Archive for category: Updates

Read this op-ed by Local 2 leader Marty Bennett in the Sonoma Press-Democrat or text below.

The Trump administration has launched an unprecedented assault on federal workers, their unions, and the entire American labor movement. According to Randy Irwin, President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, “This is the biggest attack on collective bargaining rights in the history of our country.” If not halted, the administration’s actions threaten essential federal programs and public services and will undermine fundamental labor rights for all workers.

The war against federal workers and their unions has proceeded on multiple fronts during Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

First, Trump and tech multibillionaire Elon Musk, who directed the Department of Government Efficiency and refers to federal workers as a “parasitic class,” have terminated tens of thousands of probationary government employees. The New York Times reports that nearly 280,000 federal workers have been fired, taken buyouts, or seen their jobs slated for elimination.

Federal courts have ordered the reinstatement of many federal employees, finding that the mass firings violated civil service protocols and other federal employment protections. Simultaneously, lawsuits against the mass firings filed by state attorneys general and federal worker unions are moving forward in the courts. The Supreme Court will rule on these cases.

Second, in a sweeping March 27 Executive Order, Trump withdrew recognition from unions representing 1 million federal employees, citing national security concerns.

Although the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 granted federal workers the right to organize and bargain collectively, the law allows the President to exempt certain workers from national security agencies, such as the FBI and CIA.

However, workers in agencies unrelated to national security, such as Food Safety and Inspection, Environmental Protection, and Health and Human Services, are now excluded from union representation and collective bargaining.

Third, the Trump administration unilaterally voided a contract negotiated by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representing 47,000 Transportation Security Officers at the nation’s airports. Moreover, the Trump administration seeks to rescind the collective bargaining agreements covering hundreds of thousands of federal employees exempted by his March 27 Executive Order.

Federal worker unions have now filed a lawsuit claiming retaliation for opposing the mass lay-offs and attacks on their members. The lawsuit also claims the administration too broadly applied the national security exemption to federal agencies.

Many historians and labor leaders are now characterizing the Trump administration’s assault on federal workers as labor’s Pearl Harbor.  History provides clues to what will occur next.

The federal government is the nation’s largest employer, and labor relations in the public sector shape those in the private sector. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired and permanently replaced 12,000 striking air traffic controllers, inspiring a sustained anti-union offensive by private sector employers who in the 1980s broke high-profile strikes in meatpacking, mining, and newspapers. Subsequently, the number of strikes dropped to a post-war low, and union membership fell dramatically.

By discharging tens of thousands of federal workers, withdrawing union recognition, and attempting to revoke legally signed contracts, Trump has gone far beyond Reagan. This is despite the fact that 70 percent of Americans approve of unions, the highest level recorded by Gallup polling since 1965.

The worst is yet to come.

Ultimately, Trump, many of the nation’s largest corporations, and the extremist Republican Party want to overturn the National Labor Relations Act, or labor’s Magna Carta, passed in the 1930s, which ensured First Amendment freedom of association protections for most workers who organize and seek to bargain collectively.

The Trump administration understands that unions are obstacles to even higher profits for the billionaires and that unions can potentially mobilize 14 million members to oppose the emerging fascist state.

Much is at stake for the public: food and airline safety; protection for air and water quality; medical research for infectious diseases; access to national parks and to quality health care for veterans; federal emergency relief for storms, floods, and fires; and postal services are all threatened by Trump’s assault on federal workers.

Labor, in turn, needs public support. Only by building alliances with faith, civil rights, environmental, veteran, and other organizations opposing fascism; aggressively mobilizing union members to demonstrate in the streets nonviolently; and engaging members to take back the House in 2026 can labor survive this historic crisis.

Martin J. Bennett is Instructor Emeritus of History at Santa Rosa Junior College and a consultant for UNITE HERE Local 2.

LOCAL 2 ENDORSEMENTS IN CITY OF OAKLAND SPECIAL ELECTION:

• Mayor: Barbara Lee
• City Council (District 2): Kara Murray-Badal #1, Charlene Wang #2

Join Local 2 to Get Out the Vote for our endorsed candidates on Saturday, March 22 at 9am at 7750 Pardee Ln Ste 110, Oakland, CA 94621

San Francisco Hotel Strikes Conclude as Hilton Workers Vote 99.4% to Ratify New Contract

Union Says New Standard Has Been Set for SF Hotel Workers

 After 93 days on strike, Hilton hotel workers with the UNITE HERE Local 2 union in San Francisco have voted by 99.4% to approve a new union contract with affordable health care, big raises, and new workload protections.

The Hilton ratification settles the last of the city’s 2024 hotel strikes, but the union cautions that more strikes are possible in 2025. The new contract is now in place at hotels operated by Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott. The union says it will demand that San Francisco’s other full-service hotels also accept this standard.

The deal includes:

• Preserving workers’ union health insurance plan, which provides quality affordable health care for workers and their families.
  
• An immediate $3/hour wage increase and additional raises throughout the life of the contract.
  
• Increased pensions.
  
• New protections against understaffing and workload increases.
  
• Four-year term, expiring in 2028.

“These 93 days have not been easy, and I’m so proud that my coworkers and I never gave up,” said Bill Fung, a housekeeping attendant at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for 29 years. “We stood together through the rain and cold, and even though there were some hard days, it was all worth it. We will go back to work with our health care, good raises, and the confidence of knowing that when we fight, we win.”

“San Francisco hotel workers are unbreakable,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott workers refused to give up their health care or go backwards – and we proved on the picket line that we’re not afraid of a tough fight. As contract talks begin with the city’s other full-service hotels in the new year, they should know that this is the new standard they must accept for their own employees.”

The strike in San Francisco began on Sept. 22 and grew to include 2,500 workers at hotels accounting for 27.5% of the city’s hotel rooms. The new contract at Hilton covers approx. 900 workers, including 650 who had been on strike at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and 250 who had been prepared to strike at Hilton’s Parc 55 hotel.

Over 10,000 hotel workers have gone on strike in eleven cities across the U.S. since Labor Day of 2024. The San Francisco strikes are the last to conclude.

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