Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST WATCH
AFL-CIO to Launch Bus Tour to Oppose Trump Agenda
The Weekend on MSNBC
July 6, 2025
The largest federation of unions in the us is going on the offensive. The AFL-CIO is launching a cross country bus tour to oppose white house priorities they believe hurt working people.
MUST READ
Trump signs his tax and spending cut bill at the White House July 4 picnic
AP
By Darlene Superville, Nicholas Riccardi and Michelle L. Price
July 4, 2025
“Today, Donald Trump signed into law the worst job-killing bill in American history. It will rip health care from 17 million workers to pay for massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations, amounting to the country’s largest money grab from the working class to the ultra-rich,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “Every member of Congress who voted for this devastating bill picked the pockets of working people to hand billionaires a $5 trillion gift.”
BUDGET RECONCILIATION
Trump Signs Signature Policy Bill at Independence Day Event
The New York Times
By Chris Cameron
July 4, 2025
President Trump signed a sweeping domestic policy bill into law on Friday, cementing a major political victory that was timed to take place during Independence Day celebrations. Accompanied by a flyover of B2 bombers, the same aircraft used in the recent bombing of Iran, Mr. Trump touted the massive tax cuts included in the bill and downplayed the unpopularity of the legislation in polls and the potential impact of spending cuts.
In July 4 ceremony, Trump signs tax and spending bill into law
Reuters
By Trevor Hunnicutt
July 4, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a massive package of tax and spending cuts at the White House on Friday, staging an outdoor ceremony on the Fourth of July holiday that took on the air of a Trump political rally. With military jets flying overhead and hundreds of supporters in attendance, Trump signed the bill one day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the signature legislation of the president's second term.
Trump signs ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ his sweeping policy legislation
The Washington Post
By Matt Viser and Cat Zakrzewski
July 4, 2025
President Donald Trump on Friday, with the nation at cookouts and preparing for sparkler-filled evenings, flooded the South Lawn of the White House with a mixture of patriotic festival and a celebration of his biggest legislative accomplishment. The president who has signed a historic number of executive orders finally got his dream of signing a signature policy bill that contains a collection of his campaign promises.
States Brace for Added Burdens of Trump’s Tax and Spending Law
The New York Times
By David W. Chen and Pooja Salhotra
July 4, 2025
The ink is not even dry on the far-reaching domestic policy law that President Trump signed on Friday, and already state governments are bracing for impact as Washington shifts much of the burden for health care, food assistance and other programs onto them. Gov. JB Pritzker, Democrat of Illinois, and legislative leaders might hold a special session to deal with the new law, even though the recently passed state budget already includes $100 million to cover shortfalls in federal funding.
Republicans, Democrats start gaming out Trump's tax-cut bill hit to 2026 elections
Reuters
By David Morgan, Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan
July 3, 2025
Even before the last vote on U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill was counted, Republicans and Democrats in Congress began gaming out how to use it to gain an edge in the 2026 midterm elections. Midterm elections traditionally punish the party of the president in office, giving Democrats hope of recapturing control of at least one chamber of Congress where Republicans now hold full control. They view the Trump bill's cuts to Medicaid and food assistance as ready ammunition for their future campaign.
House passes tax and immigration bill, sending it to Trump’s desk
The Washington Post
By Jacob Bogage and Marianna Sotomayor
July 3, 2025
Republicans on Thursday notched the first major legislative victory of President Donald Trump’s second term, a mammoth tax and immigration agenda the GOP hopes will reshape the U.S. economy and unwind many of the Biden administration’s accomplishments. The House, in a 218 to 214 vote, passed Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill," a $3.4 trillion measure to extend tax cuts from Trump’s first term and implement new campaign promises — such as eliminating income taxes on tips and overtime wages — while spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and defense. It raises the country’s borrowing cap by $5 trillion, staving off a debt default that the Treasury was weeks away from breaching.
Trump tax bill averts one debt crisis but makes future financial woes worse
Retuters
By Davide Barbuscia
July 3, 2025
President Donald Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which passed Congress on Thursday, averts the near-term prospect of a U.S. government default but makes America’s long-term debt problems even worse. Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved the bill that will extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, authorize more spending on border security and the military, make steep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid – and add trillions to the government's debt. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.
‘It’s harsh. It’s mean, brutal’: Trump bill to cause most harm to America’s poorest
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
July 3, 2025
Last November, Donald Trump made a solemn vow to all Americans: “Every citizen, I will fight for you, your family and your future every single day.” Eight months later, Trump is vigorously backing many policies that will mean pain for millions. Trump has pushed to enact the Republican budget bill, which would make significant cuts to Medicaid, Obamacare, and food assistance, and would do the greatest damage to those Americans struggling hardest to make ends meet – the 30% of the US population that lives in households earning under $50,000 a year.
How Trump’s big bill will affect you, from Medicaid cuts to tax credits
The Washington Post
By Julie Zauzmer Weil, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jacob Bogage
July 3, 2025
Congress has signed off on a $3.4 trillion legislative package featuring new tax breaks, spending cuts, and more funding for defense and immigration enforcement, delivering President Donald Trump his “big, beautiful bill” despite rumblings from fiscal hawks about the projected $4 trillion it could add to the national debt over the next decade. The expansive bill will affect nearly every American, regardless of their stage in life or income level.
Trump branded, browbeat and prevailed. But his big bill may come at a political cost
AP
By Seung Min Kim
July 5, 2025
Barack Obama had the Affordable Care Act. Joe Biden had the Inflation Reduction Act. President Donald Trump will have the tax cuts. All were hailed in the moment and became ripe political targets in campaigns that followed. In Trump’s case, the tax cuts may almost become lost in the debates over other parts of the multitrillion-dollar bill that Democrats say will force poor Americans off their health care and overturn a decade or more of energy policy. Through persuasion and browbeating, Trump forced nearly all congressional Republicans to line up behind his marquee legislation despite some of its unpalatable pieces.
Here's what's in Trump's "big, beautiful bill" passed by Congress
CBS News
By Kaia Hubbard and Caitlin Yilek
July 4, 2025
The House passed a massive spending and tax bill that includes signature policies of President Trump's second-term agenda Thursday, sending the so-called "big, beautiful bill" to the president's desk ahead of a July 4 deadline. Mr. Trump signed the bill into law on Friday afternoon. The House approved the bill in a 218 to 214 vote Thursday, after the Senate narrowly approved the bill Tuesday in a 51-50 vote that required Vice President JD Vance to break a tie. At the center the "big, beautiful bill" is an extension of Mr. Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was slated to sunset at the end of the year. The legislation would make most of the tax cuts permanent, while increasing spending for border security, defense and energy production.
Culinary Union cites need for permanent tax relief on tips, blasts anti-worker policies
KLAS
By Greg Haas
July 4, 2025
When President Donald Trump announced his intention of a “no taxes on tips” policy last summer in Las Vegas, it took the Culinary Union about a month to get on board. Now, a year later, the leader of the union sees more negatives than positives in Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” which delivers on Trump’s campaign promise to tip earners. “The Culinary Union supports tax relief for working-class tip earners. In the Reconciliation bill that Congress just passed, unfortunately tax relief for workers is temporary, while windfall tax cuts for billionaires and the rich are permanent,” Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a Friday statement.
POLITICS
US court says Trump can remove Democrat from labor board, for now
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
July 3, 2025
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to remove a Democratic member from a federal labor board while his administration appeals a ruling that said her firing was illegal and had reinstated her. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit paused the lower court decision pending the appeal, saying a law shielding members of the Federal Labor Relations Authority from being removed at will likely violated Trump's broad powers to control the executive branch.
E.P.A. Suspends 144 Employees After They Signed a Letter Criticizing Trump
The New York Times
By Maxine Joselow
July 3, 2025
Justin Chen, second vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union that represents more than 8,000 E.P.A. workers, said the agency’s moves were “clearly an act of retaliation.” He said the union would “protect our members to the full extent of the law.”
Park Service Is Left Short-Staffed in Peak Travel Season
The New York Times
By Eileen Sullivan
July 3, 2025
Vacancies at the National Park Service have shot up since President Trump returned to the Oval Office and slashed the federal work force, leaving popular destinations across the country short-staffed during what is expected to be one of the service’s busiest seasons. The park service, which manages 433 sites and 85 million acres, has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent staff since the beginning of the Trump administration, according to a new report from the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting the park system.
Axed Federal Workers Poised for Class-Action Salvo Against Trump
Bloomberg Law
By Ian Kullgren
July 3, 2025
Advocates of fired federal workers are poised to pivot to class actions following the recent US Supreme Court ruling that curbed universal injunctions, realigning the legal battle lines over the federal workforce. If the Trump administration succeeds in convincing courts to remove existing injunctions, opponents are expected to counter by forming nationwide class actions— with the goal of securing secure reworked versions of the court orders that initially blocked Trump’s policies.
How Trump betrayed workers by gutting the Inflation Reduction Act (Opinion)
Labor Tribune
By David McCall
July 3, 2025
United Steelworkers Federal officials, then-Governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb, union leaders, company representatives, and dozens of guests assembled at Heidelberg Materials in Mitchell, Ind., last year to celebrate a milestone for North America’s second-largest cement plant. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company up to $500 million through the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Supreme Court and Congress cede powers to Trump and the presidency
The Washington Post
By Naftali Bendavid
July 4, 2025
In a striking dynamic of the Trump era, analysts say, the judicial and legislative branches have been steadily transferring many of their powers to the executive — or at least acquiescing in the transfers. That has shaken up a system that depends on the three branches of government jostling sharply as each jealously guards its own prerogatives, many critics contend.
CNN
By Alicia Wallace
July 5, 2025
The Labor Department, citing budget deficits and claiming poor results, said that it was halting contracts on the 99 private-contractor-operated sites under its purview by the end of June and that it would initiate an orderly transition of students from the residential program into their respective communities. The move is part of a broader push within the Trump administration to slash federal programs. “Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement at the time. She noted that an analysis of the program raised concerns about safety and its fiscal health. “We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”
IMMIGRATION
Las Vegas Culinary official: Trump mixes signals on deporting migrant farm, hotel laborers
Las Vegas Sun
By Kyle Chouinard
July 3, 2025
Officials with Culinary Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 in Las Vegas see Trump's shifting position as an attempt to thread the needle between his promise of the largest deportation program in American history and appeasing business leaders frustrated by the effects of those deportations. At the same time, Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary local, said the people Trump put in charge of his immigration program were “as right-wing extreme as you can get.” They’re looking to “purify the country,” he added.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
Readers respond: Protecting workers and building resilience (Opinion)
Oregon Live
By Steve Demarest, Mike Powers and Danielle Fox
July 6, 2025
The burning of fossil fuels, carbon-intensive companies and the escalating climate crisis pose dangers to the health, safety and finances of Oregon’s public workers. Countless are exposed to extreme heat, wildfires, floods and deep cold. Many live in impacted communities and have even lost their homes. Retirement futures are at risk due to climate’s financial impact on retirement investments.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Why some fear government data on the U.S. economy is losing integrity
The Washington Post
By Andrew Ackerman
July 3, 2025
U.S. policymakers are increasingly anxious about the integrity of certain government benchmarks, the crucial data points that help the Federal Reserve assess the economy’s health and guide interest rate decisions. The problems have led staff at certain agencies to rely more on statistical estimates than hard data, potentially fueling volatility in benchmarks, particularly for inflation readings from the Labor Department. Falling response rates to government surveys, coupled with pandemic-driven seasonal quirks and long-standing budget strains, have made it harder to collect and analyze reliable data — including for an employment report due Thursday. Agencies have also shed staff through early retirements, deferred resignations and normal attrition.
Solid US job growth masks loss of labor market momentum
Reuters
By Lucia Mutikani
July 3, 2025
U.S. job growth was unexpectedly solid in June, but nearly half of the increase in nonfarm payrolls came from the government sector, with private industry gains the smallest in eight months as businesses battled rising economic headwinds. While the Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Thursday also showed the unemployment rate falling to 4.1% last month from 4.2% in May, that was in part because some people left the labor force. The average workweek was shorter last month, suggesting businesses were probably reducing hours.
ORGANIZING
Co-op Values in Action: Abundance Staff Win Union Vote
Food Tank
By Joel Matheson
July 5, 2025
The workers of Abundance Food Co-op in Rochester, New York recently voted to form a union with Workers United following a recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election. Over 70 percent of the employees signed union authorization cards early in the process. With the guidance of seasoned organizers at Workers United, the nearly 40 workers moved quickly from there. The election was held two weeks after workers first announced their intention to organize. “[It’s] the fastest [organizing] I’ve ever encountered,” Will Westlake, an organizer with Workers United, tells Food Tank.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Newark Library Workers Demand New Contract: ‘Pride Doesn’t Pay The Bills’
Patch
By Eric Kiefer
July 3, 2025
“Pride doesn’t pay the bills.” That’s the rallying call from unionized workers at the Newark Public Library, who are demanding a “fair contract” from administrators. Workers are calling for wage increases at the library after their last contract expired more than a year ago, according to a statement from their union, AFSCME Local 2298.
Unionized Safeway workers in Colorado reach tentative deal to end strike, union says
CBS News
By Austen Erblat
July 5, 2025
The union representing thousands of grocery store workers in Colorado and Wyoming says it's reached a tentative deal with Safeway to end a strike impacting unionized workers at around 50 stores across Colorado. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 says after bargaining negotiations, union representatives achieved several demands, which include wage increases, bonuses based on seniority, fully-funded and improved healthcare benefits, an expanded vacation cash-out policy, and terminating temporary replacement workers.
Safeway strike ends as Albertsons and local union reach agreement
Colorado Public Radio
By Sarah Mulholland
July 5, 2025
Safeway workers in Colorado reached an agreement with Albertsons on Saturday, ending a two-week strike after local union leaders met with Safeway and its parent company on July 4. The two sides held an all-day bargaining session on Friday, according to a post on the union's Facebook page. Early Saturday morning, it posted the tentative agreement. "Attention UFCW Local 7 Safeway/Albertsons members: We have reached a fully recommended tentative agreement! The strike is over," the post said. The union said the agreement, which must be ratified by union membership, included fully funded healthcare benefits, fully funded pension benefits for the cycle of the contract, "strong" wage increases and several other provisions. No date has been set for the ratification vote.
Philadelphia strike enters Day 4 with negotiations at a standstill, trash piling up
CBS News
By Josh Sanders
July 4, 2025
As Philadelphia celebrated the 4th of July on Friday, negotiations between the striking AFSCME District Council 33 and Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration appeared to be at a standstill. The union represents thousands of municipal workers from a broad array of services, from sanitation to water services to crossing guards and medical examiner's office employees. Workers walked off the job starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, after both sides could not come to an agreement on a wage increase structure and health benefits for all members. Now heading into the weekend, there's no word on when both sides will resume talks, as the city becomes subject to national headlines after Wawa Welcome America concert headliner LL Cool J announced he would not cross the picket line and be paid to perform while the strike continued.
Hospital nurses at Essentia Twin Ports reach tentative deal to avert strike
KARE 11
By David Griswold
July 4, 2025
Hospital nurses at Essentia Twin Ports won't be going on strike after the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) announced a tentative agreement Friday morning, according to a press release. The union, which represents more than 22,000 nurses in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin, said that the new deal impacts acute care hospital nurses and includes a one-year freeze on reductions to current staffing ratios and a wage increase of 9.75% spread over three years of the contract. Nurses will now vote on whether to ratify the agreement in the coming weeks.
Duluth hospital nurses reach tentative contract with Essentia Health, averting strike
Star Tribune
By Eleanor Hildebrandt
July 4, 2025
Duluth hospital nurses reached a tentative agreement with Essentia Health on Friday morning, avoiding a strike for as many as 2,000 medical professionals. The union said the deal includes a 9.75% increase in wages over a three year period and a one-year freeze on reductions to staffing ratios. Nurses will vote on the agreement in coming weeks, according to a news release. The deal comes one day after the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and nine Twin Cities’ hospitals reached tentative contract agreements. The union also called off a planned strike at Aspirus St. Luke’s in Duluth when it came close to a deal on Thursday.
Twin Cities Nurses Reach Tentative Agreement, Averting Strike; Duluth Nurses Set To Strike Next Week
Minneapoli Media
By Tom Akaolisa
July 4, 2025
A potential strike involving thousands of Twin Cities nurses has been averted after the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) reached a tentative agreement with major metropolitan hospital systems on Thursday. However, nurses in Duluth and surrounding areas are still without a deal and are slated to begin an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike on Monday, July 8.
AFSCME files intent to strike; Champaign Co. employees, admin fail to reach middle ground
WCIA
By Jared Thomas
July 3, 2025
Some Champaign County employees could be striking as soon as Tuesday after contract negotiations with the administration failed to reach a middle ground. AFSCME filed an intent to strike as more than 90% were in favor of the motion on June 30th, which means a potential strike could happen as soon as Tuesday.
Contract talks hit a sour note at All Classical Radio
Northwest Labor Press
By Anna Del Savio
July 3, 2025
On-air hosts, sound engineers, and other staff at All Classical Radio authorized a strike in a 12-1 vote on June 24. Broadcast at 89.9 FM, All Classical Radio is a non-commercial Portland radio station also known as KQAC. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 48 represents 16 of its staff members. In current bargaining over a new contract, management is proposing to decrease how much the organization pays for health insurance for employees’ spouses and children, making workers cover more of the costs. Local 48 proposes to maintain health benefits.
Hudson Healthcare Workers Threaten Strike
Jersey City Times
By Ron Leir
July 5, 2025
Labor unrest continues to dog several Hudson County hospitals. Members of two union locals represented by Health Professionals & Allied Employees, the largest union of registered nurses and health care professionals, will strike July 10 if negotiations on new contracts with their employer, Hudson Regional Health, fail. So said a press release issued July 3 by HPAE.
Nurses At Chinese Hospital Ratify New Three-Year Contract
SF Gate
By Bay City News Service
July 6, 2025
Registered nurses at Chinese Hospital have ratified a new three-year contract that addresses key concerns about patient safety and nurse retention, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) announced Thursday. The agreement was approved on June 27, CNA said.
Timeline of District Council 33 strike in Philadelphia: What we know so far
CBS News
By CBS News Philadelphia Staff
July 6, 2025
After Philadelphia's AFSCME District Council 33 went on strike Tuesday, July 1, CBS News Philadelphia has published dozens of articles, videos and social media posts documenting the labor talks and what the city and union are saying about the strike. DC 33 represents nearly 9,000 blue-collar city workers and is the city's largest blue-collar worker union. Members of DC 33 work within the sanitation and water departments, as well as in roles such as 911 dispatchers, crossing guards, morgue employees, airport staff and more.