For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Julie Stein of the United Steelworkers (USW).

Julie Stein began her career in 1984 as a laborer at the Appleton Coated paper mill in Combined Locks, Wisconsin. As a member of USW Local 2-144, she served in various elected positions. In 2006, Stein came to work for the USW and was actively involved in the Women of Steel and political programs. Today, Stein serves as director of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) program, helping USW members engage in lifelong activism.

Tags: Women's History Month

For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Michelle Christen of the Utility Workers (UWUA).

Michelle Christen serves as the second vice president of UWUA Local 601, which represents approximately 1,200 customer service workers at Public Service Electric & Gas in New Jersey. She has been instrumental in negotiating labor contracts, including an agreement ratified in April 2023 that secured a 13.64% wage increase over four years and recognized a bilingual call center position with additional compensation. In 2022, she collaborated with Local 601 members to organize fundraisers for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, contributing to cancer research and support.

Tags: Women's History Month

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.

AFGE, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) filed a lawsuit Thursday over the illegal and unilateral termination of a negotiated collective bargaining agreement that covers approximately 47,000 transportation security officers (TSOs).

“This attack on our members is not just an attack on AFGE or transportation security officers. It’s an assault on the rights of every American worker,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a press release. “Tearing up a legally negotiated union contract is unconstitutional, retaliatory and will make the [Transportation Security Administration] experience worse for American travelers.”

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.

AFL-CIO Rolls Out Week of Mass Action vs. Trump’s War on Workers: “Taking the fight against the GOP Trump regime’s war on workers from Congress and the courts but also to the streets, the AFL-CIO’s new Department of People Who Work for a Living—a title satirizing Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency—plans a week of actions nationwide from March 17 to 23, 2025. The events will include town halls; mass mobilization to descend on congressional offices (especially those of its ruling Republicans); a ‘democracy board,’ where people can share stories of the personal impact of the Musk-Trump carnage; and flooding Capitol Hill with calls and e-mails.”

Trump Administration Must Rehire Thousands of Fired Workers, Judge Rules: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump’s government-gutting initiative. Ruling from the bench, Judge William J. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California went further than he had previously, finding that the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers had essentially been done unlawfully and by fiat through the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm. He directed the Departments of the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and the Interior to comply with his order and offer to reinstate any employees who were improperly terminated. His order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by employee unions who challenged the legality of the mass firings.”

Second Federal Judge Orders Temporary Reinstatement of Thousands of Probationary Employees Fired by the Trump Administration: “A second federal judge ruled Thursday that thousands of probationary employees laid off en masse by the Trump administration must be temporarily reinstated to their jobs. The new temporary restraining order from Senior Judge James Bredar, an Obama appointee, covers 18 agencies and will last two weeks, as a challenge to the terminations from Democratic state attorneys general moves forward.”

More than 1,000 March in D.C. Against Possible Health Care Cuts: “According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the House Republicans’ budget goals can’t be reached without cuts to Medicaid. Millions of Americans rely on Medicaid, including children, older adults, people with disabilities and low-income adults. ‘Why would we do that to folks? That is cruel,’ Jackson-Hill said. ‘It’s evil. It’s hatefulness at a scale I have never seen before. And it’s actually our government doing it to us.’ Analilia Mejia is co-executive director for the Center for Popular Democracy, which organized the demonstration. ‘Taking away those resources will not happen silently, and we will not stand for it,’ Mejia said. ‘We are going to push through this budget reconciliation.’ She was impressed with the turnout, which included members of the nation’s largest nurses union, National Nurses United (NNU).”

Whole Foods Workers Push Forward on Union Effort: “That unionization effort by workers at the Amazon-owned grocery chain will receive a hearing from a regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) panel on Wednesday, which is likely to be appealed by the company and to head to the full NLRB later this year. ‘I was on the right side of the law,’ United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776 President Wendell Young IV told Supermarket News.”

Weingarten (President of the American Federation of Teachers [AFT]: Trump’s Education Department Crusade Is a Cowardly Betrayal of America’s Children: “Many of America’s global competitors—and adversaries—are no doubt cheering President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education. They know that countries who outeducate the rest of the world will outcompete it. And now brand-new Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Trump want to neuter, if not completely shutter, the entity that helps give all children in the United States access to the great public school education they deserve. On Tuesday, the department announced plans to cut nearly half its staff. McMahon says these catastrophic firings, alongside hundreds of so-called buyouts, are about ‘efficiency, accountability and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents and teachers.’ The reality is far more cowardly.”

Labor Board Member Returns to Work Six Weeks After Trump Fired Her: “The first Black woman to chair the NLRB returned to the agency Monday with a hero’s welcome after a judge ruled the previous week that she was illegally fired. Dozens of staff members cheered, clapped and waved signs that read, ‘Welcome back, Gwynne,’ as Wilcox returned to the independent federal agency charged with protecting employee rights.”

Union Members Ratify First-Ever Contract at Bloomington Barnes & Noble: “After about a year of contract negotiations, Barnes & Noble workers in Bloomington voted Saturday to ratify their first-ever contract. Workers at the Empire Street store join just three others in the country as members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union [RWDSU] with ratified contracts—all of which are based in New York City—and voted to approve their first contracts within the past week. ‘Workers at Barnes & Noble should be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished together in these historic first union contracts from Illinois to New York,’ said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum in a press release. ‘United in their fight for increased safety in their stores, it was their voices across the table that won. Now, we can finally say their longtime safety needs are codified in union contracts, which also include industry standard–setting wage increases, union health care and more.’”

Las Vegas Strip Reaches Full Union Coverage as Fontainebleau Signs First Labor Deal: “The Culinary and Bartenders Unions have reached a historic agreement with Fontainebleau Las Vegas, marking the first time in the 90-year history of the Las Vegas Strip that all casino resorts are 100% unionized. This milestone results from a yearlong process and the dedicated efforts of thousands of hospitality workers.”

Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act Reintroduced: Bipartisan Efforts to Strengthen Union Power and Protect Workers: “AFL-CIO President and Oregonian Liz Shuler also voiced support for the act, saying, ‘Americans believe in the power of unions, and tens of millions of working people would become union members tomorrow if they could. But American labor law is broken, weighted on the side of the bosses and against the workers.’ She urged elected leaders to advance the legislation to allow workers to ‘stand together and build better lives for themselves and their families.’”

For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Christina McCafferty of the Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Christina McCafferty is an exemplary model of service through her work as a supervisor, steward, elected treasurer in the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus Chapter 640 and elected officer of IBEW Local 640. 

Tags: Women's History Month

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.

Union members and community allies rallied outside the Zablocki Veterans’ Administration (VA) Medical Center in Milwaukee on Friday to protest President Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts to our critical federal workforce.

Workers at the medical center are members of AFGE Local 3, the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (WFNHP), American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 5000, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin. Even before these latest funding attacks, nurses, supply technicians, social workers, housekeepers and other staff were already sounding the alarm about low-staffing levels impacting patient care. A recent internal memo published by the Associated Press showed that Musk’s DOGE is pushing to cut an additional 80,000 jobs—a staggering 20% of the VA department staff—which would make caring for the approximately 62,000 patients that come through the Milwaukee facility every year even more difficult.

“Quality health care is a critical need for our veterans,” said Monica Luecking-David, a nurse at the facility and the chapter president of the WFNHP. “None of us are disposable. The VA’s mission could not be achieved without each and every one of us.”

“Federal workers and public sector workers make our country right in countless ways that too often go unnoticed until they are not there. And then our country will come unglued,” said Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale.

For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is 

Sandy Laemmel’s journey with NALC spans 50 years, starting when she was a teenager running an errand to buy stamps at the post office, where a “We’re Hiring” sign changed her life. From letter carrier to steward and president of Detroit Branch 1, she has dedicated herself to helping others. Since 2022, she’s served as a national trustee. “The common thread is people,” she said. She’s been the person others relied on, but “they’ve given me more in return. It’s truly better to give than receive. From teenager to trustee, I’ve been blessed in ways words can’t express.”

Tags: Women's History Month

Labor leaders and education advocates American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler condemned the Department of Education’s reduction in force announcement.

Weingarten said:

Many of America’s global competitors — and adversaries — are no doubt cheering President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. They know that countries who out-educate the rest of the world will out-compete it. And now brand new Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Trump want to neuter, if not completely shutter, the entity that helps give all children in the United States access to the great public school education they deserve. On Tuesday, the department announced plans to cut nearly half of its staff. McMahon says these catastrophic firings, alongside hundreds of so-called "buyouts," are about "efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.” The reality is far more cowardly.

...

A gutted department would mean fewer teachers, more crowded classrooms and increased mental health and behavioral challenges for students. We’d most likely see increased absenteeism and decreased graduation rates. Fewer students would be able to obtain the degrees or credentials they need for well-paying jobs, meaning more students would have to settle for low-wage work or simply drop out of the workforce. And many cities and states would have to increase school budgets to make up for these cuts, resulting in higher state and local taxes.

Instead, this move sends a clear message that, in Trump’s America, only kids from wealthy families are entitled to opportunity. How does that help make America great?

...

My union will continue to fight to protect our kids and to fund their future, because it is both the smart and the right thing to do. Last Tuesday, we held over 100 events across the country to protect our kids.

Diverting billions from our children to pay for tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy is a callous decision that short-changes everyone. If we want to engage kids, if we want America to be a nation of “explorers, builders, innovators [and] entrepreneurs,” as Trump said in his inaugural address, then logically it follows that we should be investing more in education, not less.

The dreams of millions of kids, and the promise of America, depend on it.

Read the rest of Weingarten's statement.

Shuler said:

Firing half of the staff so that the Department of Education cannot function will jeopardize the resources, programs and protections that give millions of students the opportunity to succeed. Public schools are the cornerstones of our communities: they provide the free, universal education that working families depend on, feed and care for our kids, and create millions of good union jobs. The Department of Education provides critical support to educators and school staff, and financial aid and student loans that put college and trade schools within reach for working families who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

Access to quality public education is a top priority for the American people, but billionaires like Elon Musk are pushing a Project 2025/DOGE agenda that only boosts the rich and powerful. We urge members of Congress to safeguard our taxpayer dollars by quickly acting to protect services that are essential to American life and provide vital support to our nation’s students, parents and educators.

Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.

Actors' Equity:

Bravo to Executive Director @avincentjr on being recognized for his dedication to advocating for our members in @PoliticsNYnews 2025 Labor Power Players list. Check out the impressive list of labor leaders and advocates who made it this year. https://t.co/qzd9pbyNcy pic.twitter.com/qHnyavBELc

— Actors' Equity (@ActorsEquity) March 12, 2025

AFGE:

Our union is speaking out against cuts to education that will harm American children and school across the nation. pic.twitter.com/0CKD968Nex

— AFGE (@AFGENational) March 11, 2025

AFSCME:

AFSCME stands in solidarity with @AFGENational and the 47,000 unionized TSA agents whose freedom to collectively bargain is under assault. This attack jeopardizes public safety. 
Together, with AFGE and the labor movement, we will keep fighting back. https://t.co/6zNOeyTmLd

— AFSCME (@AFSCME) March 12, 2025

Alliance for Retired Americans:

Social Security does not contribute one penny to the national deficit. Republicans shouldn't be looking for "savings" by messing with Americans' earned benefits. https://t.co/ze1MsUtDtn

— Alliance for Retired Americans (@ActiveRetirees) March 11, 2025

Amalgamated Transit Union:

Our Local 770-Mobile, AL, mobilized to make their voices and demands heard. #ATUStrongerTogether https://t.co/PZsQUN4VnC

— ATU, Transit Union (@ATUComm) March 12, 2025

American Federation of Musicians:

News of the Trump Administration’s misguided trade war must remind us of our values and our mission. All musicians have the right to live and work in dignity. At every level of governance, the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada remains committed to… pic.twitter.com/Tbd0DpSUso

— AFM (@The_AFM) March 5, 2025

American Federation of Teachers:

The Trump administration is making changes to the #PSLF system. Thank you @washingtonpost for this helpful breakdown. 

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.

Workers at WholesomeCo in Bountiful, Utah, ratified a union contract, becoming the first cannabis industry workers in Utah to do so. The workers are members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99. The agreement provides guaranteed wage increases over three years; company-provided medical insurance coverage, dental and vision coverage; paid bereavement and parental leave; paid time off and paid holidays and meal breaks; and a ratification bonus. The contract covers delivery fulfillment agents, demand inventory agents, inventory compliance agents, pharmacy fulfillment agents, pharmacy agents and retail display agents at the Bountiful facility.

Local 99 President Jim McLaughlin said the contract was “an important milestone not just for WholesomeCo employees, but for all Utah cannabis workers. With the ratification of this historic contract, WholesomeCo will continue to be a great place to work while helping raise the standard of living for employees industry-wide.”