta.” The Wagner Act — or, more formally, the National Labor Relations Act — was the product of Depression-era concern about the social and economic effects of industrial unrest manifest in citywide general strikes, factory takeovers, and many violent confrontations between workers trying to form unions and the police or private security forces defending the interests of anti-union employers.
US government withholding over $6 billion in school funding, research group says
Reuters
By Kanishka Singh
July 2, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration is withholding previously approved funding to schools during what the White House calls an ongoing review process, with a non-profit research group saying $6.2 billion is being withheld. A spokesman at the White House Office of Management and Budget said on Wednesday there was an "ongoing programmatic review" of education funding and that initial findings showed what he termed as a misuse of grant funds to "subsidize a radical leftwing agenda."
Trump to cut protections for home health aides, migrant farmworkers
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
July 2, 2025
The U.S. Labor Department announced plans this week to slash more than 60 regulations — including eliminating overtime and minimum wage protections for home health care workers and union organizing rights for migrant farmworkers. The effort to deregulate the federal agency that governs workers’ rights and protections aims to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to “restore American prosperity,” the agency said. “The Department of Labor is proud to lead the way by eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle growth and limit opportunity,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement.
More than 60,000 feds are still waiting for their 2025 pay raise
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
July 2, 2025
Across the federal government, tens of thousands of blue-collar federal employees are still waiting on their 2025 pay raise, all because of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s purge of advisory committees as the Pentagon. For most federal employees, receiving their share of the (mostly) annual across-the-board pay increase is a simple process. The president issues an alternative pay plan—to avoid massive automatic increases due to the Federal Pay Comparability Act—or Congress stipulates in appropriations legislation how it would override the president, and then the Office of Personnel Management publishes new pay tables in time for the first full pay period in January.
IMMIGRATION
US judge blocks Trump asylum ban at US-Mexico border, says he exceeded authority
Reuters
By Ted Hesson
July 2, 2025
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying Trump exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said in a 128-page opinion that Trump's January 20 proclamation blocking all migrants "engaged in the invasion across the southern border" from claiming asylum or other humanitarian protections went beyond his executive power.
Labor union SEIU leads hundreds in protest of Trump’s immigration policy
Verite News
By Robert Stewart
July 1, 2025
Hundreds of people from one of the country’s largest labor unions amassed in New Orleans on Tuesday (July 1) afternoon along with a coalition of other labor and civil rights organizations to protest mass deportations and immigration detentions carried out by President Trump’s administration. The Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) rally and march in the Central Business District capped off a six-day series of events to commemorate the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and bring attention to the administration’s nationwide push to detain and deport immigrants, which demonstrators called cruel and intimidating.
Kilmar Abrego García’s lawyers describe ‘severe beatings’ in El Salvador prison
The Washington Post
By Steve Thompson
July 2, 2025
In a rare account of the notorious prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration deported 261 Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants in March, Kilmar Abrego García’s lawyers said in a court filing Wednesday that he and the others were severely beaten and forced to kneel for nine straight hours upon their arrival. But Wednesday’s court filing, in the civil case brought by Abrego and his family against Trump administration officials in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, for the first time contains his account of what happened in the hours and days that followed.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
US private payrolls post first drop in more than two years; layoffs still low
Reuters
By Lucia Mutikani
July 2, 2025
U.S. private payrolls fell for the first time in more than two years in June as economic uncertainty hampered hiring, but low layoffs continued to anchor the labor market. Private payrolls dropped by 33,000 jobs last month, the first decline since March 2023, after a downwardly revised increase of 29,000 in May, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the report would show private employment increasing by 95,000 following a previously reported gain of 37,000 in May.
CNBC
By Alex Harring
July 2, 2025
Private sector hiring unexpectedly contracted in June, payrolls processing firm ADP said Wednesday, in a possible sign that the economy may not be as sturdy as investors believe as they bid the S&P 500 back up to record territory to end the month. Private payrolls lost 33,000 jobs in June, the ADP report showed, the first decrease since March 2023. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast an increase of 100,000 for the month. The May job growth figure was revised even lower to just 29,000 jobs added from 37,000.
ORGANIZING
University of Alaska staff files petition to form union
Alaska’s News Source
By Hannah Lee and Josiah Pike
July 1, 2025
Permanent staff from all universities and community campuses across the University of Alaska filed a petition with the Alaska Labor Relations Agency (ALRA) to form a union. Their union, CAUSE-UAW (Coalition of Alaska University Employees for Equity / United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America) would represent the 2,500 staff statewide at the University of Alaska. The coalition stated in a prepared release that university staff “provide support and continuity to faculty and students” through advising, enrollment support, financial aid, coaching, and healthcare, among other support avenues.
Dozens of Sharp HealthCare workers join union following layoffs
NBC San Diego
By City News Service
July 1, 2025
A day after Sharp HealthCare announced it was laying off 315 of its employees, an additional 40 Sharp medical office workers voted unanimously to join SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, it was announced Tuesday. The election took place by mail from June 9 to 30 to join the union, which represents 120,000 healthcare workers across California. The medical office workers at all six offices known as SharpCare in Coronado, Chula Vista, La Mesa, San Diego, Santee and Spring Valley join 6,000 Sharp workers across the region -- including more than 650 earlier this year.
Fayetteville Starbucks workers vote to unionize
City View
By Evey Weisblat
July 1, 2025
When Starbucks barista Elijah Wittmeyer-Balthazar decided to start a union campaign at his Fayetteville store for the third time, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. The barista would have to contend with the usual challenges of union organizing: a fear of being retaliated against and the stigma around speaking out about labor concerns. But he also faced a more daunting challenge — of how to form a union in the least-unionized state in the country.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Union, supermarket chains reach tentative labor deal, averting strike
Los Angeles Daily News
By Pat Maio
June 2, 2025
The region’s largest grocery workers’ union said Wednesday, July 2, that it reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract for more than 45,000 workers across Southern California, averting a possible strike just days before the July Fourth holiday. The tentative deal between Albertsons Cos. and Kroger Cos. and seven United Food and Commercial Workers local unions was reached three weeks after members authorized a strike. Two of the larger UFCW locals (770 in Los Angeles and 324 in Orange County) said the agreement “secures higher wages, more money for pension contributions, additional health and welfare improvements, staffing and more.”
Albertsons, Ralphs & Vons workers reach tentative labor deal
ABC 10
By City News Service
July 2, 2025
The union representing more than 45,000 workers for Ralphs, Albertsons, Pavilions and Vons across Southern California announced Wednesday it has reached a tentative contract agreement with the grocery companies. The union workers had previously authorized a strike if a deal could not be reached. No specific details of the proposed agreement were released, although union officials said it includes higher wages, additional pension contributions and improvements in health, welfare and staffing.
Safeway negotiations ongoing as workers strike ahead of the holiday weekend
Colorado Public Radio
By Sarah Mulholland
July 2, 2025
Safeway workers in Colorado are still on strike heading into the July 4 weekend, a time when many people stock up at the supermarket for backyard barbecues. As of Wednesday morning, employees from 43 stores and one distribution center in Denver have walked off the job to protest what the union calls unfair labor practices. Workers are striking to fix understaffing and get guarantees that health and pension benefits will be fully funded, according to The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.
Healthcare workers union at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital votes to authorize strike
Fox 43
By Keith Schweigert
July 2, 2025
The union representing healthcare workers at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital voted to authorize its bargaining committee to send a strike notice, if necessary, if they are unable to reach an agreement on a new labor contract. In a statement issued Wednesday, SEIU Healthcare said 87% of its members voted to authorize the strike, "to advocate for quality patient care and protest unfair labor practices."
Thousands of Philadelphia city workers on strike but judge orders some back to work
ABC News
By The Associated Press
July 2, 2025
A strike being staged by nearly 10,000 city workers in Philadelphia entered its second day Wednesday as a judge ordered some emergency service dispatchers and essential water department employees to return to work. Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas-Street granted the city an injunction Tuesday stating 237 out of 325 workers at the city's 911 call center must return to work because their absence creates a “clear and present danger to threat to health, safety or welfare of the public." The order does not prevent those workers — 32 fire dispatchers, five supervisors and 200 police dispatchers — from participating in the strike during off-duty hours.
130+ employees at Mercyhealth East Clinic in Janesville on strike
WMTV
By Brooklyn Andres
July 2, 2025
Roughly 138 members of UAW Local 95 unit 12 took to the picket lines Wednesday morning at Mercyhealth East Clinic in Janesville. UAW Local 95 unit 12 tell WMTV they are striking for better working conditions, better pay and better benefits. The strike comes after a month and a half of negotiations between the union and Mercyhealth. Union representative Andrew Stark said some progress was made on non-economic items in the last couple of negotiations, but not enough.
Cannabis Workers at Columbia Care Stay Determined, Ratify First Contract With UFCW Local 152
Yahoo! Finance
By Business Wire
July 2, 2025
UFCW Local 152 members at the Columbia Care cannabis cultivation facility in Vineland, N.J. ratified their first union contract, capping off a years-long journey of determination and persistence. Members in the cultivation department voted overwhelmingly to accept their contract, which delivers on many of the priorities workers had when they first sought union representation back in November of 2022.
‘We want fairness’| Knoxville bus employees, transit union protesting amid contract talks with KAT
WVLT
By Jared Austin
July 2, 2025
Knoxville city bus workers and a part of the Amalgamated Transit Union are working out a new contract with Knoxville Area Transit. Some of the workers took to the streets Tuesday to voice their frustrations as the new contract gets worked out. Senior Organizer with Amalgamated Transit Union Ismael Rivera said “We want fairness. Employees have been waiting for a contract. The contract expired yesterday. We’ve had enough. You can’t silence us anymore. We want fairness. We want a contract and we want it now.”
Almost 10K Philadelphia city workers go on strike
The Hill
By Filip Timotija
July 1, 2025
Almost 10,000 city workers in Philadelphia, who take 911 calls, collect trash, and perform other duties, went on strike on Tuesday after negotiations over a contract fell through. Blue-collar union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, represents more than 9,000 city employees, including school crossing guards and 911 dispatchers.
Backstage Workers Reach a Tentative Agreement for IATSE Contract With Off-Broadway's Public
Playbill
By Logan Culwell-Block
July 2, 2025
Backstage workers at Off-Broadway's The Public Theater have reached a tentative agreement with theatre management for an IATSE contract. The contract, if approved in a union vote, would cover more than 100 employees, and provide "meaningful wage increases and comprehensive benefits that recognize the essential contributions of the production crew to The Public’s artistic mission and continued success," according to a joint statement released by the Public and IATSE.
IN THE STATES
East Texas state lawmakers get Pro-Worker scores from Texas AFL-CIO
KETK
By Michael Garcia
June 30, 2025
The Texas AFL-CIO has released their Pro-Worker Scorecard, which ranks how much Texas State Representatives and State Senators agreed with the labor federation’s views on bills in the 89th Legislative Session. The Texas AFL-CIO is a state labor federation consisting of more than 240,000 union members from across the state and they have priorities for every legislative session. This session they’ve released Pro-Worker Scorecards for the state house and state senate, ranking lawmakers based upon how much they agreed with the group’s priorities like opposing school vouchers and expanding mental health leave.
Ask INDY: How Have Local Workers Been Hit by Federal Policies?
Indy Week
By Lena Geller
July 1, 2025
As for organizing in this crisis? North Carolina isn’t exactly fertile ground for labor power. But service industry workers can join the Union of Southern Service Workers, which shows up in force to protests and strikes, helps workers file unfair labor practice complaints, and provides know-your-rights trainings. The North Carolina chapter of the AFL-CIO has been connecting laid-off workers with resources and pressuring elected officials to act, and unions representing federal workers at EPA, the CFPB, and other agencies are fighting proposed reductions and advocating for their members. And there’s always room for new labor movements to form, whether within individual workplaces or across sectors.
Nurses protest Medicaid cuts outside Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office in Metairie
WWNO
By Drew Hawkins
July 1, 2025
A group of about two dozen University Medical Center nurses and community members gathered outside U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Metairie office Tuesday morning, protesting proposed cuts to Medicaid included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy bill. The nurses called on Cassidy to oppose the bill around the same time the Senate voted to pass it by a 51-50 vote. Cassidy voted in favor of the bill. It now heads back to the House for approval.
UNION BUSTING
Grindr workers pushed out are fighting to get their jobs back
Out
By Moises Mendez II
July 1, 2025
Almost two years after 82 out of Grindr's 178 employees — 46 percent of the staff — were let go after refusing a return-to-office mandate, Grindr United, the union of workers for the company, announced it is still fighting for those members pushed out to regain their jobs. The union began a fundraising campaign to support employees still out of work.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
Paramount’s Deal With Trump ‘Threatens Journalists’ Ability to Do Their Jobs,’ WGA East Says
The Wrap
By JD Knapp
July 2, 2025
The Writers Guild of America East shamed Paramount Global early Wednesday morning for not having the courage to defend its journalists after the media company reached a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over his “60 Minutes” lawsuit. “The Writers Guild of America East stands behind the exemplary work of our members at ’60 Minutes’ and CBS News. We wish their bosses at Paramount Global had the courage to do the same,” the WGAE shared in a statement. “This settlement is a transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval.”