The Weekly Download

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Shannon Lederer, the Director of Immigration Policy at the AFL-CIO, and Daniel Costa, the Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at EPI, to discuss the systems that allow employers to bring workers temporarily and permanently into the United States to fill their jobs and whether those systems will be reformed during President Trump's second term. Watch now as Shannon and Daniel highlight the integral role that immigrants play in the growth of the American economy, but also how temporary worker programs and employment-based immigration are highly exploitative and essentially indenture workers to their employers. Seth, Shannon and Daniel also discuss the schism in the Republican Party between the businesses that benefit from temporary worker programs and employment-based immigration and right-wing so-called populists who ferociously oppose these programs.”

“A coalition of labor unions representing federal workers across the United States sued the Trump administration on Friday over its recent order aimed at stripping union rights from more than a million government employees, a move that the lawsuit characterizes as a blatant violation of the First Amendment. The suit, brought by unions that collectively represent more than 950,000 federal workers, stems from a March 27 order titled ‘Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,’ in which President Donald Trump cites a provision of a 1978 law to deny collective bargaining rights to certain government workers on national security grounds.”

“Under President Biden, the most pro-labor president in our nation’s history, we met challenges like these head-on and won. In communities across the country, we stopped corporations from exploiting children and sent a message that illegal child labor will not be tolerated. We recovered over $1 billion for workers who had been denied a just day’s pay for a hard day’s work. We prioritized hiring and training inspectors to keep working people safe on the job and advisors to hold health insurance plans accountable. We made sure over a million workers and retirees covered by struggling pension funds could retire with the full benefits they earned. That work will all be for naught if the Department of Labor is stripped and sold for parts to benefit corporations looking to pad their pockets at workers’ expense. The DOL is facing significant cuts to staffing at the hands of the current administration’s chainsaw, via Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Already, over forty offices that inspect mines and other workplaces for safety are being closed, and they’re just getting started. These Elon Musk-cuts will be devastating for communities all across the country—not only for workers but for employers, for children, and for families.”

“What if the current Supreme Court could do what Congress has failed to do since 1935—reform labor law to facilitate worker organizing? The current Supreme Court has demonstrated a strong antipathy toward unions. The Court and the Fifth Circuit have been trimming back the New Deal administrative state. Companies such as Amazon and SpaceX are trying to take advantage of that hostility to the administrative state in their fight against workers forming a union by seeking to render the National Labor Relations Board a zombie agency. Scholars of both administrative and labor law think this is bad. This Article takes a different approach. The central thesis of this Article is that the dismantling of the National Labor Relations Act could create a viable approach for the rebirth of the labor movement because it creates the conditions for strife, disruption, and a new labor insurgency that organizers can channel toward seeking state and local collective bargaining laws. This Article analyzes how a Supreme Court that is hostile to labor’s interests could instead create conditions that lead to a 1930s style upsurge in labor activity by returning labor law to a primitive state.”

“The president of one of America’s largest industrial unions made headlines last month when he declared that some of Trump’s tariffs are the beginning of the end of a trade policy that has harmed America’s working class. On this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota speaks to United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain about blue-collar workers’ experience with 30 years of existing free trade policies.”

“Unifor National President Lana Payne no longer sees eye to eye with UAW leader Shawn Fain. In a split with its Canadian sibling, the UAW endorsed President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and parts — the same tariffs Payne called ‘reckless and dangerous’ for the entire integrated auto industry. Payne told the Free Press on Thursday, the day a new round of tariffs took effect, that she hasn't met with Fain in ‘some time,’ adding that she isn't sure where he's getting his labor figures to support the pro-tariff stance. ‘I don’t know that I would say we have common goals here. Unifor is opposed to these tariffs that the president of the United States is placing on the Canadian auto industry,’ she said.”

“Labor unions representing federal government workers across the country are suing the Trump administration over the president’s attempt to override the law through executive order and strip more than one million federal government employees of their union rights. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Trump’s executive order is a retaliatory attempt to punish federal employee unions that have been engaging in constitutionally protected speech. Unions have repeatedly scored court victories after suing in opposition to actions taken by the Trump administration targeting federal workers.”

“Today, Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Steven Horsford (NV-04), and Debbie Dingell (MI-06), alongside Vice-Chairs Reps. Glenn Ivey (MD-04) and Stephen Lynch (MA-08), led every single House Democrat to call on President Trump to rescind his executive order stripping collective bargaining rights from over 1 million federal employees. The lawmakers highlighted the illegality of the order and called on the President to restore the collective bargaining rights that federal employees are statutorily entitled to.?

“On March 26, [President Donald Trump] announced ‘a 25 percent tariff on all cars not made in the U.S.’ but exempted auto parts that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the successor to NAFTA. For those parts, and for the 25 percent of US-sold vehicles that are assembled in Mexico and Canada, the tariffs will be applied partially at an undisclosed date to only the non-US part of the vehicle’s value. Essentially auto manufacturing is already so integrated across North America that the administration has left carve outs for Mexico and Canada. [...] For politicians and auto executives, at stake is whether the US auto industry will be an appendage of a global market, or a North American continental market, or a national market. Their aim, as always, is the most profit possible, and they are indifferent to national boundaries. But for the 12 million workers in US manufacturing, the question is whether it is possible, under this administration and in this moment of twenty-first-century capitalism, to create a pro-worker, pro-union trade policy.”

“The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that, for now, President Donald Trump is not required to reinstate two members of independent federal agencies he wants to fire. The provisional decision affects Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order that temporarily blocked lower court rulings that said the two officials should be reinstated. The court will decide what next steps to take in the case after hearing from lawyers for the two ousted officials. Although the Supreme Court previously upheld protections against members of independent agencies being removed without cause, the current conservative majority has reversed course in recent cases affecting other agencies. Wilcox was appointed to the body that adjudicates labor disputes by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. Her five-year term would have expired in 2026.”

“California lawmakers are pursuing legislation that could give drivers for apps like Uber and Lyft the ability to form unions, while still being classified as independent contractors. Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) plan to introduce Assembly Bill 1340, also titled the Transportation Network Company Drivers Labor Relations Act, on Tuesday. The legislation would allow drivers to negotiate pay as well as other terms of their agreements with app-based companies, exempting them from state and federal antitrust laws that would prohibit such activity, according to a draft reviewed by The Times.”

“Federal employees are receiving fresh ‘deferred resignation’ offers in their inboxes as the Trump administration takes another shot at pushing them off the government payrolls. Workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security were told Monday they were being given another chance to accept the White House’s 'Fork in the Road' proposal, according to emails viewed by HuffPost. VA workers were given until April 30 to accept, while DHS workers were given until April 14. As outlined by the administration, workers who take the deferred resignation deal would remain on the payroll through September while performing little or no work. It’s part of the Trump administration’s effort, spearheaded by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, to cut a large chunk of the federal workforce by legally dubious means.”

“Americans are grappling with climbing costs, falling sales and dwindling work as Donald Trump moves to overhaul the federal government and economy. As the US president pushes forward with an array of controversial policies, from sweeping cuts to blanket tariffs, the Guardian asked US workers how they have been affected. Some requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. Knock-on effects from Trump’s attempt to rapidly shrink the federal government by firing workers, slashing funding and cancelling grants are already reaching the private sector, with workers reporting layoffs, price hikes and supply issues. Consumer confidence in the US has dropped in March to the lowest level in four years. At least 60,000 federal civil servants have been fired in recent months, in addition to about 25,000 probationary employees who have been ordered by courts to be reinstated.”

“The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a ruling from a federal judge in California that had ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The court’s brief order said the nonprofit groups that had sued to challenge the dismissals had not suffered the sort of injury that gave them standing to sue. The practical consequences of the ruling may be limited, as another trial judge’s ruling requiring the reinstatement of many of the same workers remains in place. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, but she gave no reasons. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not have ruled on such an important issue in the context of an emergency application.”

“Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency’s communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time.”

“Last November, rideshare drivers in Massachusetts won the right to unionize.  The ballot initiative that secured this right, Question 3, attempts to solve a fundamental problem posed by the nature of gig work. As independent contractors, rideshare drivers do not enjoy the rights and protections that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) grants to employees. In a way, these workers are living out of time, subject to the same anti-union legal regime as workers in the early twentieth century. Because the great strides in unionization in this country occurred after, and as a result of, the NLRA, it’s no wonder that rideshare drivers, excluded from the NLRA, have not been able to unionize. Until now. But Question 3 raises fundamental disagreements about the best way out of this situation. The Massachusetts law does not reclassify drivers as employees, making them beneficiaries of the NLRA. Under Question 3, rideshare drivers remain independent contractors—only now they have collective bargaining rights, ‘blur[ring]’ the familiar distinction between independent contractors and employees.”

“Earlier this month, Michigan State University Press published a biography [Alan Reuther] have written about [his] father entitled, Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights. Through the sweep of [Roy’s] tumultuous life, we witness triumphs and tragedies in the labor and civil rights movements that still resonate today.  [T]he book depicts the rise of the UAW from the 1930s through the 1960s, as it became the most important industrial union in the country and a leading force for progressive politics and civil rights. Over the course of the book, we see Roy fighting for the right of workers to organize unions, and then struggling to pass civil and voting rights legislation and to expand registration and voting in elections.” 

“Today, a majority of over 300 technology workers at The Washington Post announced the formation of The Washington Post Tech Guild and are seeking voluntary recognition from the company. We are taking this step in order to build a more equitable, transparent, and sustainable future for all tech workers at The Post. [...] Supported by staff at the Washington Baltimore News Guild, The News Guild and Communication Workers of America and their Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), the Washington Post Tech Guild will fight tirelessly for equity and inclusion, a seat at the table, fair compensation and benefits, job security, just cause protections, and flexibility and modern work practices.”

“A scrappy network of federal unionists is leading the response to the Trump administration’s attacks on their workplaces, including Trump’s March 27 order purporting to end union contracts covering most federal workers. Where the Federal Unionists Network has led, union leaders have followed. In a Zoom event that drew 65,000 viewers, FUN got official support from all the significant federal unions for their bottom-up organizing approach to the Trump onslaught.”

“Workers and unions across the U.S. are raising the alarm about the Trump administration’s attempts to divide the working class. ‘They want us to be distracted by attacking the working class on innumerable fronts, but we must stand united,’ said University of Minnesota Twin Cities graduate worker Greyson Arnold at a recent rally organized by AFSCME 3800, which represents clerical workers, and GLU-UE Local 1105, which represents graduate workers. [...] Workers have a long and storied history of resisting attempts to pit them against each other. We found examples specific to Minnesota’s labor movement, which has a militant legacy that can be learned from today. Workers organized and mobilized to take defensive and offensive measures against various forces—hate groups, corporations, and corporate-backed elected officials—that sought to violently divide their communities and hoard resources.”

“In 2020, Alejandro was working a construction job in the Madison, Wisconsin, metro area, doing texture, painting, and drywall on residential homes, when his boss asked him to do something strange. The boss gave Alejandro a check, and told him to go to a local bakery to cash it. He was then instructed to use that cash to pay himself and his co-worker for their labor. Alejandro, who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico in 2019 and is now 29, was unfamiliar with employment practices in this country and did as he was told, paying himself $800 every two weeks. He cashed the checks even though they were made out to someone else’s name. [...] Misclassification and paying off the books is rampant throughout the construction industry, where about 9 out of 10 workers in the private sector are not members of unions, and bosses frequently exploit an immigrant workforce that is far less likely to report wage theft, labor trafficking, and other wrongdoing. According to the Century Foundation, in 2021, between 10 and 19 percent of the construction industry workforce in the United States was either misclassified or ‘working in the underground economy.’”

“Ten national unions and dozens of locals representing more than 3 million members have issued a joint statement demanding the release of immigrant workers recently snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The statement names farmworker union leader Alfredo ‘Lelo’ Juarez, who was picked up in what appears to be blatant retaliation for his organizing; SEIU Local 925 member Lewelyn Dixon, a University of Washington lab technician detained on her way home from visiting family; SEIU Local 509 member Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student whose detention by federal agents was captured in chilling footage; sheet metal worker Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a SMART Local 100 apprentice who was sent to El Salvador’s notorious prison complex; and United Auto Workers Local 2710 member Mahmoud Khalil, abducted by federal agents in front of his eight-months-pregnant wife. The unions are also calling on employers, university administrators, and local governments to refuse to cooperate—and demanding that elected officials ‘find their spines.’”

“On March 31, workers, students, and allies rallied together on the steps of Johnston Hall, which contains the office of the University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham’s, to protest what they criticize as the University’s failure to forcefully object to ICE’s recent abduction of a graduate student, and an onslaught of University policies limiting the freedom of speech across campus. By assembling in the hundreds, the crowd challenged the University’s policy that any gathering of more than 100 people must have a permit obtained two weeks in advance. The rally was organized by AFSCME 3800, representing about 6,500 clerical workers across campus, and the Graduate Labor Union (GLU), representing about 4,000 graduate workers at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. GLU, local 1105 of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), won its first union contract earlier this year.”

“On March 25, members of UFCW Local 400 who work at the Green Goods cannabis dispensary in Rockville, Md., voted to ratify their first union contract. The workers, who voted unanimously to approve the collective bargaining agreement, joined UFCW Local 400 last year.”

“On March 8, RWDSU/UFCW members who work at the Barnes & Noble store in Bloomington, Ill., ratified their first union contract. [...] ‘It’s been a long difficult year of negotiations and while we had to make a lot of compromises on both sides, in the end our first contract is a win for our booksellers and baristas,’ said Zane Crockett (he/him), who is a lead bookseller at the Bloomington Barnes & Noble store. ‘We now have stools at the registers, locked in raises and increased rates of pay for positions for three years, and an excellent health care package through the RWDSU for our booksellers and baristas that we are very excited about. We hope we’ve paved the way for other stores now that several locations in the country have reached a contract agreement with Barnes & Noble.’”