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 Annawa Naing of AFT.

Annawa Naing is a United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leader and member of the New York State United Teachers, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA) and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). As a teacher and a unionist, Naing believes in advocacy work—such as fighting for special education services for the students at her school and advocating for fellow members to make sure their union rights are not being violated.

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 Jacob Kaleikini of AFSCME.

United Public Workers (UPW/AFSCME) Hawaii member Jacob Kaleikini is a lead pipefitter at the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, where he has worked for more than 30 years. Kaleikini's passion for his job and colleagues motivated him to get more involved, and he was elected chief steward of his unit. He then took on the role of chair of UPW’s election committee.

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.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on the budget reconciliation bill passed overnight in the House of Representatives:

“House Republican leaders passed this shameful bill in the middle of the night for one reason: They didn’t want the American people to see the deep and harmful cuts they’re imposing in the light of day. This budget gave Congress a choice: stand with the working people, seniors and kids, or deliver another massive giveaway to billionaires and big corporations. Every single member of Congress who voted for this bill chose to write the richest 10% a fat check on the backs of working-class families already struggling to pay their bills.

“They voted to throw millions off their health care, put millions of American jobs on the chopping block, gut investments in energy jobs, raid federal workers’ pensions, and reverse years of progress to protect workers’ privacy, health, and safety. Even policies that should help keep money in workers’ pockets, like no tax on tips or overtime, are temporary—and will only help people pay the much higher costs of health care and energy bills resulting from this deal if they are fortunate to keep their coverage and jobs at all. The fight to beat this is now in the Senate, but working people won’t give up on tough fights. Our jobs, our health care and our families are on the line.”

Read the full press statement here.