Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are tracking a brewing fight within the labor movement about tariffs.
UAW President Backs Trump Tariffs In Split with Labor
Most of organized labor has been opposed to Trump’s tariffs. The Machinists and the Steelworkers have opposed the tariffs.
Both unions, which have large memberships in Canada, denounced heavily that the tariffs were applied to Canada.
“This is a serious escalation in an unnecessary trade war with a trusted ally, and jobs and communities on both sides of the border hang in the balance,” said USW International President David McCall. “USW members across North America work together. We also fight together. And when it comes to beating back ill-advised trade policy that hurts us all, we will win together.”
However, today, UAW President Shawn Fain, whose union has no major units in Canada, broke with the majority of the labor movement and supported the tariffs.
“The election is over. Donald Trump is the president, and we want to get to work to fix the problems that are wrong with this country, with our economy,” Fain told CNBC on Tuesday. “And the American people expect that. They expect leaders to stand up and lead. They don’t expect us to sit back.”
The break with the rest of the labor movement on praising Trump, raised eyebrows, particularly since Fain had previously called Trump a “scab.” Even major automakers have opposed the tariffs.
So many begun to wonder, why
Currently, the UAW is under the federal supervision of Neil Barofsky through the Department of Justice. Fain, himself, is being investigated for the demotion of his Secretary-Treasurer, who raised questions about financial impropriety within the union.
For more on the investigation, check out our longform “UAW Federal Monitor Investigates Fain’s Purge of Top Allies While Convicted Felon Steers UAW Legal”.
Trump to Fire Half the Department of Education
Earlier today, the Trump Administration announced that they intended to fire half the Department of Education in what is being labeled as a permanent “reduction in force.”
AFT President Randi Weingarten writing in an op-ed for MSNBC warned that cutting the department in half would have adverse effects:
According to its 2025 fiscal year budget summary, department grants help close to 26 million children from poor families get extra support to reach their full potential.
It helps meet the individual needs of around 7.5 million children with disabilities. It provided tens of millions to help the over 5 million English learners in U.S. classrooms improve their proficiency and assimilate into our communities. And it provided nearly 9 million students with the financial aid they need to attend college or trade programs, including work-study programs.
Why would anyone allow Elon Musk to steal that money, which Congress appropriated for children, to pay for tax breaks for the rich and corporations?
Indeed, much of the department’s total annual budget helps Americans trying to secure a college education. Why does Trump want to make it even harder for the children of low-income and middle-class families to cover skyrocketing college and university costs?
Sara Nelson Calls for General Strike
While UAW President Shawn Fain praised Trump, Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson called for a general strike. (Fain has called for unions to organize for a general strike in 2028 when the Big Three contract expires, but has so far avoided calls for a general strike now).
Nelson’s comments calling for a General Strike came after Trump announced on Friday that he was stripping 47,000 Transportation Security Administration workers of collective bargaining rights.
“[We have] very few options but to join together to organize for a general strike,” Nelson told “What’s Going On?” host Bob Hennelly this week. “What we have to understand is the people in charge, the people doing this, are doing this to make the federal workforce miserable—to make us all miserable and demoralized, and shrink into our own space—to inspire scarcity and competition among workers so that we don’t rise up together to stop them.”
To listen to the full interview, go to Work Bites.
Help Cover 1 Million Immigrants Striking on May Day
More than a million people are expected to participate in the “Day Without Immigrants” strike on May 1st. Efforts are underway to prepare for these strikes, but they are getting little attention in the mainstream media.
While Payday Report tracked smaller “Day Without Immigrants” strikes in 120 cities and 40 states in early February, neither The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, or any of the big three media networks did.
Much like how Payday helped to change the narrative about nontraditional walkouts during the pandemic, our strike tracking is helping build momentum for this massive May Day strike. The Washington Post credited Payday Report for changing the narrative on the pandemic strike wave,and we hope to do the same with the coming wave this May.
Donate to help us cover the growing movement for May Day Strike. Please, if you can, sign up as one of our recurring donors today.
Trump to Label Tesla Protestors as "Domestic Terrorists"
With Elon Musk playing a key role as Trump’s right-hand man, protestors have begun demonstrating at Tesla dealerships around the country.
As Tesla stock tumbles, Trump stood in front of a Tesla parked in front of the White House today and urged his backers to go out and buy them.
Trump also pledged to label as “domestic terrorists” Tesla protestors who engaged in acts of civil disobedience or vandalism.
"Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we're going to catch you, and ... you're going to go through hell,” Trump said at the White House today.
NIH Researchers Unlikely to Get Hired in Another Field
Finally, many NIH researchers are unlikely to get hired in other roles, given the specificity of their jobs. From Fortune:
“I spent 20 years getting this job, and now I’m going to have to figure out how to do something else,” one fired NIH biologist, who wished to remain anonymous as she tries to get her position reinstated, told Fortune.
The NIH did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
U.S. private employers added 77,000 jobs in February, according to ADP, the smallest gain since July of last year and nearly half of the 148,000 jobs expected last month.
As private-sector job opportunities take a hit, NIH workers aren’t convinced they’d find a job there anyway. NIH labs are often bespoke to their founding principal investigator (PI), meaning there are not one-to-one equivalent positions in the public and private sectors, according to one anonymous NIH employee, working in a lab developing brain-computer interfaces. The employee’s identity is known to Fortune.
“This job doesn’t exist in the private sector,” she told Fortune.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- Voters concerned about economic effects of U.S. Forest Service and National Parks layoffs, poll finds
- Delta is seeing a massive spike in workers calling in sick amid hardball anti-union tactics
- Border czar on Columbia arrest: ‘Absolutely we can’ deport an immigrant with a green card
- Workers have begun removing the 'Black Lives Matter' street mural in D.C.
- Finally, German union workers at all US bases in Rheinland-Pfalz to hold daylong walkout Wednesday
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, story ideas, comments and complaints to melk@paydayreport.com
Donate to help us cover the movement for a general strike. Please, if you can, sign up as one of our recurring donors today.
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
