Tampa, FL – On Saturday, April 5, over 3000 people protested Trump’s reactionary agenda in downtown Tampa. The protest, which covered three city blocks, was supported by labor unions, the local Democratic party, women’s rights groups, and more. The protest lasted for over three hours and received overwhelming support from passing cars, with many motorists stopping to join the protest.

From book bans to abortion bans, to “Don’t Say Gay” bills, Floridians are familiar with fighting back against reactionary legislation. The labor movement was also targeted when Governor Ron DeSantis pushed legislation that sought to decertify public sector unions in Florida.

The Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association is fighting against Trump’s anti-immigrant policies by supporting a school board resolution that would prevent immigration enforcement from conducting raids in public schools. The West Central Florida Labor Council encouraged its members to attend the protest, and among the attendees were teachers, postal workers, federal employees, and many more.

Several more protests are planned in the Tampa Bay area in the coming weeks, including a protest on International Workers Day to fight back against attacks on federal workers.

#TampaFL #FL #PeoplesStruggles #Labor #FederalWorkers #WCFLC #PCTA

Los últimos meses han visto un ataque constante contra el movimiento obrero organizado por parte de la administración de Trump. La destitución prematura de un miembro de la Junta Nacional de Relaciones del Trabajo (NLRB), la revocación de la representación sindical a los trabajadores de la TSA, y los avances para privatizar el servicio postal—cada uno de estos actos podría considerarse un ataque que sienta precedentes por sí mismo. En respuesta, los sindicatos han presentado demandas, presionado al Congreso y realizado varios Días Nacionales de Acción.

Sin embargo, el 27 de marzo, Trump llevó a cabo lo que Mark Dimondstein, presidente del Sindicato de Trabajadores Postales de los Estados Unidos (American Postal Workers Union), llamó “el ataque más grave contra los trabajadores sindicalizados en este país en al menos una generación”. Usando una orden ejecutiva que cita “seguridad nacional”, Trump eliminó unilateralmente todas las protecciones sindicales para más de 700,000 trabajadores federales. Como referencia, cuando Reagan reprimió la huelga de los controladores aéreos liderada por PATCO en 1981 afectó aproximadamente 11,000 trabajadores.

En 2011, los republicanos en Wisconsin introdujeron la Ley 10, que buscaba eliminar los derechos de negociación colectiva de los trabajadores públicos. Desde el principio, fue una situación que exigió una movilización total. Miembros de sindicatos y estudiantes ocuparon el capitolio estatal en Madison. En el momento crucial, muchos líderes sindicales flaquearon y se concentraron en una elección revocatoria del gobernador, que fracasó. La lucha tuvo éxito cuando fue militante. Fracasó cuando se redujo a un esfuerzo de “salir a votar”. No podemos olvidar esta lección.

Este ataque histórico contra los trabajadores federales no es de ninguna manera un intento de ahorrar dinero al gobierno ni de mantener la “seguridad nacional”. Es un ataque político masivo contra los trabajadores sindicalizados federales—que están resistiendo a Trump—y contra todo el movimiento obrero.

También hemos visto ataques dirigidos contra miembros y líderes sindicales, como cuando ICE detuvo recientemente a dos activistas sindicales en el estado de Washington, Alfredo Lelo Juárez y Lewelyn Dixon. La AFL-CIO local y grupos de derechos de los inmigrantes llamaron por una acción inmediata y movilizaron la gente a las calles. Necesitamos que los líderes sindicales defiendan a sus miembros y luchen con fuerza contra la agenda de la administración de Trump.

Usar los tribunales y presionar a los legisladores es, por supuesto, necesario, pero no es suficiente. El momento de intensificar las acciones es AHORA. El momento de llevar miembros de sindicatos a las calles es AHORA. El momento de defender a la clase trabajadora con todos los medios a nuestra disposición es AHORA.

El 5 de abril ha sido designado como el próximo gran Día de Acción para resistir a Trump, y hacemos un llamado a todos a salir a las calles ese día. Si no hay nada organizado todavía en tu ciudad, póngase en contacto con otros sindicatos y constrúyelo tú mismo.

El Día Internacional de los Trabajadores llega cada 1 de mayo, y este año llega con fuerza. Construye con todas las personas que están bajo ataque por Trump, especialmente los inmigrantes, para salir este Primero de Mayo.

La clase dominante de multimillonarios ha tirado la máscara y viene por sangre—nuestra sangre. La lenta disminución de la densidad sindical en los últimos cincuenta años les ha servido bien, pero esa era ha llegado a su fin. O les mostramos debilidad, o les mostramos fuerza—y el movimiento de la clase trabajadora necesita fuerza ante todo. El futuro del movimiento sindical será definido por las acciones que tomemos ahora.

-¡Todos a la calle el 5 de abril!

-¡Construya para un Primero de Mayo masivo!

-¡Cuando trabajadores e inmigrantes están bajo ataque, luchamos y resistimos!

#Labor #FRSO #Statement #FederalWorkers #Trump #OSCL

The past few months have seen a non-stop assault on organized labor by the Trump administration. Early removal of an NLRB member, stripping TSA workers of their union, moving to privatize the post office—each of these could be seen as a precedent-setting attack in their own right. In response, unions have filed lawsuits, pressured Congress, and held several National Days of Action.

However, on March 27, Trump carried out what Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union, called “the most serious attack on unionized workers in this country in at least a generation.” Using an executive order citing “national security,” Trump unilaterally ripped away all union protections for upwards of 700,000 federal workers. For comparison, Reagan’s crushing of the air traffic controller strike led by PATCO in 1981 involved around 11,000 workers.

In 2011, the Republicans in Wisconsin introduced Act 10, which sought to take away public workers’ collective bargaining rights. From the beginning, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation. Union members and students occupied the state capitol building in Madison. At the crucial moment, many union leaders balked and focused on a recall election of the Governor, which failed. The struggle was successful to the extent to which it was militant. It failed when it was reduced to a “Get Out the Vote” effort. We cannot forget this lesson.

This historic attack on federal workers is in no way an attempt to save the government money or to maintain “national security.” It is a massive political attack on federal union workers—who are resisting Trump—and on the entire labor movement.

We have also seen targeted attacks on union members and leaders, as when ICE recently detained two union activists in Washington state, Alfredo Lelo Juarez and Lewelyn Dixon. The local AFL-CIO and immigrants’ rights groups called for action right away and brought people out into the streets. We need labor leaders to stand up for their members and fight back hard against the Trump administration’s agenda.

Using the courts and pressuring lawmakers is, of course, necessary, but it is in no way sufficient. The time to escalate actions is NOW. The time to get union members into the streets is NOW. The time to defend the working class with all means at our disposal is NOW.

April 5 has been designated the next major Day of Action to resist Trump, and we call on everyone to hit the streets on that day. If nothing is organized yet in your city, reach out to other unions and build it yourself.

International Workers Day comes every May 1, and this year it’s coming with a bang. Build with all people under attack by Trump, especially immigrants, to come out for May Day.

The billionaire ruling class has dropped the mask and is coming for blood—our blood. The slow decline of union density over the past fifty years has served them well, but that era has come to an end. Either we show them weakness, or we show them strength—and the working-class movement needs strength above all else. The future of the union movement will be defined by what actions we take now.

-All out for April 5!

-Build for a Massive May Day!

-When Workers and Immigrants Are Under Attack, We Fight Back!

#Labor #FRSO #Statement #Trump #FederalWorkers #Unions #APWU #Feature

La Comisión Sindical de la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad condena a Trump y a su cómplice Elon Musk por los crueles ataques contra los trabajadores federales.

Hasta ahora, decenas de miles de trabajadores federales han sido despedidos o suspendidos. Los despidos se han llevado a cabo de la manera más cruel posible. El número exacto no está claro debido al caos que ha acompañado este proceso. Correos electrónicos inesperados enviados tarde en la noche. Mensajes de texto diciéndoles a los trabajadores que recojan sus cosas y se vayan a casa. Y el presidente Trump usando las redes sociales para burlarse de quienes enfrentan esta situación. Nada de esto es razonable, ni bueno, ni aceptable.

Para quienes estamos activos en el movimiento obrero, este es un momento crítico, como el “canario en la mina”. Es una prueba que no podemos fallar. Es vital que todo el movimiento obrero se movilice en apoyo a los sindicatos de trabajadores federales, como la Federación Americana de Empleados del Gobierno (American Federation of Government Employees), y exigir que se respeten los contratos y que se reviertan los despidos. Para lograrlo, debemos exigir que nuestros sindicatos apoyen a los trabajadores federales. Líderes sindicales como el presidente de los Teamsters, Sean O'Brien, están equivocados al decir que debemos esperar a ver qué pasa.

En 1981, el presidente Reagan cambió el rumbo de las relaciones laborales en EE.UU. cuando despidió a 11,000 controladores aéreos en huelga. Hoy estamos ante un momento similar. Trump está amenazando con privatizar el servicio postal. Hay ataques contra la Junta Nacional de Relaciones del Trabajo (NLRB). Y por supuesto, decenas de miles de trabajadores federales no recibirán su pago esta semana. La complacencia no puede ser la orden del día.

Muchos de nosotros que somos sindicalistas activos tenemos amigos o conocidos que son miembros o líderes de sindicatos de trabajadores federales. Debemos instarlos a organizar protestas y tomar otras acciones. Esta es una preocupación de cada miembro de un sindicato, y debemos unirnos a cualquier resistencia contra estos ataques. Una herida a uno es una herida a todos. ¡El ataque contra los trabajadores federales puede, debe y será derrotado!

#Labor #FederalWorkers #AFGE #FRSO #OSCL #Statement

Milwaukee, WI – A March 7 protest outside the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee brought out over 300 VA employees and supporters to protest attacks on the VA workforce by billionaires Trump and Musk. It was the largest protest at the site in memory.

Ten probationary employees at the Milwaukee VA have been fired without cause since Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” began its scorched earth campaign against unionized federal workers. Government memos suggest that over 80,000 VA employees could lose their jobs if Trump and Musk’s plans are not stopped.

“We are not the billionaires. We’re the people who’ve had to earn a paycheck our whole life,” said Pam Fendt, president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, “we know that the end goal of the administration is to cut and then privatize for their own self-enrichment. And we know that privatization doesn’t lead to lower costs or better service.”

“None of us are disposable, the VA’s mission could not be achieved without each and every one of us,” said Monica Luecking-David, a nurse at the Milwaukee VA and chapter president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5000. “We will lose our VA to the private sector, and your veterans’ healthcare will be administered by insurance companies,” warned Luecking-David, who helped organize the rally.

The bi-partisan MISSION Act signed into law by Trump in 2018 paved the way for the privatization of VA healthcare. The law created a framework to outsource veteran’s healthcare to private companies under certain conditions, such as for long wait times for appointments. If not stopped, the huge staffing cuts sought by Trump and Musk would result in reduction in services and long wait times, forcing veterans to seek healthcare from private providers. The largest healthcare companies in the U.S lobbied vigorously in support of the MISSION Act because they stand to profit from lucrative government contracts to replace VA services.

Tens of thousands of government workers are already out of a job, and many more will be harmed if Trump’s schemes aren’t stopped. It is vital that all organized labor rally in the support of the federal workers’ unions.

“We all need to come together to fight this reduction in force, the same way we do with every other fight, with tireless dedication to a righteous cause,” nurse Monica Luecking-David said.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #Veterans #VA #FederalWorkers #Feature

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

Seattle, WA – On February 17, over 2000 people rallied at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building to demand an end to the Trump administration’s layoffs. The rally was organized by federal workers, many represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, hoping to bring the people onto the streets to defend civil services against the Elon Musk led purge of more than 10,000 (and counting) federal employees.

The very next day, February 18, over 1000 workers in the National Parks Service were removed from their posts. Many more in critical agencies, such as the NLRB, EPA, Department of Health, and others have already been fired or are bracing for the same fate. The administration has made threats to fire all probationary staff, which, as NLRB field attorney Liz Devleming explained, “in the Seattle office, that’s about half of our staff.”

Civil servants and their supporters packed into the square in front of the federal building, the sidewalks in the surrounding blocks, and even onto the balconies of the Wells Fargo building across the street, chanting “Federal workers – hold the line!” The chorus of car horns as supportive drivers passed by was a constant background to the speeches given by aggrieved federal workers, their spouses, their friends, and others affected by the reckless austerity campaign.

Among the people in attendance, the fierce sentiment of support for organized labor and its role in fighting back was palpable. Every mention of union affiliation was met with raucous applause from the crowd.

Mathieu Chabaud, a UAW 4121 member at the University of Washington who is facing mass layoffs under the Trump administration, stated, “If you’re a union member, and you haven’t been going to union meetings, start going. Start talking to your coworkers about how you’re going to organize! And if you’re not in a union, find an organization where you can fight!”

Chabaud continued, as the crowd cheered, “We have power in the streets, and we have power in the workplace! We won the eight-hour working day because workers went on strike for it, because it made the ruling class scared, and we need to make them scared again!”

A common theme among signs at the protest was resistance against Trump and his stream of illegal orders and actions being handed down from on high, some calling him a dictator and a self-appointed king. Other protesters held signs reading “Fire Elon Musk!” and “No nazis.”

Federal workers and their unions are not backing down after the demonstration on Monday. Even during that event they were gearing up for a national day of action the following Wednesday on the 19th to picket Tesla dealerships around the country and to wage a social media campaign to raise awareness and support for the cause.

Devleming told Fight Back!, “These are terrifying, historic times; our grandchildren will judge us on how we act.”

With this massive turnout, federal workers made it clear that they are ready to oppose these attacks on their livelihoods and services, and that they’re ready to make good on their promise chanted across the streets, “When federal workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

#SeattleWA #WA #Labor #AFGE #FederalWorkers

American Federation of Government Employees Local 332, which represents about 500 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees at Pittsburgh International Airport and airports across Pennsylvania, is calling lawmakers and the administration to end this shutdown.

“We have members across the state who are worried about feeding their families and paying their bills,” AFGE Local 332 President William Reese said.

The Trump administration is moving to require additional federal workers to report to their jobs, without pay.

#PittsburghPA #PeoplesStruggles #AFGE #federalWorkers