Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Congress Passes a National School Voucher Program
The New York Times
By Sarah Mervosh and Dana Goldstein
July 7, 2025
“This is an unprecedented and uncapped tax credit that could cost taxpayers over $50 billion a year — nearly double what the federal government spends on helping poor kids and kids with disabilities,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union.
AFL-CIO bus tour revs up labor’s mobilization against Trump bill
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg and John Wojcik
July 7, 2025
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, in her talks on national television, that Trump “signed into law the worst job-killing bill in U.S. 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.” The nation’s largest labor federation, which she leads, promises to put thousands of people to work canvassing colleagues, friends and families, reminding all, every day, of the Trump-GOP law’s harms—a $1.1 trillion Medicaid cut, $300 billion cuts in a key special nutrition program and in Obamacare and an 80% cut in federal aid to K-12 schools, for starters. Campaigners will beat the drum from now through November 2026, and beyond.
VOA Rescinds Layoff Notices Over Labor Violations, Union Says
Bloomberg Law
By Ian Kullgren
July 7, 2025
The Trump administration withdrew layoff notices sent to Voice of America employees over alleged labor law violations that made the attempted workforce cuts unenforceable, according to a union representing the workers. The government rescinded the June reduction-in-force notices after management breached contractual obligations for VOA employees, including failing to bargain in good faith before issuing the notices and miscalculating some workers’ retention credits, according to the American Federation of Government Employees.
Veterans Affairs reverses course on large-scale layoffs
The Washington Post
By Mariana Alfaro, Hannah Natanson and Meryl Kornfield
July 7, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it will no longer be forced to conduct a large reduction in workforce, unlike several other federal agencies that were forced to make mass layoffs because of the Trump administration’s U.S. DOGE Service. In a news release, VA said that it was on pace to reduce its total staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of this fiscal year, a push that the department said eliminates the need for a “large-scale reduction-in-force.” The announcement marks a significant reversal for the Trump administration, which had planned for months to cut VA by roughly 83,000 employees, according to plans revealed in an internal memo circulated to agency staffers in March. At the time, VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins said in remarks shared to social media that the cuts were tough but necessary.
Veterans Affairs dramatically scales back layoffs to less than half of initial plan
The Hill
By Ellen Mitchell
July 7, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has abandoned plans to cut more than 80,000 employees, scaling back that number to just under 30,000 after a massive outcry from veterans, advocate groups and lawmakers and an exodus of individuals from the agency. In a Monday news release, the VA said it was on pace to reduce its total staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of this fiscal year due to “the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition.”
Trump is reshaping a student loan forgiveness program. Some fear politics will decide who qualifies
AP
By Collin Binkley
July 7, 2025
President Donald Trump is reshaping a student loan cancellation program into what some fear will become a tool for political retribution, taking aim at organizations that serve immigrants and transgender youth. Public Service Loan Forgiveness allows government employees, such as teachers and firefighters, plus many who work for nonprofits, to have their student loans canceled after they’ve made payments for 10 years. The Education Department is preparing an overhaul that would strip the benefit from organizations involved in “illegal activities,” with the final determination left up to the U.S. education secretary. A draft proposal released by the department includes definitions of illegal activity that center on immigration, terrorism and transgender issues.
Punching In: DOL’s Quiet Regulation Rollback Raises Eyebrows
Bloomberg Law
By Rebecca Rainey and Robert Iafolla
July 7, 2025
With little fanfare the US Labor Department advanced more than two dozen proposals last week, including rules to cancel minimum wage and overtime eligibility for certain health aides, anti-discrimination requirements for apprenticeship, and the regulations underpinning the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. DOL officials dropped notice of the major de-regulatory push last week without a press conference or public announcement, triggering questions from a key lawmaker. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, requested in a letter shared exclusively with Punching In that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer brief his panel before July 9.
Who will be affected by Trump administration’s Medicaid, SNAP work requirements (Video)
PBS
By Laura Barrón-López and Karina Cueves
July 7, 2025
President Trump’s big tax law includes a major provision the GOP has endorsed for years: work requirements for Medicaid recipients and for food stamp benefits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million Americans could lose medical coverage over the next decade and more than 3 million could lose SNAP benefits. Laura Barrón-López discussed the stakes with Pamela Herd.
Medicaid's many different names may cause confusion about who's losing coverage
NPR
By Abigail Ruhman
July 7, 2025
Medicaid programs go by so many different names across the country that advocates and experts warn people may not know they're losing their coverage until it's too late. An estimated 16 million Americans could lose their health care coverage with funding cuts and policy changes in the federal reconciliation bill. That is according to a nonpartisan government analysis.
DOL tosses Biden effort to end subminimum wage for workers with disabilities
HR Dive
By Ryan Golden
July 7, 2025
The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday withdrew a Biden-era rule that aimed to phase out a section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allowed employers to pay certain workers with disabilities wage rates that fall below the federal minimum wage. DOL’s rule, announced last December, would have ceased issuance of new certificates that allow employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities, while giving those with existing certificates a period of three years to gradually end the practice. At the time, the agency said subminimum wages were no longer necessary to preserve employment opportunities for participating workers.
'Trump Effect' website takes credit for US investment made under Biden
Reuters
By Jarrett Renshaw
July 8, 2025
Within hours of taking office in January, President Donald Trump boasted about attracting $3 trillion in new corporate investments to the United States. Since then, Trump has said the investments have swelled to $14 trillion, or roughly half of the nation's annual gross domestic product. The White House calls it "The Trump Effect" and features a rolling list on its website of more than 70 projects it says Trump's economic policies spurred, from a new bakery plant in Texas to a LEGO facility in Virginia and a microchip plant in Arizona.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
OpenAI and Microsoft Bankroll New A.I. Training for Teachers
The New York Times
By Natasha Singer
July 8, 2025
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the A.I. academy was inspired by other unions, like the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, that have worked with industry partners to set up high-tech training centers. The New York hub will be “an innovative new training space where school staff and teachers will learn not just about how A.I. works, but how to use it wisely, safely and ethically,” Ms. Weingarten said in an interview. “It will be a place where tech developers and educators can talk with each other, not past each other.”
IMMIGRATION
US judge rules Abrego's challenge to wrongful deportation can proceed
Reuters
By Andrew Goudsward
July 7, 2025
A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that Kilmar Abrego's legal challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador can continue despite the decision by President Donald Trump's administration to bring him back to the United States to face criminal charges. Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found that there were ongoing issues to resolve in the case, including whether the administration fully complied with prior orders to facilitate Abrego's return and allow his immigration case to be handled as though he had not been improperly deported.
U.S. Will Try to Deport Abrego Garcia Before He Faces Trial, Justice Dept. Says
The New York Times
By Alan Feuer and Minho Kim
July 7, 2025
The Justice Department said on Monday that Trump officials would immediately begin the process of expelling Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the country again if he is released from custody next week on charges filed after his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March. That plan, laid out by a Justice Department lawyer at a hearing in Federal District Court in Maryland, directly contradicted a statement by the White House last month describing the possibility that the administration might re-deport Mr. Abrego Garcia as “fake news.”
ORGANIZING
Norfolk Botanical Garden workers seek union representation amid workplace concerns
WTKR
By Jay Greene
July 7, 2025
Workers at the Norfolk Botanical Garden are pursuing union representation, citing concerns over wages, benefits, and having a greater voice in workplace decisions. According to a union organizer with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who spoke with News 3, more than 70 percent of eligible employees signed authorization cards in support of unionization by June 18 — just over a month after organizers began collecting signatures.
UAW targets union vote at Huntsville powertrain plant
Yellowhammer News
By Grayson Everett
July 7, 2025
The United Auto Workers (UAW) is attempting to lurch its way back into Alabama – this time – at the International Motors’ powertrain plant in Huntsville. UAW filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent 220 full-time and part-time manufacturing workers as part of a national $40 million drive by union leadership to organize 40,000 Southern autoworkers by the end of 2026.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
CBS News
By Tom Ignudo, Josh Sanders, Raymond Strickland, CBS News Staff and Ross DiMattei
July 7, 2025
Negotiations between the Parker administration and AFSCME District Council 33, Philadelphia's largest municipal workers' union, ended over the weekend without a deal as the strike entered its seventh day Monday. DC 33 and the Parker administration negotiated for hours Saturday but were unable to reach an agreement. There's been no word on when the two sides will return to the negotiating table. DC 33 represents multiple city departments, including police dispatchers, sanitation workers and more. Saturday's talks between DC 33 and the Parker administration marked the second meeting between the two parties amid the strike, which has left trash piling up on city streets.
Penn Museum workers authorize strike, demanding higher salaries
Philly Voice
By Molly McVety
July 7, 2025
Employees at the Penn Museum have unanimously authorized a strike, demanding higher salaries and claiming the university has dragged its feet in contract negotiations. The union group, which is part of the same labor federation as the city's municipal workers who are currently on strike, saw its contract expire at the end of June and has threatened action as early as Wednesday if terms are not met.
Food Stylists in the Writers’ Union? That’s a Reality in an Innovative New Labor Deal
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
July 7, 2025
The production company behind Food Network staple The Kitchen has been cooking up something quite unusual with the writers’ union. On Monday the Writers Guild of America East announced that its members at Garden Slate Productions, formerly called BSTV Entertainment, had unanimously ratified a first union contract with the cuisine-focused entertainment company. The deal covers some nonfiction workers that the writers’ union has represented many times before — like producers and associate producers.
McLaren Macomb Hospital workers launch 3-day strike over staffing, pay
The Detroit News
By Charles E. Ramirez
July 7, 2025
Linda El-Amin said she was walking the picket line Monday in front of McLaren Macomb Hospital to tell the company she wants it to fully staff departments. "It's difficult to do the things we're supposed to be doing because we're short-staffed most of the time," she said. She was among the hundreds of the hospital's nurses and support staff who walked off the job Monday in protest over alleged unfair labor practices. The strike began at 7 a.m. and is expected to last through Wednesday. Officials for the union representing the striking workers, the Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 40, announced Sunday that they were going on strike.
Garden Slate Productions Reaches First Union Contract With WGA East
Deadline
By Peter White
July 7, 2025
Staff at Garden Slate Productions, which produces Food Network’s long-running series The Kitchen, have landed their first union contract. The company has struck a deal with the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) that will include immediate raises for production assistants and increased health benefits for staff. It comes more than two years after workers at the unscripted production company, which was previously known as BSTV, before rebranding as part of a deal earlier this year, unionized with the WGAE.
Union announces ‘tentative’ agreement with Albertsons, ending Safeway strike
KKTV
By Lindsey Grewe
July 7, 2025
Grocery store union UFCW Local says it has reached a tentative agreement with Safeway, ending the ongoing strike. “Attention UFCW Local 7 Safeway/Albertsons members: We have reached a fully recommended tentative agreement! The strike is over,” the union wrote in a social media post dated July 5.
Cannabis workers at Vineland cultivation facility ratify first contract with UFCW Local 152
ROI-NJ
By John Harrington
July 7, 2025
UFCW Local 152 members at the Columbia Care cannabis cultivation facility in Vineland ratified their first union contract, concluding a years-long quest for union representation. 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 in November of 2022. The first contract, accepted on June 23, provides for retroactive wage increases for all members and brings their wages to industry-leading levels above their non-union counterparts, according to UFCW Local 152. The agreement also provides for 100% employer-paid ancillary benefits through the union’s health and welfare fund. Benefits such as prepaid legal services, life insurance and vision care were negotiated at no cost to the workers.
Hundreds of Minnesota Healthcare Workers Are Getting Ready to Strike
Workday Magazine
By Isabela Escalona
July 7, 2025
On July 8 and 10, hundreds of healthcare workers in Minnesota could go out on strike. They are nurses and physician assistants who are members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) who are upset about what they say is unsafe staffing, as well as unfair management behavior at the bargaining table. From rural communities in the Duluth-area to the heart of the Twin Cities metro area, healthcare workers are voting to strike, and filing charges of unfair labor practices (ULPs) against their employers.
STATE LEGISLATION
Utah Labor Coalition Puts Bargaining Ban on Hold with Historic Referendum
In These Times
By Caroleine James
July 7, 2025
On a cloudy mid-April day, a large white box truck pulled up outside the Salt Lake County clerk’s office. Inside was a pallet of bankers boxes, each filled to the brim with paper packets. Since 6 a.m., at clerks’ offices across Utah, teachers, firefighters and other public sector union workers had been lugging in cartloads of referendum petition signatures.