The president has gone nuclear against federal union jobs — historically African Americans’ ladder to economic equality.
In 1970, US postal workers won collective bargaining rights with an illegal strike. If lawsuits to stop Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce fail, that kind of militancy may be the only way for federal workers to retain their own union rights.
The mass firings were part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump, a Republican, and billionaire Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy and slash government spending, which has invited a series of legal challenges.
“The labor movement has an opportunity to strengthen our organizations and show that we fight for all members. If the Trump administration can get away with coming after immigrants and federal workers, they’ll keep coming for more of us.”
Our commitment as the AFL-CIO, as the Labor Movement, is we’re not going to be looking back in 10 years like we did with the air traffic controllers saying we should have done something. We’re going to use every resource that we have.
Workers deserve the right to collectively bargain, full stop.
The American Federation of Government Employees has strongly opposed the bills.
“This is a way to defund Black people as a whole," retired federal worker Janice Lee said, referring to the layoffs of black government workers.
The administration is attempting to incapacitate the redistributive and social protective arms of the state, while exploiting its vast bureaucratic powers to silence, threaten, and deport.
Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME: "I think it’s up to AFSCME and the labor movement and our allies and friends to continue to talk about what this administration is trying to do to hurt working people."
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