For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Lenny Guerrero of the Bricklayers.

“My father was a supervisor for a masonry company, and he used to take me with him on weekends when I was growing up. I fell in love with the trade and became fascinated by the idea of building structures that stand the test of time. Masonry has shaped who I am today. Training is my way of giving back to the trade and community that have given so much to me,” Guerrero said.
 

This week, we delivered an AFL-CIO Department of People Who Work for a Living report to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, detailing in workers’ own voices how Elon Musk’s DOGE is gutting essential services, putting lives at risk and triggering mass firings that threaten local economies. 

DOGE is Project 2025 on steroids. From delayed veterans’ care to missing Social Security checks, the consequences of DOGE’s illegal mass firings go far beyond Washington. 

Read the Report. 

After holding field hearings across the country, here’s just a few of the things we heard from working people: 

• Since January, thousands of federal workers who we rely on for key services—such as processing Social Security checks, ensuring food gets inspected and providing veterans’ health care—have been illegally fired or pushed out.
• They’ve attacked workers’ rights to stand up to big corporations and organize and collectively bargain, shutting down the National Labor Relations Board and destroying its independence, and crushing the federal mediation agency.
• DOGE has attacked workers' health and safety, including gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, closing worker safety offices and gutting regulations that protect workers.
• DOGE has attacked health care, eliminating jobs at the VA, repealing programs to lower drug prices, directing Congress to gut Medicaid and ending health coverage for millions of people to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
• They’ve dismantled the Department of Education, tearing down public education and attacking our universities.
• DOGE has undermined investment and jobs in the next generation of American energy innovation and manufacturing, and undermined workers’ rights across the world.

With budget negotiations ongoing in Congress, this report puts a spotlight on what’s really at stake: the people who make government work and the communities that depend on them. Read it now. 

The people who work for a living want an agenda that works for them—not big corporations and billionaires. We are calling on lawmakers to fully restore the programs that make our country run. Make a call to say, “no cuts that hurt working families.”

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.

Visual effects (VFX) workers for Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures and movie franchise Avatar voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contracts as Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) members.

The agreements are a major step forward for the VFX industry, establishing important standard union protections such as overtime pay, a pension and health plan, enforceable rest periods and more. Marvel workers voted unanimously to join IATSE in 2023, and their counterparts at Disney secured a similar election victory one month later. Avatar VFX workers joined the union in January of last year.

“I am so proud of my fellow union members for all their hard work through which we have achieved this contract,” said Patrick DeVaney, a postvis coordinator, in a press release. “While we are used to pouring our blood and sweat into our work, unionizing requires something more: our courage. It takes an incredible amount of courage to stand up to management who will always seek to devalue labor in the pursuit of profit margins and your own coworkers who have labored for so long as a part of a non-unionized workforce that they were convinced unionizing would be impossible.”

Right now, House leadership is pushing through a budget that would have the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and to SNAP food assistance, as well as more cuts to retirement benefits for federal workers.

Make a Call.

Health care, food assistance, dignity in retirement—these programs are a cornerstone of a secure existence for working people. Here’s why:

No Cuts to Medicaid

• Medicaid is the single largest source of health care coverage in the United States.
• It is the primary payer for 63% of nursing home residents.
• It pays for 42% of births in the United States each year and provides health care for nearly half of all children in our country.
• Medicaid funding cuts would cause hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and home health agencies to close or downsize, especially in rural and lower-income communities. One analysis shows that cuts could cause 477,000 health care jobs to be lost in 2026 alone.
• Medicaid cuts would cause millions of people to lose their health care, including kids and our most vulnerable Americans, and cuts would raise health care and insurance costs for everyone else. 

No Cuts to Food Assistance

• 42 million people use SNAP food assistance per month, or almost 13% total of U.S. residents. Working families depend on SNAP to get by and to provide nutritious, healthy food for their children to grow and thrive.
• Cuts to food assistance jeopardize thousands of jobs in food processing, school cafeterias, retail and agriculture.
• Pushing the costs of food assistance to states with already strained budgets threatens many other services and jobs that our families and communities rely on. 

No Cuts to Workers’ Retirement Benefits or Union Rights

• Like all workers, federal employees deserve a fair and dignified retirement after a lifetime of hard work. But earlier versions of the budget deal have contained cuts to federal workers’ retirement benefits and cuts to their current take-home pay.
• Other provisions in versions of the budget deal have required new federal workers to choose between at-will status and lower employee pension contributions, or to be charged a fee to file a claim with the Merit Systems Protection Board to protect their rights.
• Federal workers who run the programs and services we all depend on—and who are already facing job losses and historic union-busting—should not have to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.

No Weakening of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protections for Workers

• Lawmakers snuck a provision into the House budget deal that blocks the enforcement of all existing or future state and local AI regulations for the next 10 years.
• State lawmakers across the country have come together to pass legislation that regulates dangerous and irresponsible artificial intelligence (AI)—creating guardrails that protect workers’ jobs, safety and civil liberties, and prevent discrimination or the theft of artists' work. This provision would stop that good work.
• This provision is so broad it would even prevent states from enforcing safety regulations related to automated systems, like public transit systems.
• This provision is an irresponsible gift to Big Tech companies and employers to maximize their profits and control. Especially since Congress has not acted to protect workers, states must be allowed to pass regulations to stop the unsafe, unethical, antidemocratic and antiworker use of AI in the workplace. 

Gutting essential services like Medicaid, SNAP food assistance and federal worker benefits won’t help working families—especially to pay for more tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations. And the domino effects of cutting these huge and vital programs would be severe and wide-reaching. 

We need you to speak out today. Tell Congress this budget would be a disaster for working families and for our nation. 

Call your representative at 231-400-0602 to tell them, “No cuts that hurt working families!” 

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Amy Chin-Lai of IFPTE.

Amy Chin-Lai is the president of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70, which represents thousands of nonprofit workers at more than 50 organizations in Washington, D.C., and nationwide. A fourth-generation Chinese-American, she carries forward her family's resilience through her work empowering other member leaders and advocating for dignity, equity and fair pay. Chin-Lai was recently honored by the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO,– winning their inaugural emerging leader award. She is proud to be part of a movement and union that amplifies the voices of marginalized people in the workplace.

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 Friday, the AFL-CIO and a coalition of unions representing workers in the manufacturing, hospitality, construction, food processing and service industries filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to deny the Trump administration’s attempt to end humanitarian parole and rescind work authorization for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The brief is co-authored by the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, UAW, UNITE HERE, United Food and Commercial Workers, Painters and Allied Trades, IUE-CWA, and Bricklayers.

“Our immigrant brothers, sisters and siblings from these nations came to the United States to flee danger at home, and while here have been legally working and contributing to our economy while supporting their families,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Ripping them away from their families and homes is a grave injustice that will have harmful ripple effects across our workplaces, our industries, and our economy. We are proud to file this amicus brief alongside our affiliated unions representing workers in key American industries, including those like food processing and manufacturing that cannot function without the work of these immigrants. We call on the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration’s effort to deport these valued members of our workplaces and communities.”

Read the full press release here.

It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on X.

Alaska AFL-CIO:

Lawmakers, stand strong. Alaska's kids are counting on you to do the right thing and #RaiseTheAKBSA! #Overridehttps://t.co/lIiRUxDzNo

— Alaska AFL-CIO (@AKAFLCIO) May 19, 2025

California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:

A reminder: when we fight, we win. Also, solidarity between the building trades and hotel workers creates real change in the tourism industry! 

Congratulations to our San Diego unions! https://t.co/RvJMp6mzOE

— California Federation of Labor Unions (@CaliforniaLabor) May 16, 2025

Colorado AFL-CIO:

⁦@GovofCO⁩ vetoed SB5. But we're not backing down!

In 2026, we're bringing a "just cause" ballot initiative to protect Colorado workers from unjust termination by preventing employers from firing without a documented reason. #coleg

Statement: https://t.co/5I3wpVUubC pic.twitter.com/vLJOvNkuyY

— Colorado AFL-CIO ✊ (@AFLCIOCO) May 16, 2025

Illinois AFL-CIO:

Carrie Lee Patterson is a big fan of the red line. In fact, she sent it a love letter -- in the form of an award winning set of short stories. Listen to @ActorsEquity and @sagaftra member Carrie Lee Patterson speak about why she supports a solution for transit in Illinois. pic.twitter.com/QSBzblJ945

— Illinois AFL-CIO (@ILAFLCIO) May 20, 2025

Maine AFL-CIO:

“I don’t think the public really understands what veterans who serve in combat go through and see. You don’t unsee the things you’ve seen." — Scott Surette, Mail Handlers https://t.co/Gjir44qexT

— Maine AFL-CIO (@MEAFLCIO) May 15, 2025

Massachusetts AFL-CIO:

“The ripple effects of this PLA will be felt for decades, creating stable pathways to home ownership, to save for the future, and building stronger, safer communities” @MetroBTC 

Boston strikes deal opening union job opportunities for Madison Park grads https://t.co/lYhlWKdULa

— Massachusetts AFL-CIO (@massaflcio) May 15, 2025

Michigan State AFL-CIO:

mic drop

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Davlynn Racadio and Melia Johnson of AFSCME.

With more than two decades of experience in emergency dispatch, Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA/AFSCME) members Davlynn Racadio and Melia Johnson were some of the first voices heard when victims of the 2023 Maui wildfires called 911 for help. They handled more than 4,000 calls in a 24-hour period, earning them national recognition for their extraordinary service.

This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we’ve covered all 63 of our affiliates. Next up are the Boilermakers (IBB).

Name of Union: International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers

Mission: Uniting members across multiple industries and occupations in the union’s common endeavor of improving each other’s lives and lifestyles through union representation.

Current Leadership of Union: Timothy Simmons serves as international president. He began his Boilermaker career on a boiler outage in 1999, working out of Boilermakers Local 108, in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Alabama Power Miller Steam Plant. He has served as a Local 108 business agent/secretary treasurer, District Lodge 3 officer, director of National Recruitment Services, director of Construction Division Services and assistant to the international president. In October 2022, the International Executive Council voted unanimously to elect Simmons to fill the international vice president Southeast vacancy, effective Feb. 1, 2023, upon the retirement of Warren Fairley. Fairley briefly came out of retirement to serve the union as international president during a time of transition. Upon his final retirement in August 2024, the International Executive Council elected Simmons to serve as international president.

Clinton Penny serves as international secretary-treasurer, and the Boilermakers have five international vice presidents: J. Tom Baca (Western States), John Fultz (Northeast), Arnie Stadnick (Canada), Dan Sulivan (Great Lakes) and Jeff Campbell (Southeast).

Current Number of Members: More than 60,000

Members Work in: Constructing and repairing electric power plants, refineries, and pulp, paper and steel mills; building naval ships and commercial tankers; repairing locomotives; making cement; mining coal, gypsum and talc; forging tools for industry; and making consumer goods.

Industries Represented: Heavy industry, shipbuilding, manufacturing, railroads, cement, mining and others.

History: The Boilermakers are one of the oldest unions in the country, rising out of the Industrial Revolution’s demand for steam power in 1880. The Boilermakers have been a part of many major events in American history, helping to build structural sections of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; the machinery to make the Panama Canal; the world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus; the USS New York amphibious transport dock (which includes steel from the Twin Towers); military ships and various submarines; nuclear, gas-fired and advanced coal-fired power plants; and the aluminum-based fuel for the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. The Boilermakers had been headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, since 1893, and moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 2024. There are now more than 200 Boilermaker local lodges across North America.

Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: The Boilermaker Reporter provides news and information useful to workers in the industry. The Boilermakers have established national funds for pensions, health and welfare, and an annuity trust. They also provide education and training, including one of the best apprentice programs in the country, and are partners in an award-winning alliance with construction industry contractors and owners, resulting in innovations for improved safety, manpower availability, training and cost savings.

Learn More: Website, Facebook, X, YouTube

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.

U.S.-based Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) members who work for Norse Atlantic Airways voted overwhelmingly in support of ratifying a new contract.

The Norwegian low-cost, long-haul airline was founded in 2021 and has a flight attendant base in John F. Kennedy International Airport. Highlights of the deal include provisions that ensure job security, raise total compensation with the highest per diem in the industry, increase the number of sick days and more.

“This contract provides Norse Flight Attendants with certainty and guaranteed economic and work rule improvements. The contract provides much-needed quality of life as Norse charts the path forward,” said Norse AFA President Katarzyna Mroczek.