Posts tagged AFL-CIO
Trump’s tariffs hurt the working class. Why are some unions on board?
April 28, 2025 // “In truth, our trade deals were not really trade deals; they were investment deals. Their goal was not to promote America’s exports — it was to make it easier for global corporations to move capital offshore and ship goods back to America,” Richard Trumka, the former president of AFL-CIO, said in 2015. “The logical outcome was trade deficits and falling wages, and that’s exactly what we got.” For unions, tariffs were a part of the answer to failures of free trade along with other protectionist policies. But to free trade proponents, tariffs represent a break from consensus and threaten to break down trade relations across the globe.
Labor demands return of union apprentice jailed in El Salvador
April 20, 2025 // Abrego Garcia’s fate has drawn enormous national attention, including from the union movement. SMART has been demanding his return and asking supporters to call their member of Congress. The national AFL-CIO is echoing that call. At the annual legislative conference put on by North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), NABTU president Sean McGarvey also spoke up for Abrego Garcia.
Michael Watson: Big ESG’s Big Partner: Big Labor
April 20, 2025 // Unions’ principal interest in the ESG activism movement is on the “S” or “social” prong of the acronym. Both unions themselves, like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and critics of unions, like the Institute for the American Worker, will argue that Big Labor views ESG as a category for advancing union organizing and other core union priorities. Proxy Preview shows unions and union-aligned groups (like city and state pension funds and the largely union-owned and union-controlled Amalgamated Bank) pushing shareholder resolutions demanding that companies “adopt a noninterference policy respecting freedom of association” or “respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining”—euphemisms for neutrality in union organizing. Under a neutrality agreement, the employer agrees not to present its views on the potential consequences of union organizing to employees, and it may agree not to confirm union majority support by a government-supervised secret-ballot election, instead using public union-card signatures (known as “card check”).
Unions Form Pro Bono Legal Network for Federal Workers Targeted by Trump
April 16, 2025 // “We knew there would be a lot of quick and valiant legal work in the federal courts, but we knew there was a chance you’d have to go to the employee agencies to protect the workers’ rights,” Deborah Greenfield, the network’s executive director, said in an interview. One challenge for the network and their potential clients is that some of these bodies, like the National Labor Relations Board, are themselves in a state of limbo as courts weigh whether Mr. Trump has the power to fire appointed board members.
Commentary: Teachers Need to Ditch Their Union
April 16, 2025 // The California Teachers Association, which considers itself “the co-equal fourth branch of government,” per former Democratic State Senate leader Dom Perata, is no better. As the Freedom Foundation notes, the union reports its political expenditures under three separate filings: The Issues Political Action Committee (PAC); The Association for Better Citizenship (ABC); and, The Independent Expenditure Committee (IEC).
Labor leaders make final push to get repeal of anti-union bill on Utahns’ ballots
April 14, 2025 // UEA, AFL-CIO, Utah Public Employees Association, Utah Professional Firefighters, AFSCME and others have banded together in an attempt to repeal HB267, which bans collective bargaining with government employers — meaning those public employee unions cannot represent members in contract negotiations.
Sen. Fazio to Union Boss ‘Don’t California My Connecticut’
April 12, 2025 // The evidence isn’t anecdotal anymore — it’s a nationwide pattern. According to the Heritage Foundation, “About 2.8 million more Americans moved out of high-tax states than moved to high-tax states between April 2020 and July 2023.” The migration wasn’t limited to CEOs and tech moguls: “This pattern is true of all income groups, though this pattern is especially true of those making $200,000 or more annually.” In fact, between 2020 and 2023, “The 10 states that have the highest taxes as a share of state GDP… lost 2.3 million residents,” while the 10 lowest-taxed states gained over 2.1 million. High-income individuals, the very people targeted by Connecticut’s proposed capital gains surcharge and mansion tax, are by far the most mobile: “There are nearly 60 people making $200,000 or more who move out of high-tax states for every 40 who move in.” These aren’t people looking to dodge minor inconveniences. They’re voting with their feet — despite the high costs of relocation
What would a general strike in the US actually look like?
April 10, 2025 // But organized labor can plan for a general strike in the future that may not break the terms of their contracts. The UAW has called to align all union contract terminations for the same date in 2028 as a way to promote united action and perhaps even a general strike by circumventing the prohibition on striking during a union contract. That call has already promoted wider discussion of general strikes in labor and social movements. Of course, different unions striking at the same time does not guarantee a united front around issues of common concern: The first half of 1946 saw nearly 3 million workers simultaneously on strike, including auto, steel, coal, railroad and many other industries, but unions pursued separate demands, made little effort to pool their strength, and settled with little consideration of the impact on those remaining on strike.
Op-ed: Rantz: Seattle unions planning ‘fight-back training’ to push back against Trump’s immigration plan
March 31, 2025 // “This training seeks to equip labor and community organizers and advocates with the necessary information to navigate escalating attacks on immigrant workers and their families and equip them with tools to fight back,” the event page reads. “It includes Know Your Rights information, best practices for unions to implement, model contract language, as well as specific guidance related to a range of policy changes and enforcement actions we must expect as part of the mass deportation agenda.”
‘We are not staying silent’ | Cincinnati postal workers pack main street in protest of possible changes
March 24, 2025 // The protest was in response to recent reports that President Donald Trump and his administration have considered an executive order to move the USPS under the Commerce Department and dissolve the USPS's board of directors. Such an executive order has yet to be announced or confirmed. Regardless, the fear of the USPS becoming private is front of mind for local postal workers and the reason they gathered in protest