labor Day Under Pressure: Unions Fight Back
Thousands of workers and union organizers across California will gather this weekend for Labor Day picnics and marches, honoring the contributions of the nation’s working people. However, celebrations will be tempered by a serious reality: unions are under increasing pressure to protect their members.
This pressure comes from the trump administration’s immigration raids, cuts to Medicaid services, and a weakened National Labor Relations Board. Labor groups are scrambling to support families impacted by the hundreds detained and deported in chaotic and frequently enough violent raids. Tragically, these raids have resulted in the deaths of two people – a day laborer and a farmworker – killed while fleeing federal agents.
The impact reached the heart of the labor community in June when David Huerta of SEIU California was injured and detained by law enforcement while documenting major immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
“Farmworkers are afraid. They don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next with these raids, but they understand the only way we’re going to have power is if we come together,” said Teresa Romero, president of united Farm Workers.
Romero and other union leaders are focusing on organizing more workplaces,educating people about their rights,and staging legal,nonviolent protests against government policies.
In early August, the Trump administration moved forward with a plan to end collective bargaining with federal unions across many government agencies. The administration claims these changes are necessary for national security, but unions see it as retaliation for opposing the president’s policies.
The administration has also proposed sweeping cuts to the national Labor Relations board (NLRB) – the agency responsible for protecting the rights of private employees to unionize and improve working conditions – and canceled leases for regional offices in multiple states. Union officials argue these cuts will severely hinder the NLRB’s ability to effectively protect workers.