Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Kentucky State AFL-CIO Steps Up Following Louisville Plane Crash Tragedy

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

On Tuesday, a UPS cargo plane crashed at the Louisville International Airport, causing an explosion and a massive fire. At least 13 people were killed in the tragedy and multiple injured, with several people still missing. In the wake of this disaster and ongoing community-wide strain caused by the government shutdown, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO’s Disaster Relief Fund has stepped up in multiple ways this week to help support working families in this time of need.

The state federation is sending approximately $12,000 to a fund that helps union members who have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Affiliates, like the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), UAW and IUE-CWA, have also donated to this fund to help families keep food on their tables. The Kentucky State AFL-CIO is also contributing $90,000 in support to federal workers who have missed paychecks. Additionally, in partnership with United Way of Kentucky, they have pledged to donate money to victims of the tragedy, those impacted and their families.

These powerful acts of community care truly embody the spirit of solidarity and serve as a reminder of how our movement mobilizes in times of crisis to uplift us all.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 11/12/2025 - 10:28

Together, We Won!: The Working People Weekly List

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.

Union Leaders Cheer Election Wins—and Some Look Ahead: “AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said unions ‘would run an unprecedented ground game’ through next year’s voting to inform and educate their members and the wider public about what’s at stake for workers in the battle against corporate greed, multibillionaires, and their political handmaidens.”

Unions Sue Over ‘Loyalty Question’ for Federal Jobseekers: “In a statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley tied the initiative to statements made by Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought last year about their desire to fire federal bureaucrats and ‘bring the deep state to heel.’ ‘Forcing job applicants to answer politically motivated questions comes straight from the Project 2025 playbook, which aims to replace dedicated, nonpartisan public servants with workers chosen for their political loyalty rather than their qualifications or their oath to uphold the Constitution,’ he said. ‘This isn’t just illegal, it also harms our members and all Americans by depriving them of opportunities to serve their country and by undermining a skilled, nonpartisan workforce.’”

Labor Unions Powered Prop 50 Win with Millions in Donations, Ground Support: “Labor unions are one of the biggest groups that contributed to Proposition 50’s overwhelming win on election night. Unions were some of the biggest contributors to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Prop 50 campaign committee, putting more than $25 million toward the effort—nearly a third of total contributions. Labor unions also dispatched thousands of union workers to canvass and phone bank in support of the measure. Service Employees International Union California members alone called more than 1 million voters and knocked on more than 150,000 doors in support of Prop 50.”

‘Obama-Era Numbers’: Labor Unions Say Voter Energy Surged in Virginia, New Jersey Races: “Federal furloughs, layoffs and rising health care costs galvanized union members to vote and volunteer in numbers labor organizers say they haven’t seen in more than a decade. ‘What I saw last week was Obama-era numbers,’ Herb Smith, a political organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the federal workforce, said. Voter enthusiasm typically ramps up as Election Day nears, but this year’s calendar coincided with the increasingly dire fallout of the government shutdown: missed paychecks, reductions in force by President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget and uncertainty surrounding funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which will provide reduced benefits for 42 million Americans.”

Fred Redmond: Latino Families Cannot Afford the Trump Administration’s Health Care Cost Spike: “Today officially marks the longest federal government shutdown in American history. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers—about 10% of whom are Latino and 30% of whom are veterans—are missing their paychecks. Families across the country are being forced to choose between paying for groceries, rent and medical care. The truth is: President Trump and his allies in Congress are inflicting this pain because they would rather shut down the government than deal with the looming health care crisis that will explode costs for more than 170 million Americans.”

Air Traffic Controllers Union President Says It’ll Take Weeks to Recover from Shutdown Impact: “The head of the air traffic controllers’ union said Wednesday that it could take the industry ‘weeks to recover’ from the impacts of the government shutdown. Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ that the holiday season will be especially affected by the shortage of air traffic controllers, who missed their first full paycheck last week. The Department of Transportation has reported increased delays and ground stops as a result of the shutdown, now in its fifth consecutive week. ‘To somehow fathom we could go into the holiday season still in a government shutdown, I can’t even begin to predict what the impacts will be across this country,’ Daniels said. ‘Three-hour TSA wait lines will be the least of our worries.’”

New Jersey AFL-CIO: Together, We Won!: “Tonight marks a key victory for our labor movement as Mikie Sherrill has been declared the governor-elect of New Jersey. Throughout her time in office as our congresswoman, Mikie Sherrill has stood with working people on the issues that impact their livelihoods, their communities, and their workplaces. As governor, through her steadfast leadership, she will continue to ensure that working people have a seat at the table and push to expand our hard-won rights that our predecessors have fought and died for. Although our labor movement may have weathered several attacks on our jobs, our right to collectively bargain, and our healthcare, Mikie Sherrill has proven herself to be a fierce advocate for all working people in our state and will fight to ensure that all working people are heard.”

IUPAT's Jimmy Williams Jr.: Labor Unions Need to Activate Their Members to Defeat Trump: “I'm a fourth-generation union glazier. I remember being a kid sitting around the dinner table when my dad was on strike, thanking God for the Painters union (IUPAT) even when times were hard. The history of our union’s struggle is in my blood, and I’ll never take the sacrifice members before me made for granted.”

AFL-CIO’s Shuler: Union Contracts Protect Workers from AI Threat: “A union contract can be a valuable protection for workers against corporate executives bent on replacing their brains and skills with responses generated by artificial intelligence, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler says. The catch, however, is to both contract for those protections and to erect strong guardrails—including massive legal penalties—for misuse of artificial intelligence (AI). And to turn AI to workers’ advantage. That would also be to the companies’ advantage, by making jobs easier for workers and to in turn, improving productivity for the firms.”

IBEW: Trump’s Anti-Union EOs Target Unions Expressly Protected by Law: “The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers last week sued the Trump administration over its executive orders aimed at stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights, arguing that its bargaining units at the Energy and Interior departments are expressly protected by law. Earlier this year, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders citing a seldom-utilized provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to declare wide swathes of the federal government as primarily engaged in national security work and banning most unions there. Federal employee unions have since been engaged in court battle across half a dozen legal challenges, contending the edicts constitute violations of employees’ First and Fifth Amendment rights, among other charges.”

CWA's Claude Cummings: Rural America Deserves Dependable Broadband, Not More Billionaire Handouts: “Nearly a century ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led a campaign of bold investment to electrify rural America. Until recently, we were on track to do the same for broadband internet in this century. Before President Trump’s second term, our country was on the cusp of a breakthrough.”

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 11/10/2025 - 14:34