District 776 Fires Up the Grills for a Great Cause
IAM District 776 in Fort Worth, Texas, held a two-day barbecue cook-off to support Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines (GDA | TLC). More than 30 teams barbecued, held an auction of homemade baked goods, and raffles, raising nearly $6,000 for the IAM’s charity of choice. The fundraiser’s goal is to raise money
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IAM Victory at Boeing
How did a union of 33,000 aircraft workers win a battle that set a new standard in the aviation industry with a 40% pay increase over four years? What strategies did they use to score a guarantee of building Boeing’s next commercial aircraft? What tactic did they use to defend their ground in a battle
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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Amy Chin-Lai
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Amy Chin-Lai
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 Amy Chin-Lai of IFPTE.
Amy Chin-Lai is the president of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70, which represents thousands of nonprofit workers at more than 50 organizations in Washington, D.C., and nationwide. A fourth-generation Chinese-American, she carries forward her family’s resilience through her work empowering other member leaders and advocating for dignity, equity and fair pay. Chin-Lai was recently honored by the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO,– winning their inaugural emerging leader award. She is proud to be part of a movement and union that amplifies the voices of marginalized people in the workplace.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 05/20/2025 – 10:03
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: AFL-CIO, Labor Unions File Amicus Brief in Humanitarian Parole Supreme Court Case
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: AFL-CIO, Labor Unions File Amicus Brief in Humanitarian Parole Supreme Court Case
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.
On Friday, the AFL-CIO and a coalition of unions representing workers in the manufacturing, hospitality, construction, food processing and service industries filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to deny the Trump administration’s attempt to end humanitarian parole and rescind work authorization for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.The brief is co-authored by the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, UAW, UNITE HERE, United Food and Commercial Workers, Painters and Allied Trades, IUE-CWA, and Bricklayers.“Our immigrant brothers, sisters and siblings from these nations came to the United States to flee danger at home, and while here have been legally working and contributing to our economy while supporting their families,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Ripping them away from their families and homes is a grave injustice that will have harmful ripple effects across our workplaces, our industries, and our economy. We are proud to file this amicus brief alongside our affiliated unions representing workers in key American industries, including those like food processing and manufacturing that cannot function without the work of these immigrants. We call on the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration’s effort to deport these valued members of our workplaces and communities.”Read the full press release here.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 05/20/2025 – 09:57
Teamsters Strike Saint-Gobain CertainTeed Gypsum in Nevada
(BLUE DIAMOND, Nev.) – Members of Teamsters Local 631 at Saint-Gobain CertainTeed Gypsum in Nevada have been forced to strike after overwhelmingly voting down a last, best, and final offer from their employer. “Teamsters are tired of the blatant disrespect from this company. They will hold the line until they get a contract that offers […]
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Defending APWU Veterans Harmed by the Current VA Crisis
May 20, 2025The Union Veterans Council, in partnership with APWU affiliate veteran leaders and veteran service organizations nationwide, will address the devastating impact of the Trump and Musk attacks on our veterans and their family members.
magazineVeterans Resources
In the March/April 2025 Home Front column, we informed APWU veteran members of the highly serious consequences that Project 2025 will have on Veterans’ Affairs (VA) benefits, the quality of healthcare services veterans receive, and the use of private contractors to process and evaluate their disability claims. Our “Hands Off Our Veterans’ Healthcare” fight continues in 2025.
Well, APWU Veterans, what was a warning last year has suddenly become a reality. Veterans nationwide are under attack. The Project 2025 plan to destroy Veterans Preference and to gut federal agencies – including the Postal Service and VA healthcare benefits, has begun. So, it’s time to do what military veterans always do when we are under attack, we fight back!
The Union Veterans Council, in partnership with APWU affiliate veteran leaders and veteran service organizations nationwide, will address the devastating impact of the Trump and Musk attacks on our veterans and their family members. With hundreds of thousands of veterans employed in the Federal workforce, and millions relying on VA Healthcare and Veterans Benefits services, it is critical that our APWU veteran leaders and veteran organizations nationwide are fully informed on these threats and equipped with the real facts to counter misinformation. Together, we will provide accurate, up-to-date information so that our veteran leaders and veteran organizations have the tools to confirm or rebut misleading claims. The goal is to inform, equip, and mobilize leaders with clear, verifiable facts about these attacks. We want veterans organizations to know they have a trusted partner in the labor movement, ensuring they are never caught off-guard by administrative rhetoric or policy changes.
“The Union Veterans Council AFL-CIO is prepared to lead the way in this major battle to save veterans’ rights and benefits, federal jobs, and top quality veterans’ healthcare, fully staffed by Federal Government employees,” said Union Veterans Council Director William Attig.
The Union Veterans Council and APWU veteran leaders must defend our veterans’ family during this major American crisis. Tell the truth about the Trump and Musk agendas: separate fact from fiction. Counter misinformation, identify false narratives, confirm or rebut claims, and provide veterans with trusted information. The personal human cost of these attacks, and how veterans’ organizations and union organizations can work together, are crucial in the battle to save our American democracy.
We are under attack through job cuts, veteran layoffs, political purges, hiring freezes, VA closures and more. VA privatization means outsourcing will lead to longer wait times, higher costs, and worse healthcare outcomes for veterans. The impact of cuts to Social Security, military disability and pension claims, as well as other earned federal government benefits that millions of veterans and family members rely on daily, will seriously damage their personal lives.
The Struggle Continues, Because When Our Union Veterans are Under Attack, We Stand Up, Fight Back! ■
STAND WITH VETERANS Unite for Veterans, Unite for America
Veteran jobs, earned benefits, and essential VA services are under attack.
Revealed: Musk Uses DOGE to Stifle Competition, Siphon Money into Own Pockets
May 20, 2025Our tax dollars should be used to better our communities. But at the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk is allocating funds to stifle market competition in areas that were once used to help his companies thrive. Read more:
magazine
In his role chairing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk has criticized excessive government spending and dependency. Ironically, he is one of the greatest beneficiaries of our tax dollars. Over the last 20 years, his businesses have received at least $38 billion in loans, subsidies, government contracts, and tax credits.
Our tax dollars should be used to better our communities. Musk using government loans and subsidies is not necessarily a bad thing – in fact, Tesla is an example of the success that can come from public investment in private companies. Tesla used government loans to make affordable electric vehicles, reducing carbon emissions to help our environment. But now Musk is advocating for cuts to the same departments that granted his companies contracts and strangling other businesses that could also help our communities and the environment. By gutting programs and agencies that helped his business empire succeed, he is eliminating access to assistance before his competitors can use it.
Musk is also abusing his position to influence government contracts in his favor. In March, The Washington Post reported on changes to a Biden-era program providing internet to rural communities. The program’s contract with Cajun Broadband to provide fast and reliable internet to 450,000 households in Louisiana has been put on hold after the Trump administration announced that it is redirecting grants from broadband to satellite companies, particularly Musk’s Starlink company.
DOGE cuts are harming our communities. Layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration will make our food supply chain less safe, and cuts to the National Institute of Health have slashed funding for cancer research. The unelected billionaire is recklessly putting our country at risk so that he can put money in his pockets.
Let’s fight back against the billionaire class and say, “Hands off our public services!” ■
Revealed: Musk Uses DOGE to Stifle Competition, Siphon Money into Own Pockets0
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Greenpeace Prepares International Lawsuit to Defend Freedom of Speech
May 20, 2025Greenpeace, an environmental advocacy organization, recently suffered a setback in its fight against Big Oil company Energy Transfer (ET), when a jury issued a $660 million award against the organization.
magazine
Greenpeace, an environmental advocacy organiza tion, recently suffered a setback in its fight against Big Oil company Energy Transfer (ET), when a jury issued a $660 million award against the organization. The lawsuit is a clear-cut example of how a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) is used against activists and non-profits that speak out against injustices, like the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), by burying them in expensive, drawn-out legal battles so that they can no longer fight back.
“This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” said Sushma Raman, Greenpeace Fund Interim Executive Director. “It’s part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment… These rights are critical for any work toward ensuring justice – and that’s why we will continue fighting back together, in solidarity.”
Now, Greenpeace International is suing several ET entities involved in the DAPL dispute for all damages it has suffered because of ET’s unjust lawsuits and the prejudice displayed in North Dakota.
For example, ET’s key findings lacked evidence, evidence supporting Greenpeace was excluded, there was ongoing concern about the fairness and impartiality of the jury, and requests for a change in venue were denied.
Kristin Casper, Greenpeace’s general counsel said, “This isn’t just a fight for Greenpeace defendants: it’s a fight about the protection of fundamental rights for everyone. We are committed to our values, such as nonviolence, independence, and promotion of solutions. We won’t back down…This is the kind of fight that we were made for.”
Greenpeace Prepares International Lawsuit to Defend Freedom of Speech0
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Bill Restricting Federal and Postal Unions from Deducting Union Dues Moves Forward in Congress
May 20, 2025On March 18, the Paycheck Protection Act (H.R. 2174) was introduced in the House, which if passed, will prevent all federal and postal unions from deducting union dues from employee paychecks, thus weakening our collective bargaining power. Learn more:
magazineLegislative and Political
On March 18, 2025, three conservative lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced the Paycheck Protection Act (H.R. 2174), which would restrict all federal and postal unions from deducting union dues from employee paychecks, if it becomes law. In addition to union dues, this bill aims to restrict deductions for “fees or political contributions,” which may mean many other deductions, such as the Committee on Political Action (COPA) and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
The bill, introduced by Rep. Eric Burlison (RMO- 07) and cosponsored by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL-15) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC-01), was voted favorably out of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 25. Now, lawmakers can move this bill to the House floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled as of the publication of this issue of The American Postal Worker.
For years, voluntary payroll deductions have been used as an efficient and economical way for employees to pay certain bills. By targeting union dues, lawmakers are taking direct aim at labor unions’ self-funding. Ultimately, it would be harder for workers to pay their union dues, and therefore the union would have fewer resources to fight grievances and collectively bargain.
While lawmakers argue that this bill protects your freedom – in reality, union dues are completely voluntary and always authorized by postal and federal workers themselves. The so-called “Paycheck Protection Act” places unnecessary burdens on the APWU and could dismantle our union.
The APWU’s Legislative and Political Department is closely monitoring this bill and will continue to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to fight against this bill moving any further, but we need your help. Contact your congressional representatives in the House and urge them to strongly oppose H.R. 2174, the Paycheck Protection Act! ■
Bill Restricting Federal and Postal Unions from Deducting Union Dues Moves Forward in Congress0
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Looking Back: Black Workers Organize ‘Revolutionary Union Movement’
May 19, 2025This month in Labor History, we look back at the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement of 1968 – when over 4,000 Black workers who were fed up with racist policies organized a two-day strike at Chrysler’s Hamtracmck plant to demand improvements for Black workers on the job and in their unions, spawning a revolutionary union movement across other auto plants in Greater Detroit.
magazineAPWU History
May 2, 1968 – Auto workers walked o the job at Chrysler’s Dodge manufacturing plant in Hamtramck, MI after the company implemented “speed-up” conditions that forced workers to increase output by nearly 40%. However, while white workers were prominently on the picket line, it was mainly Black men who were fi red for walking out, including General Gordon Baker.
Prior to 1960, white men had dominated the city’s auto industry, but increased demand led Chrysler to hire large groups of Black workers to fill the dangerous assembly lines. By 1968, a majority of the workforce of the Hamtramck plant was Black (70%), but most of the managers and union representatives were white – further underscoring the racism of the time.
Fed up with the company’s racist policies, including segregated lunchrooms, the union’s inaction to help fired Black workers, and lack of Black representation, Baker organized the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) with two former classmates Luke Tripp and John Watson, from Wayne State University, to demand improvements for Black workers in the workplace and in their unions.
The founders of DRUM were no strangers to activism – they grew up in the Deep South and were familiar with the strategies of rural, southern militant organizing. In college, they formed a student-led civil rights group and protested police violence.
After Baker’s dismissal, he wrote a letter to the company declaring battle. DRUM held rallies for workers, students, and community members about racial justice and called for a series of wildcat strikes, which DRUM saw as a tool to address the grievances of Black workers. Only a year since the 1967 riots in Detroit, Black workers were frustrated by the limits on economic opportunities and their power within their unions.
On July 8, DRUM led nearly 4,000 Black workers o the job for a two-day strike at the same Hamtramck plant, preventing the production of 3,000 cars. None of the workers were fi red, and DRUM was thrown into the spotlight. They also ran an opposition slate during subsequent union elections.
By 1969, the “Revolutionary Union Movement” wildcat strikes spread to other auto plants in Greater Detroit, forming the Ford Revolutionary Union Movement and the Eldon Avenue Revolutionary Union Movement at the Chrysler Eldon Avenue plant, as well as outliers like UPS and healthcare workers.
The wildcat strikes from 1968-1969 had tremendous influence on Detroit’s industries and its unions, forcing the “Big 3” to make improvements to working conditions, addressing racial justice, improving seniority and grievance procedures, and helping Black workers gain more representation in local union positions. ■
Observing Juneteenth for Dignity and Equality
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