The Weekly Download

“In the sixth blogcast of Power At Work’s series “What Could Happen Under Trump?”, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by President Doreen Greenwald of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) to discuss the attack on the rights of federal workers by the Trump administration. Watch now to hear President Greenwald’s response to this attack on dedicated civil servants who run the federal government, along with NTEU's strategies in defending its members. This discussion will cover how this mass firing and buyouts of federal employees by the Trump administration is an attempt to weaken and damage the federal government.”

“While Congressional Democrats have been caught flat-footed by President Donald Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop political strategy, the past weeks have seen a wave of protests and rallies in Washington, D.C., in defense of the many government programs the Trump Administration plans to defund, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB). These demonstrations have typically drawn smaller crowds than those that popped up at the beginning of the first Trump Administration in 2017, and are unaffiliated with the Democratic Party itself, though a few high-profile Congressional Democrats have made appearances in support of their causes.”

“Both Republicans and Democrats at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions questioned Chavez-DeRemer over her past support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — or PRO Act — which would make it easier for workers to unionize at the national level. Chavez-DeRemer said she signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill when she was in the House in order to ‘be at the table and have those conversations.’ But she added that the legislation was ‘imperfect,’ and that the version she co-sponsored never actually came up for a vote.”

“After weeks of chaos and upheaval in the federal workforce, thousands still remain uncertain about their future. Last week, more employees across the federal government received termination notices as the Trump administration forged ahead with its plan to drastically reduce the federal workforce. One agency hit hard by layoffs was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Taylor Sonne was a compliance examiner at CFPB based in Houston, Texas.”

“Utah’s Republican governor on Friday signed a collective bargaining ban that experts are calling one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country, despite overwhelming opposition from union members. Beginning July 1, unions serving Utah teachers, firefighters, police officers, transit workers and other public employees will be banned from negotiating on their behalf for better wages and working conditions.”

“A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot terminate more employees for now, providing a major reprieve to staff at the agency, who have been bracing for mass layoffs. More than 100 workers have already been fired this week. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington also said the agency cannot ‘delete’ or ‘remove’ data held by the CFPB, while also saying the agency cannot transfer money from its reserve funds unless it's for operational reasons.”

“American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said the federal worker union would fight mass firings of government employees Thursday, calling the Trump administration’s actions a politically driven abuse of the probationary period.”

“In January, educators in Santa Ana, Calif., learned of the school district’s plan to cut as many as 300 educator positions due to a budget shortfall. CWA substitute teachers, represented by CWA Local 9510, joined allies from the Santa Ana Educators Association, the National Union of Health Care Workers, and Santa Ana elementary and secondary school teachers, counselors, curriculum specialists, social workers, and parents at a hearing of the Santa Ana School District.”

“Today, Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Steven Horsford (D-NV), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), and Debbie Dingell (D-MI), alongside Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), led a bipartisan group of 265 Members of Congress — including every single House and Senate Democrat — to call on President Trump to immediately reinstate National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox. The lawmakers called on the president to restore the NLRB’s ability to protect the rights of American workers to organize and collectively bargain, which have already been impaired by understaffing at the agency and now are effectively lost by the lack of quorum on the NLRB.”

“The problem of case backlogs at the National Labor Relations Board goes deeper than budget shortfalls. Without serious penalties for employers who break the law, the board will continue to be hampered by a pileup of charges.”

“The Missouri House Commerce Committee considered two bills Feb. 5 aimed at delaying and weakening the minimum wage hike and paid sick leave measures approved by voters who overwhelmingly passed Proposition A in November. Fifty-eight percent of Missouri voters supported Proposition A in the Nov. 5 election. It raised the state minimum wage to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1, and will increase it to $15 an hour in 2026. After that, the wage will rise or fall based on the Consumer Price Index. Paid sick leave for employees, to be earned based on hours worked, will start in May.”

“What is behind the tariff war that Donald Trump has launched against Mexico, Canada and China, with a promise to extend the war to the world as a whole? Moving beyond the smoke and mirrors, we must step back and focus on three things. First, the tariff war is a response to the rapidly deepening crisis of global capitalism. Second, it is one component of a radical escalation of class warfare from above against the U.S. and the global working class. And third, the tariff policy is riddled with so many contradictions that it will end up aggravating the crisis and contributing to the unraveling of the Trump coalition.”

“President Donald Trump Wednesday evening again asserted that he put billionaire Elon Musk “in charge” of his “Department of Government Efficiency,” contradicting his own Department of Justice, which is claiming that Musk is merely a White House adviser with no authority.”

“U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Labor made clear during her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday that she no longer supports legislation known as the PRO Act, which would bolster worker organizing and dramatically weaken anti-union ‘right-to-work’ laws currently in place in over two dozen states. Asked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) whether she still supports the Protecting the Right to Organize Act—a bill she co-sponsored while in Congress—former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) said she signed onto the bill because she ‘wanted to be at that table,’ not because she was fully supportive of its provisions.”

“A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump from firing the chair of an agency that protects the rights of government workers, saying the official’s efforts to get her job reinstated were likely to succeed. Cathy Harris, who headed up the Merit Systems Protection Board, or MSPB, received an email from the Trump administration last Monday saying she was being removed from her position. Harris, a Democratic member of the board whose term was supposed to run into 2028, said her firing was illegal and quickly filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement. In the Tuesday order, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said it was in the public’s interest to block Harris’ removal with a temporary restraining order as her case makes its way through court.”

“Black Wall Street, the Red Summer of 1919, redlining, the truth about what happened after Reconstruction, how the March on Washington was organized — there’s plenty of Black history most of us weren’t taught in our middle and high school U.S. history classes. But what happens if teaching Black history becomes illegal nationwide? Some experts worry that’s the goal of the Trump administration and other conservatives who have spent the past several years censoring Black history in schools. But while politicians attempt to suppress the truth, teacher unions are saying, ‘not on our watch…’ Amid the growing war on Black history, teacher unions nationwide have become one of the most tangible defenses against such restrictions. Through legal pushbacks, advocacy efforts, and community initiatives, teacher unions — especially in more politically restrictive states — are making it clear that the fight for Black history is far from over.” 

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Professor Johnnie Kallas from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s School of Labor and Employment Relations. Professor Kallas is the project director of the Labor Action Tracker, a key piece of statistics that shows us the trends and data behind collective action and strikes within the previous year. Listen now to hear Professor Kallas analyze the trends in strikes in 2024 and his predictions for collective action in 2025.”

“The second Trump administration has the federal workforce in its crosshairs. Spearheading the effort is Elon Musk (the richest man in the world) and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (not actually a government department). Trump and Musk have taken a shotgun-blast approach: instituting a hiring freeze, shutting down whole agencies, telling workers to stop coming in, offering buyouts to 2 million workers, ordering remote workers back to the office in violation of union contracts, and mass-firing workers still in their probationary periods.”

“AFSCME members in Alaska are going public and going to court in their fight to increase staffing at state agencies. Members of the Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA)/AFSCME Local 52 held a rally at the state Capitol on Valentine’s Day. They drew attention to the fact that state workers are overworked and stressed out and desperately need help to better serve Alaskans.”

“On Tuesday, CWA members and retirees joined federal workers and community supporters on Capitol Hill at a rally hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees. Government workers, including first responders, educators, and nurses for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, face unprecedented attacks from the current administration in its attempt to dismantle critical federal agencies to fund tax cuts for CEOs and billionaires.”

“Today 4,000 Amazon workers at a North Carolina warehouse will finish voting on a union. Employees say the company “mobilized an army” ahead of the election, siccing local police on organizers and trying to pit black and Hispanic workers against each other.”

“Courtney Fahland, 27, has been following the Starbucks unionization movement ever since workers’ first victory in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2021. Growing up with a mother in the teachers’ union and father working for UPS, they deeply understood the importance of a union for working people. That’s why, within two months of working at a Starbucks in St. Cloud, Minn., Fahland led the effort to organize a union.”

It’s well known in labor circles that the 2020’s opened with a tremendous resurgence of rank-and-file activism in the workplace. Beginning with 2021’s “Striketober” and sparked initially by the hardships of the pandemic and emboldened by the labor shortages that followed, that upsurge targeted union and nonunion workplaces alike. Among the collective bargaining breakthroughs in already unionized workplaces, two of the most important involved the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the United Auto Workers (UAW). In 2023, the IBT won a historic contract with its largest employer, UPS, without having to follow through on its threat to strike. During that same year, the UAW won greatly improved contracts with the “big three” domestic automakers following a creatively designed and well-executed 43-day strike.

“The establishment of auxiliary locals by the Boilermakers’ union was a product of segregationist practices during the early 20th century. While this isn’t a proud moment for the union, it’s an important part of Boilermaker history that cannot be ignored. These were Jim Crow-era ideas that marginalized Black workers, subjecting them to discriminatory rules and limited union representation. Auxiliary locals, controlled by nearby white locals, were not allowed to send their own delegates to Convention, which silenced Black members in union decision-making.”

“The result in the end was disappointing, but not surprising. By an overwhelming 2,447 to 829, Amazon workers at the massive RDU1 warehouse here rejected union representation in six days of balloting last week. The campaign pitted the independent union CAUSE—Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment—against the second-largest private employer in the US. To label this a David-versus-Goliath fight would be an understatement. CAUSE is a homegrown union, started by RDU1 workers three years ago around core demands including a $30-an-hour starting wage, more paid time off, reasonable lunch breaks, and safety. The CAUSE members scrabbled together a bare-bones campaign budget with online fundraising campaigns and small grants. They built the fight with their own unpaid time and community volunteers. Amazon, implacably hostile to worker power, brought its full arsenal of union busting to RDU1.”

“The recent wave of unionization at Starbucks represents a dramatic shift in U.S. labor organizing. Through worker-to-worker outreach, workers successfully unionized over 500 stores employing more than 10,000 baristas. This one-on-one worker-led model is the labor movement’s future, according to Eric Blanc’s new book We are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big.”

“On Jan. 27, workers at the Whole Foods store in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia made history by becoming the first in the Amazon-owned grocery chain to unionize by voting to join UFCW Local 1776. ‘Today, we celebrate an incredible victory for the workers at Whole Foods in Philadelphia who have stood together to secure the union representation they deserve,’ said UFCW International President Marc Perrone in a statement. ‘This win sends a powerful message to workers everywhere that when we stand together, we can take on even the largest corporations and win. Whole Foods and its parent company, Amazon, have long resisted unionization efforts, but this election shows that workers’ determination and unity can triumph.’”

“On February 8, a room of almost 60 union members and organizers representing 17 different unions gathered during a classic Minnesota snow emergency for a half-day long “democracy defense” training. Led by St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) Local 28, attendees worked in groups to identify authoritarian strategies and narratives, and how to disrupt them. The training did not focus on any one specific policy or action, but instead was a space for broad, discursive discussions on the many ways those in power can divide us. Workers used examples from their lived experiences and labor and social movement history. They were also trained on how to have conversations with coworkers and community members about issues affecting working- class communities.”

“Amazon’s RDU1 fulfillment center is a nearly windowless 2 million-square-foot box squatting along Jones Sausage Road outside Raleigh, North Carolina. In early February, a new structure cropped up on its property line—an 8x8 bright yellow tent cutting a striking silhouette against the gray warehouse. Affixed to the tent poles are signs with big block letters (‘Vote union yes’) and pale blue flags emblazoned with a fist gripping an instantly identifiable icon—the orange Amazon “smile” arrow, inverted as a frown.”

“Minimum wage violations are rising sharply at fast food restaurants in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, according to a report by researchers at Northwestern University and Rutgers University. At least one in every four workers was illegally paid below the minimum wage in 2024, costing the average victim nearly $3,500 and totaling $44 million in lost wages annually across the region.”

“A judge at the National Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that Medieval Times broke the law repeatedly as it tried to fend off a union organizing campaign at its castles in New Jersey and California. The dinner-theater chain’s violations included firing a union supporter, threatening to withhold raises, trying to get the union’s social media accounts shut down and filing a trademark lawsuit against the union – all actions meant to discourage workers from organizing, according to NLRB Administrative Law Judge Lauren Esposito.”

“Providence and the union representing its striking nurses will resume in-person talks for the first time since the two sides reached an ill-fated agreement nearly two weeks ago, the Oregon Nurses Association said Monday. Negotiators for the Catholic not-for-profit health system and its striking nurses have not met in person since Feb. 4, when the two sides reached a tentative contract agreement. The 5,000 nurses on strike at the health system’s eight hospitals later voted down the deal by a wide margin.”

“[M]embers at New York Magazine reached a contract deal with management and averted a walkout. Workers told bosses they were ready to walk if management didn’t agree to a successor contract. The new tentative agreement includes wage increases and strong protections on artificial intelligence.”

“The business press howled in January when outgoing President Joe Biden blocked Japanese steel giant Nippon from buying U.S. Steel. The Steelworkers (USW) had strongly opposed the deal. But Nippon’s promises to invest, and U.S. Steel’s threats to close plants, led some members and local union officials to support it. As a result, the press portrayed the disagreement as “union bosses” versus the rank and file. In fact, most workers were skeptical and the union had good reasons to oppose the takeover.”

“Since taking office, Trump and his effective co-president Elon Musk have mounted a frontal assault on workers through executive actions, aimed at rooting out disloyal workers in the federal workforce, illegally firing members of the National Labor Relations Board and and dismissing a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and threatening to freeze funding for healthcare (especially gender-affirming care), education, transportation and other services, while also conducting immigration raids that have ensnared U.S. citizens and stoked fears of racial profiling…. We know that any resistance requires organization. And the labor movement is best positioned to provide it — in coalition with other progressive forces. It’s high time for a united front coalition — a broad working-class movement that fights for all workers, welcoming everyone, regardless of gender or immigration status. What’s needed is nothing short of a coalitional bloc premised on organized labor’s highest values and unifying ethos: An injury to one is an injury to all. The question is which unions will step up and take on the mantle of leadership.”