The Weekly Download

“Earlier this month, software firm Workday announced that it would be laying off more than 1,700 workers – or about 8.5% of its workforce – to redirect investment towards artificial intelligence. The announcement was the latest in a series of mass layoffs that have put hundreds of thousands of workers at Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, and other tech companies out of work over the past several years. Google and Meta are among the tech giants that have cited the need to invest resources in AI development as the reason for cutting jobs. AI is also a part of the rationale behind the raft of mass federal employees layoffs. Much of the narrative about AI and jobs has focused on the threat of automation: what can AI do as well as – or better than – humans? Research on AI-driven job displacement often focuses on forecasting which jobs or tasks machines could perform in the future, and then estimating how many workers might be displaced due to this automation. A report might tell us that 30% of work hours could be automated by 2030, or a study might predict that 5% of work tasks across the economy could be performed by AI in the next 10 years.”

“Silicon Valley is moving sharply and openly to the right. In a presidential inauguration where the best seats were essentially sold at auction, tech billionaires and CEOs from Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta paid premiums to sit close to Donald Trump. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk — once a darling of those hoping for a greener capitalism — even managed a fascist salute. [...] There has long been a part of Silicon Valley that was, to put it mildly, fascism-adjacent. But until quite recently, most of Big Tech (Musk included) was aligned with the neoliberal centrists of the Democratic Party, a bond that was perhaps strongest during the Obama years. But today, Trump can proudly proclaim that ‘they did desert [Biden]. They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.’”

“The state of Illinois has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of American education unions. The Illinois Education Association (IEA) and the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) are two of the largest unions in the state. Today, ‘nearly all’ Illinois PreK-12 public school teachers are covered by collective bargaining agreements as well as a majority of PreK-12 support staff, and over 20,000 higher education faculty and staff are covered by union contracts.  My forthcoming book, Public Education and Social Reform: A History of the Illinois Education Association, describes the history of the state’s public school system and IEA’s transformation from a professional association to the state’s largest labor union. Organized in 1853 as the Illinois State Teachers’ Association (ISTA), IEA succeeded in getting the General Assembly to pass the Free School Law of 1855 that established a state-sponsored public school system. Ever since, the IEA has played a leading role in the development of Illinois’ public schools.”

“President Donald Trump declared war on the civil service on his first day in office, and AFGE has been taking on the Trump administration from Day 1 to make sure civil servants can continue to serve the American people and support our communities.”

“For decades, the textbook model of a perfectly competitive labor market told us that your wage should equal your productivity. The logic was simple: if you produce 20 dollars’ worth of value in an hour, then your boss has to pay you 20 dollars an hour—otherwise, someone else will hire you away and pay you what you’re truly worth. But in the real world, the search for a new job can be time-consuming, commuting distances can be long, and many workers have access to only a handful of local employers (or in some cases just one). Suddenly, that tidy economic story falls apart. This blog post – based on our recent review of the literature – explores how monopsony power limits worker pay, why it arises, and what policymakers can do about it.”

“AFSCME, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers have sued to stop DOGE’s unlawful seizure of people’s personal, sensitive data from the Social Security Administration (SSA). [...] AFSCME’s lawsuit alleges that the seizure of SSA data by DOGE violates the law, including the many protections found in the Internal Revenue Code, the Privacy Act, the Federal Information Systems Modernization Act and more.”

“As the results flashed on the House of Representatives screens – solidifying a vote to kill a bill that would’ve made New Hampshire a ‘right-to-work’ state – union members and legislators alike erupted in applause. In a 200-180 vote, 25 Republicans joined Democrats to indefinitely postpone the bill, meaning it can’t return in a similar form for the next two years. House Bill 283 would’ve prohibited collective bargaining agreements from requiring workers to join or contribute financially to unions.As the results flashed on the House of Representatives screens – solidifying a vote to kill a bill that would’ve made New Hampshire a “right-to-work” state – union members and legislators alike erupted in applause. In a 200-180 vote, 25 Republicans joined Democrats to indefinitely postpone the bill, meaning it can’t return in a similar form for the next two years. House Bill 283 would’ve prohibited collective bargaining agreements from requiring workers to join or contribute financially to unions.”

“When Donald Trump nominated former US representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as secretary of labor, a narrative emerged that the 47th president was breaking from Republican orthodoxy and choosing a Labor Department head who might actually be sympathetic to workers and their unions. After all, as a member of the House, Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, had been one of the few members of her party’s caucus to back pro-union legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act.”

“In considering the topic of ‘unleashing’ America’s workforce and strengthening the economy, I make three main points in this testimony: (1) the Trump-Vance administration has inherited unquestionably the strongest economy for an incoming administration in a quarter-century;1 (2) that strength was driven in large part by economic policy choices by the prior administration and Congress; and (3) the Trump-Vance administration agenda will be profoundly destructive to the incomes and economic security for both the most vulnerable families and the broad middle class. The administration is aiming to gut key income support and safety net programs that provide direct support to tens of millions of working families, and the chaos and uncertainty they are intentionally sowing with reckless power grabs over key economic institutions will likely cause an economic crisis unless it is stopped.”

“The Trump administration’s opening barrage against immigrants—arresting thousands of people around the country and declaring that hospitals, schools, and churches are no longer off limits—has put a chill on immigrant communities. Rumors of raids are flying. Some parents are scared to send their children to school, go to the hospital, or go anywhere besides work. On the other hand, border czar Tom Holman complained on CNN that Chicagoans are ‘very well-educated’: 'They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it how to escape from ICE.’”

“After U.S. Forest Service layoffs, will for-profit contractors protect you from wildfires? On Feb. 14, Adin Kloetzel lost his job as a trails forestry technician at the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwest Montana, where he hauled supplies into remote areas by mule, cut trails, and supported firefighting efforts.”

“When Connor Hovey began talking to his co-workers at Trader Joe’s in Louisville about forming a union, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. What he didn’t expect was that the campaign would transform from a marathon into a race without a finish line. Two years after Hovey and his co-workers won a union election in Louisville, their fight for union representation remains in limbo. The grocery chain with a progressive reputation filed six objections with the National Labor Relations Board after workers voted 48 to 36 to join Trader Joe’s United, an independent union. Every objection was tossed twice — first by an NLRB hearing officer and later by a regional director. But last month, the workers’ path to certification stalled again when President Donald Trump abruptly fired Gwynne Wilcox, a Biden appointee, leaving the board unable to rule on the company’s final appeal. The board’s paralysis has prevented thousands of workers like Hovey from seeking redress from an agency whose very mission is to enforce worker rights, while providing employers with new opportunities to stall disputes. At the same time, the lack of a functioning arbiter of labor relations has left workers and their advocates wondering if the time has come to employ more confrontational tactics in labor disputes.”

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told unionized employees they will have to return to the office in mid-April, unless they have certain exemptions, according to a memo seen by Reuters. The move follows similar efforts at the agency with its non-union staff, as well as across the federal workforce, in response to a mandate by Republican President Donald Trump that officials terminate remote or hybrid work arrangements. Citing that directive, guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, SEC Chief Operating Officer Ken Johnson said in a memo to all staff they will be required to work on-site beginning April 14, 2025, the SEC's February 25 memo said.”

“A coalition of educators and sociologists is challenging the Department of Education and its unprecedented Dear Colleague letter—which declared all race-conscious student programming illegal—in a lawsuit filed late Tuesday evening. The American Federation of Teachers and the American Sociological Association argue in the complaint, which was submitted to a Maryland federal court, that following the letter’s dictates ‘will do a disservice to students and ultimately the nation by weakening schools as portals to opportunity…’ The expected legal challenge came just three days before a Feb. 28 compliance deadline. The four-page guidance document says that colleges and universities must rescind any race-based policies, activities and resources by the end of the day or risk investigation and the loss of federal funding.”

“A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking certain agencies from sharing sensitive records with President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ or DOGE. Several labor unions filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management to prevent them from forking over data to DOGE as it seeks to fire workers, end federal contracts and unilaterally close agencies…The unions say DOGE was seeking access to systems that include Social Security numbers, bank account information and other ‘extraordinarily sensitive records of millions of Americans.’ The victims include veterans receiving benefit payments, workers with federal employment records and millions of borrowers under federal student loan programs, they allege.”

“Quinn is one of countless healthcare workers across the United States mobilizing to support the young transgender and gender-diverse patients they care for, as the Trump administration unleashes a flurry of executive orders, and political attacks, aimed at limiting this population’s ability to exist openly in the world. Before Trump’s second term began, 24 states already had laws that imposed bans on gender-affirming healthcare, like puberty blockers, hormone therapies, or surgery, for minors. Now, a fleet of executive orders are taking aim at federal funding for the healthcare options that do exist for this population.”

“Chicago History Museum employees are making history of their own. On Feb. 12, they announced they're forming their union with AFSCME Council 31. The news came in a public letter signed by 27 members of the union’s organizing committee and distributed to their co-workers.”

“Yesterday, workers at The Union for Contemporary Art, an arts and culture nonprofit in Omaha, NE, publicly announced the intention to unionize with The NewsGuild-CWA, joining the Denver Newspaper Guild, Local 37074. A supermajority of staff signed union cards and demanded voluntary recognition at the start of the working day on February 25, 2025.”

“SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents won six NLRB elections in January 2025 involving 250 or more people. This string of victories has become somewhat commonplace for a rapidly growing union.”

“Nearly 60,000 University of California workers walked off the job Wednesday as a multi-day strike began over wages, staffing shortages and working conditions. Two different labor unions are leading the strikes — around 37,000 UC service and patient care workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME) will hold a two-day strike, with picketing taking place at all 10 UC campuses and at UC medical facilities statewide.”

“Thousands of workers hit the streets February 19, all around the country — at federal offices like the Department of Health and Human Services, at Tesla dealerships and public spaces — to declare their opposition to the slashing and burning of public services currently happening under the guise of ​’efficiency.’ Workers focused on billionaire Elon Musk’s power within President Donald Trump’s new administration, through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). National Park Service workers, standing in the snow, brandished signs reading, ​’Immigrants didn’t steal my job. The president did.’”

“After months of negotiations, Keolis Grand River workers, members of ATU Local 741-London, ON, voted to ratify a strong contract, their first Labor contract. ‘This is a great day for our Keolis Grand River members to ratify their first-ever contract,’ said Local 741 President/Business Agent Ian Davies. ‘These workers showed strength, unity, and solidarity throughout these negotiations. The result was a strong contract that recognizes the commitment and dedication of these workers to providing safe and reliable transportation that the people of Waterloo rely on each day.’”

“A union representing postal service workers said it opposes efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to abolish the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and privatize mail delivery as it's set to rally in D.C. on Monday. Group members and their supporters gathered at the Taft Carillon on Indiana Avenue, Northwest.”

“More than 45,000 U.S. dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremen's Association ratified a new six-year contract on Tuesday, formalizing a deal that offers bumper pay hikes and averts any potential disruption until 2030. Terms of the contract, previously agreed upon by the labor union and the United States Maritime Alliance, included a 62% wage hike over the life of the agreement. Both the labor union and the employer group had agreed on the wages in October, putting an end to a three-day strike that spiked shipping prices and caused cargo backlogs at the three dozen affected ports.”

“A group of hotel workers at Hilton’s Buena Vista Palace near Orlando formed a picket line outside Disney Springs on Wednesday, amid drizzling rain, to uplift the message of their union: ‘One job should be enough.’ Hotel workers at the Hilton hotel, located near Disney’s shopping and entertainment complex, are unionized with UNITE HERE Local 737, a hospitality labor union that also represents thousands of Disney World employees. A range of housekeepers, bartenders, service employees and others who work at the 4-star Hilton hotel are currently in talks with their employer for a new union contract, after their last contract — negotiated in 2020 — expired on Dec. 31, 2024.”