Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Education layoffs cleared by Supreme Court hit Nation’s Report Card
The Washington Post
By Justine McDaniel
July 15, 2025
“Instead of investing in kids’ futures, the president has pulled the rug out from under them,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
What’s Next for Trump’s Plans to Dismantle the Education Department
The New York Times
By Michael C. Bender
July 15, 2025
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to shift key functions from the Education Department to other corners of the federal government, moving quickly to implement changes just one day after the Supreme Court cleared the way for mass layoffs. The department’s main purpose has been to distribute money to college students through grants and loans, to send federal money to K-12 schools, particularly for low-income and disabled students, and to enforce anti-discrimination laws. But soon after President Trump’s return to the White House, he signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the Education Department.
Trump DOJ says agencies' layoff plans are off limits in legal challenge
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
July 15, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration has told a federal judge that it cannot be ordered to disclose federal agencies' reorganization and mass layoff plans as part of a lawsuit seeking to block them from being implemented. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers in a filing in San Francisco federal court late Monday pushed back on demands for the information by a group of unions, nonprofits and municipalities who claim Trump cannot order agencies to be gutted without permission from Congress.
Department of Education employee facing layoff reacts to Supreme Court decision (Video)
CNN
July 15, 2025
Sheria Smith, President of AFGE Local 252 representing Education Dept. employees, talks about the Supreme Court decision giving the go-ahead for mass layoffs, and tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer how she thinks this move will impact children.
H.H.S. Finalizes Thousands of Layoffs After Supreme Court Decision
The New York Times
By Christina Jewett and Benjamin Mueller
July 15, 2025
The Department of Health and Human Services finalized the layoffs of thousands of employees after a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed with mass firings across the government. Employees received notice of their termination late Monday, marking a turning point in the reshaping of the nation’s health care work force. Those let go included people who coordinated travel for overseas drug facility inspectors, communications staff members, public records officials and employees who oversaw contracts related to medical research.
Senate advances bill with Vance’s help to slash $9 billion from budget
The Washington Post
By Theodoric Meyer
July 15, 2025
The Senate voted Tuesday to advance President Donald Trump’s request to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and federal funding for public broadcasting despite the misgivings of some Republicans. The vote was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie after Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) broke with their party and voted with Democrats. Senators must now consider a series of other procedural hurdles and up to 10 hours of debate before a final floor vote; if that succeeds, the legislation would have to return to the House to be considered before Friday’s deadline.
Senate votes to move ahead on funding clawback package
Politico
By Katherine Tully-McManus and Jordain Carney
July 15, 2025
The Senate is one step closer to approving a request from President Donald Trump to cancel roughly $9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding. Senators narrowly voted 51-50 to force the funding request out of committee, the first procedural hurdle it needs to overcome. GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine voted against the move, forcing Republicans to lean on Vice President JD Vance to break a 50-50 tie to clear the first roadblock.
Government Executive
By Erich Wagner
July 15, 2025
The Trump administration last month narrowed its efforts to unwind a Biden-era policy aimed at promoting federal contractors’ use of unionized labor on major construction projects, after a federal judge blocked the White House’s initial try. In 2022, then-President Biden signed an executive order mandating that federal contractors sign project labor agreements with subcontractors and associated unions on construction projects that cost at least $35 million. A final rule implementing the edict was published by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council in January 2024.
Democrats Broach Potential Walkout to Block Texas Redistricting
The New York Times
By J. David Goodman and Shane Goldmacher
July 15, 2025
National Democratic leaders are encouraging state Democrats in the Texas House to consider walking out of a special legislative session this month to block Republicans from redrawing the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. At the same time, President Trump held his own call on Tuesday with congressional Republicans in the state, urging them to carve out five new G.O.P. seats from those held by Democrats, according to a person briefed on that call, which was first reported by Punchbowl News.
Trump reshaped the Supreme Court. Now emergency appeals are helping him reshape the government
AP
By Mark Sherman and Chris Megerian
July 15, 2025
Six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has gotten almost everything he has wanted from the Supreme Court that he reshaped during his first. The justices, three of whom were appointed by Trump, have cleared the way for stripping legal protections from more than 1 million immigrants, firing thousands of federal employees, ousting transgender members of the military, removing the heads of independent government agencies and more.
Hawley Aims to Roll Back Medicaid Cuts He Voted for Just Two Weeks Ago
The New York Times
By Megan Mineiro
July 15, 2025
Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation on Tuesday that aims to roll back some of the major changes to Medicaid made in Republicans’ sweeping policy bill, legislation that the Missouri Republican voted to pass just two weeks ago. President Trump signed that policy bill into law on July 4 after Republican leaders successfully wrangled a handful of G.O.P. holdouts, including Mr. Hawley.
IMMIGRATION
Trump DOJ fires immigration court judges across US amid deportation push, union says
USA Today
By Eduardo Cuevas
July 15, 2025
The firings of 17 immigration judges since July 11 — 15 that day and 2 on July 14 — comes as the Trump administration looks to rapidly detain and deport migrants in the country. The judges were in federal courts in 10 states, including California, Louisiana, New York and Texas, according to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration judges. “This is nonsensical,” Matt Biggs, the union president, said in a statement. “The answer is to stop firing, and start hiring.”
Trump administration fires 17 immigration court judges across ten states, union says
AP
By Rebecca Santana
July 15, 2025
Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants in the country. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired “without cause” on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country — California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
The government wants AI to fight wars and review your taxes
The Washington Post
By Douglas MacMillan, Faiz Siddiqui, Hannah Natanson and Elizabeth Dwoskin
July 15, 2025
Elon Musk has receded from Washington but one of his most disruptive ideas about government is surging inside the Trump administration. Artificial intelligence, Musk has said, can do a better job than federal employees at many tasks — a notion being tested by AI projects trying to automate work across nearly every agency in the executive branch. The Federal Aviation Administration is exploring whether AI can be a better air traffic controller. The Pentagon is using AI to help officers distinguish between combatants and civilians in the field, and said Monday that its personnel would begin using the chatbot Grok offered by Musk’s start-up, xAI, which is trying to gain a foothold in federal agencies.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
US consumer prices rise in June as tariff pass-through begins
Reuters
By Lucia Mutikani
July 15, 2025
U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in five months in June amid higher costs for some goods, suggesting tariffs were starting to have an impact on inflation and potentially keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until September. Softening demand as consumers hunker down, however, is limiting price increases for services like airline fares and hotel and motel rooms, keeping underlying inflation muted for now. That trend, if sustained, could ease concerns of a broad-based rise in price pressures from tariffs.
'Our lives were upended:' ZeniMax union workers respond to Microsoft layoffs
Game Developer
By Chris Kerr
July 15, 2025
Union workers at ZeniMax Online Studios have issued a public response to Microsoft's latest round of mass layoffs, which reportedly impacted around 9,000 people including many within the company's video game division. ZeniMax Online Studios United-CWA (ZOSU-CWA), one of a number of unions to have formed within Xbox Game Studios with support from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), said employees feel as if their "future has been stolen" by their parent company.
ORGANIZING
Rise and Grind: Baristas at another Tucson Starbucks vote to unionize
KGUN 9
By Vanessa Gongora
July 15, 2025
Starbucks workers at the Ina and Oracle, Casas Adobes location have voted unanimously, 16-0, to unionize. According to Starbucks Workers United, a worker-led unionizing effort, the location is the 11th store in Arizona, and third in Tucson to do so. Casas Adobes will join more than 600 locations in 45 states and the District of Columbia to unionize.
Now showing: Loft Cinema staff vote to unionize, negotiate with board
KGUN 9
By Eddie Celaya
July 15, 2025
One of Arizona’s last remaining independent movie theaters is undergoing a major change, and it goes beyond a fresh coat of paint or a revamped snack bar. The Loft Cinema, located at 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., a Tucson mainstay known for screening independent, foreign and avant-garde films, has voted unanimously to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 415, one of the largest entertainment unions in North America.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
District Council 47 reach tentative agreement with Philadelphia to avert possible strike
CBS News
By CBS News Philadelphia Staff
July 15, 2025
AFSCME District Council 47, the union that represents 6,000 city workers, including the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the Philadelphia Housing Authority, has reached a tentative agreement with the city, averting a possible strike.
Update on APPs and Clinic workers’ strike
WDIO
By WDIO
July 15, 2025
Nearing a week since they began their Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike, Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) and clinic workers provided an update on negotiations with Essentia Health. The nurses stated during a press conference that they want to bargain a fair contract and to have a say in floating nurses, so that when a nurse is floated, it is safe and appropriate. According to the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), Essentia Health is in clear violation of Sections 8(a)(5) and 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by refusing to recognize and bargain with a certified union representative of its employees.
WellSpan, worker’s union reaches tentative agreement likely averting strike
Tri State Alert
By Staff
July 15, 2025
A Franklin County-sized sigh of relief was probably heard this morning after it was announced that WellSpan corporate and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the union that represents about 1,450 workers at the Chambersburg Hospital, have reached a tentative agreement as to a new deal. The full release from the SEIU is below. Details of the contract will only be released should it be approved by the membership of the union.
UFCW Local 400 plans rally aimed at saving Gassaway, W.Va. Kroger store
WV Metro News
By Chris Lawrence
July 15, 2025
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 is working to convince Kroger to reverse plans to close one of their smallest stores in Gassaway, W.Va. A rally is set at the store in Braxton County at 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The store is one of 60 stores the company has announced they will close across America. “This is a decision that Kroger has to make and what we’re doing through our rallies and petitions is making it clear that it’s not just the union that wants to see this store open, it’s the entire community,” said Jonathan Williams, Spokesman for UFCW Local 400.
Toledo City Council approves contract with firefighters union(Video)
WTOL
By WTOL.com
July 15, 2025
Toledo City Council approves a firefighter wage raise to match police, ending lengthy negotiations.
Union workers push for contract renegotiation amid labor dispute with Safeway
KRCR
By Veonna King
July 15, 2025
Approximately 25,000 workers, representing three UFCW locals, are seeking a contract renegotiation with Safeway, aiming to address rising living costs, improve scheduling, increase retirement savings and provide accessible, affordable healthcare. Negotiations have been ongoing since March, but UFCW 5 members allege the company is more focused on cuts than reaching a fair agreement.
WTHR
By Associated Press
July 15, 2025
The WNBA players union and league officials have much to discuss when they sit down this week for their first in-person talks as a group since December about the new collective bargaining agreement. After sharing initial proposals, the two sides apparently are far apart in the early negotiations as they prepare for their first face-to-face meeting that includes the players executive council in Indianapolis on Thursday heading into All-Star weekend.
UNION BUSTING
Wells Fargo workers allege union-busting again
Banking Dive
By Gabrielle Saulsbery
July 15, 2025
A senior human resources executive at Wells Fargo has been visiting unionized branches to “interrogate” workers and coercing them to decertify their union, Wells Fargo employees allege. Stan Sherrill, Wells Fargo’s head of labor relations, has told workers that Wells Fargo Workers United signage is propaganda, some employees allege. Employees rallied against the alleged union-busting in Charlotte on Tuesday morning, alongside representatives of the AFL-CIO and Communications Workers of America unions. The North Carolina city is home to one of Wells’ largest employee bases.