Key Highlights
- Now they’re preparing to fight back. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said it was gearing up to challenge the US president’s “Billionaire First” agenda in 2026 – and drive candidates in key elections to stand up for “struggling” Americans. In an interview with the Guardian, she described how the federation has pushed to restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers, and filed lawsuits against the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken unions and worker protections.
- “People were pissed,” said Shuler. The House of Representatives passed a bill on 11 December that would restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers in response to Trump’s executive orders that stripped the rights from more than 1 million federal government employees.“It was through a lot of good old-fashioned organizing,” said Shuler, who accused the president of overseeing “the biggest attack on unions in our history” by moving to eliminate collective bargaining for federal workers. The AFL-CIO is now steeling itself for a fight to pass the bill in the Senate in January, kicking off what it likely to be another hectic year.
- The threat of another government shutdown looms at the end of January.
- The fight over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies is far from over.“We’re organizing as we speak,” said Shuler.
- “We can move actual people, in workplaces, in every city, in every state, across the country.”Affordability has come into sharp focus, with inflation still stubbornly above typical levels, and many Americans grappling with rising bills and prices.
