We have an exciting announcement that we’d like to share before we dive into this week’s Closer Look. Our new friends at Patriotic Millionaires Canada—including members Emma Davis and Sabina Vohra-Miller and Executive Director Dylan Dusseault—were interviewed on The Agenda last night by legendary journalist Steve Paikin. The Agenda is the flagship current affairs program on TVO, Ontario’s public broadcaster. The show is wrapping up this month after 19 seasons, making Patriotic Millionaires Canada one of the last featured guests on the show. Needless to say, it’s a pretty big deal that they dedicated an entire segment to Patriotic Millionaires Canada and the work our neighbors to the north are doing!
Check out Emma, Sabina, and Dylan’s incredible interview below:
Be sure to check out the clip as well on our X (Twitter), Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, and LinkedIn channels.
Now, onto our regularly scheduled Closer Look programming…
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Historically, unions have always played an essential role in stabilizing economies and ensuring that businesses properly share the fruits that their workers’ labor produces. But, over the last four months, it’s become clear that unions are also integral to stabilizing democracies and spreading political power among the masses too.
2023 and 2024 were historic years for unions. They launched high-profile strikes—most notably, with the UAW, Kaiser Permanente, and Hollywood actors and writers—that resulted in transformative new contracts for workers; began or continued organizing drives at major companies like Starbucks, Amazon, CVS, Disneyland, and Apple; and saw a surge in union election petitions and victories. 2025 is also shaping up to be a historic year for the labor movement, because unions are proving to be one of President Trump’s most formidable adversaries in his assault on workers’ rights and power.
We last discussed unions back in February, just two weeks into Trump’s second term in office. Since then, a lot has transpired in the world of unions—some of it good, some of it bad, some of it ugly. For this week’s Closer Look, we’d like to give you a rundown of those good, bad, and ugly developments on unions. Specifically, we’ll spotlight Trump’s anti-union personnel choices; Trump’s actions against federal workers and unions’ reactions in court; unions’ pushback to Trump outside of court; union growth; notable strikes and contract wins; and developments in the states.
Trump’s anti-union personnel choices
Back in February, we told you that President Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic board member and the then-Acting Chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). If you remember, Wilcox sued Trump over her termination, alleging that he overstepped his authority as president and violated Supreme Court precedent. The merits of the case have not been officially argued before the Supreme Court, but until then, a majority of the Justices voted against reinstating Wilcox to her position. The Court’s decision to prevent Wilcox from returning to work while the merits of her case are pending leaves the NLRB effectively shut down because it doesn’t have enough members to issue rulings. So thanks to Trump’s firing and his allies on the Supreme Court backing him up (it was a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, of course), workers and unions wishing to challenge labor right violations are out of luck.
In March, it was reported that Trump plans to select Crystal Carey to be the next general counsel of the NLRB. Carey is currently a partner at Morgan Lewis, a notoriously anti-union law firm. This doesn’t bode well for the labor movement, especially given that the general counsel sets priorities for NLRB cases and has the power to reverse all of the historically positive changes that Biden’s NLRB general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, ushered in on behalf of workers.
Outside of the NLRB, we anticipate unions will also be impacted by the official confirmation of former Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) as Labor Secretary. We were cautiously optimistic about Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination back in February, given that she co-sponsored the Protecting the Right to Organize (“PRO”) Act—legislation which makes it easier for workers to unionize—during her time in Congress and was endorsed by prominent labor unions like the Teamsters. But after listening to how she responded to questions during her Senate confirmation hearing, it’s clear she is willing to sacrifice workers’ rights to advance her own political career, which is especially horrifying considering she is leading the Labor Department. Among other things, she walked back her support for the PRO Act, stated that she supported anti-union “right-to-work” laws, and was noncommittal about whether she believed the federal minimum wage should be raised from its current $7.25 level.
Trump’s actions and unions’ reactions in court
Elon Musk may be out at DOGE, but as far as we can tell, Trump’s mission to gut and decimate the federal workforce as he concentrates the power of the executive branch more fully in his hands is moving full steam ahead. In the midst of the DOGE firing storm, unions have stood up for federal workers and challenged the administration in court at just about every turn. They’ve experienced varying degrees of success, but nonetheless proven that they will do what it takes to keep workers afloat in Trump’s “flood zone.” Here are some highlights, along with their end result:
- Buyout offer—The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal government employee union, sued the Trump administration over its “Fork in the Road” email to government workers. It essentially offered government employees the option to resign and receive eight months of pay and benefits if they did not wish to comply with the administration’s return-to-office mandate. However, a US District Court judge ultimately denied their request to block the plan, giving Trump a win.
- Mass firings—A coalition of unions sued the administration over Trump’s executive order that laid the groundwork for the mass firings, i.e. “large-scale reductions in force,” of hundreds of thousands of employees at federal agencies. The unions scored a victory in May, as a District Court judge temporarily blocked Trump from enacting his mass firing plan until the case is fully resolved.
- Probationary employees—Unions sued the Trump administration over its unprecedented firing spree of probationary federal employees, i.e. those who have been in their positions for less than two years. Unfortunately, Trump won this round as well, as a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court gave the administration a judicial green light to continue firing probationary employees.
- TSA collective bargaining—AFGE sued the Trump administration over its decision to end its collective bargaining agreement with roughly 47,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers that staff airports and other transportation hubs around the country. They were ultimately successful, as a US District judge paused the Department of Homeland Security’s effort.
- Broad elimination of federal collective bargaining rights—Six unions sued the administration after Trump issued an executive order that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for about two-thirds of the entire federal workforce over alleged national security concerns. Unfortunately, in May, a federal appeals court lifted a block on the executive order. However, despite this decision, the lawsuit is still ongoing, and the administration has said that it will not terminate any contracts until it’s over.
In addition to their own lawsuits, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., along with other unions, started up a pro bono legal network—Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network—to help federal workers affected by Trump’s downsizing. More than 1,000 lawyers in 42 states will offer individualized help to affected federal workers, regardless of whether they are union members or not.
Union pushback to Trump outside of court
On May 1, in honor of May Day/International Workers’ Day, labor unions organized protests against Trump’s billionaire agenda in over 600 cities in all 50 states. The turnout was incredible, with workers in other countries around the world participating too. We’re now seeing a similar momentum play out as labor unions organize protests in various cities against the administration’s immigration raids; the arrest in Los Angeles of David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, the state’s biggest union, was undoubtedly a turning point.
Union growth
Federal employees, presumably fearing Trump’s wrath and impressed with the way that unions are standing up to him, are flocking to unions in droves. AFGE experienced a surge in new members. Even local unions are getting overwhelmed with sign-ups. In February, Mark Smith, the president of National Federation of Federal Employees Local 1 in San Francisco, told The New Republic that “we [can’t] process the sign-up forms fast enough.”
Trump is also the common denominator behind the new union push at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In May, staffers announced their intention to form a union, citing frustrations over layoffs—37 of the Center’s roughly 400 employees have been laid off—and the lack of transparent communication from leadership since Trump took over as Chair.
Notable strikes and contracts
Outside of Trump World, there have been some major strikes and contract wins that are worth highlighting. Last month’s strike by New Jersey Transit locomotive engineers was certainly historic. It was the first statewide transit strike in the state in more than 40 years, and caused significant disruption for tens of thousands of commuters into New York City and beyond. The strike ended after three days when New Jersey Transit and the engineers’ union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, which the full union approved yesterday. Details of the agreement are unknown, but reports indicate it includes a substantial pay raise for engineers, presumably in line with the pay parity that they were originally seeking with their counterparts at Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
Back in April, 55,000 Los Angeles County workers also took to the streets in a remarkable two-day strike. The workers—who came from libraries, health care, parks, and more—claimed that their decision to walk out was spurred by numerous labor rights violations and a 0% increase for workers’ cost of living in a proposed contract. Time will tell whether the workers get the results they want and deserve, but it was still encouraging to see them join forces and make their voices heard.
Developments in the states
We’re also seeing some big developments for unions at the state level as well. In February, Utah’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a law that bans collective bargaining for the state’s public workers, like teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Only two other states, North Carolina and South Carolina, have such a draconian anti-union policy on the books. But thankfully, all hope isn’t lost just yet, as Utah’s private-sector unions have announced that they will run a ballot referendum to repeal the measure.
Another big development came out of Utah’s eastern neighbor, Colorado. In May, Colorado’s Democratic legislature voted to repeal the Labor Peace Act, which instituted the state’s quasi-right-to-work law. In a nutshell, in Colorado, a majority of workers need to vote to form or join a union. A second election must then be held, in which 75% of workers need to vote in favor of the union collecting dues from all the workers it represents, i.e. even ones that aren’t members, in contract negotiations. But then, Colorado’s Democratic (!) governor, Jared Polis, vetoed it. This would be a disappointing outcome from any politician of any political stripe, but it’s particularly painful coming from a Democrat during a time that the party is trying to win back working people who feel abandoned by them. We’re not sure what happened between 2018 and now, because Polis voiced his opposition to the Labor Peace Act when he first ran for governor.
Conclusion
There is a reason why authoritarians in the past have bent over backwards to crush unions. There’s a reason why they’ve tried to restrict unions’ rights or eliminate them altogether, co-opt unions under their party, and create company unions that give workers the feeling—but not the reality—that they have a voice.
What’s the reason? It’s because unions are one of the best avenues that we have on offer to protect our democracy. Workers that join hands in unions have the ability to demand better workplaces, but also better societies and communities as a whole.
We’re seeing that play out now with Trump and his administration. Unions are pushing back like never before, but it’s not just to protect affected workers’ livelihoods—although that’s certainly part of it. It’s to protect the country from the ravages of an authoritarian like Trump, and ensure that the political power of the masses is safeguarded.
Many of us are business owners and executives, but we recognize that unions are good for us too. Not just because they help grow the economy and our businesses’ bottom lines, but because they ensure that all voices are heard and have the ability to make a difference—not just rich people like us.