Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
AFGE National President Kelley Applauds National Council of Prison Locals’ Legal Challenge to Illegal Contract Termination: “AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Council of Prison Locals 33 challenging Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall’s termination of the collective bargaining agreement covering 30,000 BOP federal correctional workers across the country represented by the union: ‘Those who work in the Bureau of Prisons face some of the most dangerous environments and understaffed workplaces in the federal government. Their union contract has provided employees a voice at work to ensure critical protections, including safeguards against unsafe working conditions, unfair discipline, and staffing shortages that put both workers and the public at risk.’”
Laborers’ General President Warns Senate Committee of Threats to Worker Apprenticeship Programs: “Construction industry registered apprenticeship programs, a success story for workers and employers, are threatened by the chaotic and unpredictable actions of the Trump Administration, the leader of the largest union of construction Laborers told a U.S. Senate committee. ‘In the wake of public and private investment, the demand for apprentices has grown substantially,’ Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. ‘But that future is looking more uncertain.’ Booker cited several Trump administration actions that have halted major projects and led to chaos and unpredictability, a deterrent to both investment and the willingness of workers to meet the rigorous training requirements of becoming an apprentice and advancing to be a journey-worker.”
Museum of Science and Industry Workers Ratify First Union Contract: “Workers at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry have voted to approve their first union contract. The contract with the Hyde Park museum covers roughly 120 employees, and includes an average 8% pay raise and 3% annual increase over the next two years, according to a Wednesday statement from the Museum of Science and Industry Workers United. The contract also adds holiday pay for part-time employees, policy changes on remote work, just cause for discipline, a grievance procedure and a joint committee on paid parental leave.”
Despite Trump’s Threats, Labor Leaders Say They’re Not Going Anywhere: “Unions in the United States are facing an extinction level event in the second Trump administration. That is not hyperbole, that is a fact. So the real question is, what the hell are workers, unions and the labor movement doing to fight back? And if they’re not doing anything, or they’re not doing nearly enough, then what the hell are they waiting for? These are the essential questions at the center of both of the interviews that you’re about to hear. In the first interview, I speak with Everett Kelley, the national president of the AFGE, which is the largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. Kelley and I recorded this interview just days after the Ninth Circuit ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to obliterate union contracts at federal agencies. And in the second interview, I speak with SEIU-West President David Huerta himself, and we talk about the status of his case and about the roles unions must play in the fight against fascism.”
Trump Undermining American Workers While Attacking Unions: “Against this backdrop, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, concluded: ‘This has been the most hostile administration to workers in our lifetimes.’ Trump’s anti-union campaign dovetailed with his efforts to terminate the employment of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, many of them union members. Federal workers, Trump claimed, are ‘destroying this country,’ and are ‘crooked’ and ‘dishonest.’ ‘Many of them,’ he said, ‘don’t work at all.’ To supervise his massive purge of public employees, Trump chose Elon Musk―the world’s wealthiest individual and largest donor to his presidential campaign―to direct a mysterious Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Delighted with the job, Musk declared, without any evidence, that there were ‘people on the government payroll who are dead’ and others ‘who are not real people.’ Addressing a conference of conservatives, the flamboyant multibillionaire charged that ‘waste is pretty much everywhere’ and brandished a chain saw against what he called ‘bureaucracy.’”
Lee Saunders: This Thanksgiving, Affordability Isn’t Just About the Turkey. It’s Everyday, Every Bill, Every Choice: “As families gather around Thanksgiving tables, they're living a hard truth that no economist needs to explain: Everything costs more, and paychecks cover less. Last year, President Donald Trump and his allies swept into office promising to lower prices on ‘day one.’ One year later, that promise rings hollow for families stretching every dollar just to get by.”
JetBlue Ground Workers Seek Union Vote, IAM Says: “The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said on Tuesday it will file for union representation election covering about 3,000 JetBlue ground workers. JetBlue workers voted against unionizing in 2023, after what the IAM described as an anti-union campaign by the airline's management.”
The Salt Lake Tribune and Its Employees’ Union Sign Their First Labor Contract: “The Salt Lake Tribune’s management and the union that represents its employees have negotiated the first labor contract in the newspaper’s 155-year history. Members of the Salt Lake News Guild—which includes employees of The Tribune, and the Tribune-owned Times-Independent of Moab and the Southern Utah Tribune—ratified the two-year agreement, and The Tribune’s Board of Directors voted to approve the contract. Both votes were unanimous. Guild members and Lauren Gustus, The Tribune’s executive editor and CEO, officially signed the contract Monday.”