Chicago, IL – Health care workers and veterans have been protesting at VA Hospitals across the country as President Donald Trump and his multibillionaire sidekick Elon Musk attempt to gut healthcare for veterans. Union members who work at VA Hospitals have been in the forefront of the fight to save veteran benefits.

VA hospitals were amongst the hardest hit by the firing of tens of thousands of federal workers. “We love our veterans,” Aimee Potter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) told a February 26 rally outside the Jesse Brown VA Hospital in Chicago. “We are here to support them.”

U.S. military veterans have historically been given preference in hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Despite this, Trump has already fired an estimated 6000 veterans in his first weeks in office. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced plans to cut 80,000 more jobs. Many of these jobs are held by veterans.

Pat Kearns is a registered nurse at the Iowa City VA and president of AFGE Local 2547. Appearing on the Fight Back! Radio podcast, Kearns noted, “Our patients are pretty fiercely loyal to us. Everybody at least has to give lip service, even in the Republican Party, to the fact that veterans deserve healthcare. And so I think it's death by a thousand cuts rather than one firing of half the employees in one fell swoop. The VA's been underfunded for a number of years. You don't have to kick it very hard to tip it.”

Workers and unions are not taking this lying down. Unions, including AFGE, have taken the Trump administration to court to block these illegal terminations. So far, many of the unions’ efforts have been successful.

Encouraged by the AFL-CIO, workers, including veterans, have been holding hearings to tell their stories. The Chicago Federation of Labor and the Jobs with Justice Workers Rights Board held such a hearing in Chicago, March 10, where VA social worker Denise Mercherson testified, ”The VA is the biggest employer of social workers in the country. We have 9.1 million veterans in the VA system. Are you aware of the number of homeless veterans? But we have closed the gap due not only to the social workers, but the VA healthcare system.”

The DOGE attack on the federal work force puts veterans, who make up 30% of the federal workforce serving in every department, directly in the crosshairs. But it is more than an attack on veterans, it is an attack on the working class.

Business and government’s all-out attack on unions over the last 50 years has reduced union membership in the private sector to 6.7% of the workforce. This is compared to a total union membership of 35% of the workforce in 1954. Currently half of all union members are in the public sector. Rather than rebuild worker power, Trump seeks to destroy it through attacks on the public sector workers and unions.

This was evident to Aimee Potter at the rally as she told the crowd, “We need solidarity and collective action. Democracy as we once knew it is no longer!”

Workers across the country will be joining immigrants and others under attack to march for justice on May Day, International Workers Day.

Richard Berg is the host of the Fight Back! Radio podcast. The current episode features President Pat Kearns of AFGE Local 2547

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #FederalWorkers #AFGE #Trump #Layoffs #Veterans #VA

The Labor Commission of Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns Trump and his accomplice Elon Musk for the callous attacks on federal workers.

As it stands, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired or laid off. The terminations have been carried out in the most callous way possible. The exact number is unclear because of the chaos that has accompanied the process. Unexpected late-night emails. Text messages telling workers to take their things and go home. And President Trump taking to social media to mock those facing hardship. None of this is reasonable or okay or acceptable.

For those of us active in the labor movement, this is a ‘canary in the coal mine’ kind of time. It’s a test that we cannot fail. It is vital that all organized labor rally in the support of the federal workers unions, like the American Federation of Government Employees, and insist contracts are honored and the layoffs are rolled back. To that end, we must insist our unions stand with the federal workers. Unions leaders like Teamsters President Sean O'Brien are mistaken when they say we should wait and see what happens.

In 1981, President Reagan upended the course of U.S. labor relations when he fired 11,000 striking aircraft controllers. Today is that kind of moment. Trump is threatening to privatize postal workers. There are attacks on the National Labor Relations Board. And of course, there are tens of thousands of federal workers who will not be getting a paycheck this week. Complacency cannot be the order of the day.

Many of us who are active trade unionists have friends and acquaintances who are members or leaders of federal worker unions. We should urge them to hold protests and take other actions. This is a concern of every union member, and we should join any resistance to these attacks. An injury to one is an injury to all. The attack on federal workers can, must, and will be defeated!

#Labor #Statement #FRSO #AFGE #FederalEmployees #Trump #Layoffs

Santa Ana, CA – Over 200 educators rallied to the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, January 29 to protest budget cuts and layoffs of up to 546 employees.

Elementary and secondary school teachers, counselors, curriculum specialists and social workers, as well as local union members, parents and children filled the chamber. Even more were forced into the overflow room and hallway of the district building.

Last month Santa Ana School District (SAUSD) approved a “Budget Stabilization Plan” that threatened to cut many of these workers. District Superintendent Jerry Almendarez said the decision was a necessary sacrifice that would not severely impact students and families. At the same time, no management positions were considered for layoffs: Almendarez received $447,561 in compensation in 2022, and the meeting agenda originally included a proposed 3% salary raise and one time 3% bonus for him before community backlash changed the board’s mind.

Ironically, despite this crisis, it was not public educators but pro-charter school activists who were first to speak. Compass Charter School advocates complained about large class sizes in public schools and praised hybrid and homeschool teaching, which are unrealistic models for working-class families in Santa Ana. Parent Max Page said he felt “safe” dropping his kids off at Compass, insinuating that SAUSD schools are dangerous. All of the Compass Charter students and teachers were white, in a city which is 77% Latino/Chicano according to 2020 census data.

Meanwhile, public school teacher Vladimir Benitez said in Spanish, “First of all, to all the immigrant families, we see you! We love you. We are here to support you. I know what is happening in your lives – my parents were also undocumented immigrants in the 90s when we had Pete Wilson, but we are still here! And we are going to remain here!”

Benitez continued, “Cutting the number of teachers that they want to cut in this historical moment – history is going to see, ‘What did we do?’ If you don’t feel any shame for cutting resources to these children, then I do not know why you are here!”

Educators in the overflow room cheered and demanded “No layoffs! No cuts!” despite warnings from the board to be silent.

Special education teacher Edith Esqueda said, “I’m here tonight as a concerned teacher, deeply invested in the future of our district.” To the board members and superintendents, she said, “One day you guys are gonna pack your stuff and move to the next best thing; we are here to stay!”

Esqueda said, “The heart of our district is not in offices, but in our classrooms where all our students are at.”

Protesters in the audience held signs that read “351 layoffs is the unimaginable,” a reference to SAUSD slogan “Imagine the unimaginable” plastered on district promotional materials this year.

Tanya Guzman, a teacher with SAUSD for 31 years, said, “As I pondered the magnitude of the proposed eliminations before us, I couldn’t help but ponder the ‘imagine the unimaginable’ theme for this school year. This theme has taken on a new significance as we imagine the unimaginable consequences that these cuts will create. It is unimaginable that learning will not be impacted by the proposed reductions.”

Erica Gonzalez spoke as an SAUSD alumni and parent, and she reinforced the previous speaker Albert Castillo’s points about “the $10.4 million dollars annually that goes to the 85 Santa Ana Police Department officers that are on campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even during the summer.” She said, “SAUSD has the third largest school police agency in all of California.”

Social worker Luz Gonzalez spoke on the vital support she offers to students, giving real-life examples of her work, “Third student of the day walks into her session, confiding her fears of looming mass deportations. Her family plan? Her parents would leave her 18-year-old sister in charge of her and her 11-year-old brother. She’s overwhelmed and terrified.”

Looking directly at Almendarez and in response to potential social worker layoffs she asked, “How much are you willing to risk?”

Public pressure forced the meeting to end near midnight without a vote on teacher layoffs. The board scheduled a special meeting to decide on the Stabilization Plan on Friday, January 31.

Protesters at the meeting included SAUSD educators, Santa Ana Educators Association (SAEA) members, National Union of Health Care Workers union members, and Communication Workers of America Local 9510 members (CWA).

#SantaAnaCA #CA #Labor #Teachers #SAEA #CWA #Layoffs #Feature

Seattle, WA – On the afternoon July 25, workers at Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches held a press conference outside Homegrown/Artisan Premades headquarters to condemn CEO Brad Gillis’ sudden announcement that he intends to close ten of the 12 Homegrown restaurants on September 15, putting over 150 people out of work.

Gillis’ announcement comes just three months after workers, members of Unite Here Local 8, ratified their first union contract, following a militant two year contract campaign. During the event, workers at various Homegrown locations came forward to give statements to the press that had gathered. Many of them expressed devastation, as well as shock, at the closures and how they received the news.

“We’re in shock. Completely out of nowhere, we saw there was a notice put up on the government website WARN, which legally requires employers to notify people 60 days in advance of layoffs, and that was how we found out. We’re going to call it what it is, which is union busting,” said Zane Smith, a worker at the Redmond Homegrown.

Other workers reflected on their contract campaign and the benefits and protections they had won, which had made their campaign an inspiration to workers across the country.

“I’m heartbroken.” said Sydney Lankford, who also works at the Redmond Homegrown. “In October I was illegally fired by this company for speaking in a union delegation. My coworkers and I went on strike, and we won. We won my reinstatement, and then we won this kickass contract – for ourselves, and for other food service workers.”

“Brad Gillis never came to us, he never came to our union to talk this over or bring alternatives. Brad didn’t make a business decision; he made a decision to not give workers livable wages – he is a union buster,” Lankford continued.

Zane Smith, who fought alongside Lankford and their coworkers and the Redmond Homegrown, was next to make remarks. “It’s important for us to be out here today because food service workers in Seattle, and the US, have looked to our campaign, they’ve looked to what we’ve won in terms of heat pay and our historic first contract, but also because bosses are looking to Brad right now. Workers in this country are rising up, organization is on an upswing right now over the last five years, and bosses are looking for ways to kill the momentum that workers have.”

“Brad may think that he’s won by shutting down our union, by firing 158 people who now have to find healthcare, pay rent, and find ways to feed their kids elsewhere, but he has not. 150 people are going to go to their next job knowing that when workers stand up, we can win, and knowing that the fight is worth it,” said Smith.

Homegrown workers say they will continue to fight against union busting and for severance, as well as the protection of as many jobs as possible.

#SeattleWA #WA #Labor #UNITEHERE #Homegrown #Layoffs #UnionBusting #Feature

Chicago IL – On June 7, the last day of the Chicago Public Schools 2023-24 calendar, over 300 paraprofessionals and school related personnel and teachers were laid off due to budget cuts.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) attended the board of education meeting on Thursday June 27, to demand an end to layoffs as a part of the broader demand for fully staffed, fully funded schools. They explained the devastating effects these layoffs have on school staff and on students. The union is currently in contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, which is led by CEO Pedro Martinez.

“CEO Martinez ought to be ashamed of himself. We’re talking about 330 people who are connected to thousands of Black and brown families,” said CTU Recording Secretary Christel Williams Hayes at a press conference before the meeting.

“I do not understand how these budget cuts were made. Make it make sense. How will you make sure students will feel comfortable in their buildings without these veterans in their schools?” asked Sandra Lockhart, an instructional assistant who was laid off after 20 years of working at the same school. Lockhart is one of many paraprofessionals and school related personnel (PSRPs) laid off after serving their communities for decades. Many of these educators are breadwinners who cannot easily commute to other neighborhoods and acclimate to new schools.

“Why are you cutting off vital services? Why are you cutting one on one attention in oversized classrooms? The support of counselors, justice coordinators and people who protect student safety? You are cutting the backbone of our schools,” declared CTU organizer Tanille Evans.

“I’ve constantly advocated for our students who administrators see as criminals. I fight for them to be seen as human beings,” said Edward Ward, a restorative justice coordinator who was laid off for the second year in a row.

“The work I do, the work we do, we are not disposable. At the end of the day, it’s the students who suffer,” Ward added.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez and members of the board of education admitted during the meeting that Chicago's schools are struggling to adequately serve Black and brown children, and that the numbers of disabled, homeless and newly immigrated students have increased by thousands. The board, however, did not discuss or respond to questions about layoffs.

CTU members exposed the hypocrisy of a school district that claims to aim for equity also laying off overwhelmingly Black and brown staff who are crucial to the achievement of Chicago’s majority Black and brown students.

“You can’t say that we are moving in a direction that honors the voices of young people, then cut 20 restorative justice coordinators,” said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates. “85% of PSRPs are Black and brown women. Their work is often made invisible, but when the schools open we won’t see invisible work, we’ll see schools falling apart.”

“Budgets are moral documents, and there are things in this budget that do not compute,” CTU Vice President Jackson Potter stated in the board meeting. Potter pointed to years of financial mismanagement by previous elected officials such as former mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner, which left CPS in a $400 million budget deficit after the end of federal COVID funding, as the reason why layoffs occur.

“Those bad actors must be called out and held accountable, pushed to renegotiate, and pay back revenue that translates to things like libraries and librarians,” Potter explained.

The current CTU contract, won in 2019 after a strike during the administration of then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, expires on June 30. At this moment, with former teacher and CTU organizer Brandon Johnson as mayor, the union has, according to their communications department, “an opportunity for transformative change that can genuinely address the segregation, privatization, and budget cuts that have harmed Chicago students for so long.”

However, the Chicago Teachers Union still expects a struggle against “bad actors.” It’s public statement concluded: “We still have to grapple with a stubborn bureaucracy, inadequate state funding, and wealthy corporations funding Trump and the Illinois Policy Institute in order to pay fewer taxes and defund public education. Easy or not, we will set a new standard for public schools in Chicago.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #CTU #teachers #layoffs

Even worse, the previous week’s claim number for regular state UI was revised upward by 68,000. These weekly new claims numbers were four times higher than the number a year ago, before the economic crisis started. The total number for all programs – including the state UI, the federal PUA, as well as the new programs for those who have been out of work for more than six months, the state Extended Benefits, and the Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC – is nine times the pre-recession totals of a year ago.

While the stock market has been hitting new highs and corporate profits are near record levels, the job market is still down almost 10 million jobs from a year ago. Most economists think that the total production of goods and services, measured by the Gross Domestic Product or GDP, will recover their pre-recession levels this year. But the recovery in the job market won’t be until at least 2022, given that the number of new jobs has basically stalled in December and January, which, when averaged together had a monthly job loss of about 90,000.

Even worse, projections are that millions of jobs are not coming back. The recession and pandemic have speeded up the use of new technologies that can eliminate jobs. 20% or more of office jobs may continue to be work at home, which will cause losses in downtown food service and retail jobs. At least 20% of business travel is projected to be lost as videoconferencing continues, again leading to permanent hotel, restaurant and travel related jobs gone. Many retail jobs are not coming back even when COVID-19 loses its pandemic status, as a lot of online shopping is here to stay.

One might think that this will just shift jobs from stores to warehouses and fulfillment centers. But warehousing jobs, which grew dramatically during the pandemic with the explosion of online shopping, is also under threat with growing automation. Chewy, a pet supply online retailer, just opened a new fulfillment center that uses only one-third the workers of a traditional warehouse. Amazon has also been stepping up the use of robots in their warehouses. These robots are bound to spread across the whole warehousing and shipping industry, reducing the number of jobs.

This is one of the features of recessions in a capitalist economy – that it speeds up technological and job changes that were already underway. And unless there are strong labor unions and a fighting workers’ movement, the average worker will get the short end of the stick while corporations and their owners win.

#SanJoseCA #Layoffs #PeoplesStruggles #COVID19

While the weekly reports are far below the weekly reports of late March and early April which topped 6 million, it is still above the highest number before the current recession and shows that the layoffs are continuing at a high rate.

While the number of continuing claims, or people actually collecting state unemployment insurance, dropped by a 167,000 in the week ending September 12, much of this might be because more and more people being dropped for having run out the six months of unemployment insurance benefits. The surge in applications began six months ago, less one week, so we could see a dramatic drop in the numbers, not because they are finding jobs, but because they are being dropped from the program.

Another sign that people are running out of aid is the continued rise in the Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or FPEUC, which adds an addition three months of benefits. The existing Extended Benefits program, which kicks in with a three-month extension in states with high unemployment rates, also has been growing. Combined, the two grew by about 164,000 in the week ending September 5, an increase of almost 10% from a week earlier.

On factor weighing on the economy is the expiration of the $600 a week in additional unemployment insurance benefits in late July. Trump’s replacement program of $300 a week has already ended after only five weeks, although not everyone has been paid.

With the onset of colder weather limiting outdoor businesses, and the continued spread of COVID-19, the environment is also turning against the job market.

#SanJoseCA #Layoffs #PeoplesStruggles

San José, CA – On Monday, November 26, General Motors announced that it was cutting 15,000 jobs. Their plans include closing five auto and auto parts plants in the United States and Canada. Wall Street liked the news, and GM’s stock rose almost 5%, three times as much as the broader stock market. But for thousands of GM workers, the holidays suddenly became much bleaker.

General Motors is not losing money as it was ten years ago, when it was bailed out by the U.S. government. The GM bailout cost U.S. taxpayers about $9 billion. In the last quarter (July to September), GM’s North American operations made more than $2.8 billion, 37% more than a year ago. But these profits are not enough, and the job cuts will save GM billions of dollars in the future.

GM said that the reason was slow car sales for three brands that is phasing out: Cruze, Volt and Impala. Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, and now General Motors are all phasing out their production of cars to focus on more profitable SUVs and pick-up trucks. The so-called Detroit “Big Three” are leaving the car market to imports and to foreign auto-makers that have set up plants in the United States.

These automotive job cuts are another sign of a slowing economy. The housing market is struggling with higher interest rates. Falling oil prices point towards fewer jobs and less investment in the growing production of U.S. oil. Economic growth is slowing in much of the world, with the economies of Germany and Japan actually shrinking in the July to September quarter. Last but not least, recent jitters in the U.S. stock market a showing growing doubts about the future of the economy.

#SanJoséCA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Layoffs #WallStreet #PeoplesStruggles #GeneralMotors

Harrisburg, PA – A rally here, June 25, protested school layoffs and closings in Philadelphia. Teachers, safety workers, librarians and others are affected. Arts instruction is especially targeted. Layoffs have reached 3783 and counting. A contingent of school employees has gone on a water-only fast in the capitol rotunda.

The main turnout came from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Dozens of high school students came, including a solid contingent from the self-organized Newark Student Union, of Newark, New Jersey.

AFT President Randi Weingarten told the crowd of more than 500, speaking of an arrest threat against those fasting, that “the people who should be arrested are the supporters of [Pennsylvania] Governor Corbett. On a day when the Supreme Court has thrown out voting rights they are attacking people whose job it is assuring that the next generation gets a fair shot at life.”

Her remarks reflected the rising discontent of vast numbers of middle-income people like teachers. With half the country living in poverty or close to it, the middle-income stratum that is increasingly a political battleground. This attack is particularly concentrated on middle-income African-Americans. Given Black people’s tradition of struggle, that will only add fuel to the fire.

#HarrisburgPA #Layoffs #Labor #workersRights #PhiladelphiaFederationOfTeachers

Chicago, IL – Sherri Taylor-Kennedy was insulted and angry at her employer. “When I got here I was informed that my position had been eliminated. I had 30 minutes to gather my belongings and be escorted off the premises.” She spoke out at a protest rally Feb. 10 to 200 co-workers and supporters at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC).

Ms. Taylor-Kennedy has worked here for 14 years as a secretary. Management has announced 450 layoffs already, and hundreds more to come. These job cuts are happening even though the hospital hasn't lost any money, nor are there fewer patients. They are getting rid of workers because their stock-based endowment lost 40% of its value. They want to make up for their bad investments by cutting people.

Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743, was highly critical that these cuts were made despite no financial losses in the operation of the hospital. “They're not General Motors or Ford, where sales are down. This is sheer arrogance,” he declared to cheers from the crowd.

Local 743 was joined by Service Employees International Union Local 73, the Students Organized and United for Labor and Southside Together Organized for Power (STOP), a housing group that fights University-promoted gentrification in the Woodlawn neighborhood. STOP speaker Fred Payne supported the workers, telling them they were fighting for themselves and for patients like him. In addition to cutting jobs, the hospital announced plans to turn away more poor people who come to the emergency room, and instead send them to Cook County Hospital, ten miles away. Most of the 80,000 patients that use the Emergency Room are African American.

Local 743 represents 1500 service and maintenance and clerical workers. Their union representative at UCMC, J Burger, said that many of the 450 layoffs were workers represented by Local 743. Local 73 represents trades people, including carpenters and painters, 18 of whom were given layoff notices.

The threat to these workers is very serious. Taylor-Kennedy announced, “I have $1500 rent due every month and six children to feed.”

Burger said, “We will fight until we win back these jobs and until this employer respects the workers and the residents of the surrounding community.” The workers ended their protest chanting, “Yes, We Can!” aware that President Obama's home was only a few blocks away from the University, where he had been on the faculty a few years ago.

#UniversityOfChicago #ChicagoIL #News #Teamsters743 #SEIU #Layoffs