Pushback 103: A Great Mystery

As you know, most of my posts are just links, harvested from the internet to give you a quick reminder that all is not lost. Occasionally, I will create more in-depth content, such as my Resource Guide and My Blueprint for Saving Democracy. Today, I want to dive into some light forensic research on a question that has been bothering me and others: What is the labor movement doing about the attack on unions and democracy?

I've worked in or adjacent to the Labor Movement for almost 30 years, and it's been in a steady decline for that entire time. Over the years, there have been efforts to revive it, including a revolt in the AFL-CIO that led to the creation of Change to Win, an alternate labor consortium supposedly dedicated to workplace organizing as its first principle, and a grassroots organizing movement that led to the Amazon and Starbucks campaigns. We've also seen a few meager attempts at legislative reform of labor law (CHOICE Act and PRO Act). None of this has reversed the slide.

Now, the Trump administration is moving quickly to dismantle the last stronghold of union density by repudiating the collective bargaining agreements of over a million federal workers. The last dregs of the labor movement are circling the drain. This is an existential threat to the unions. They must be gathering forces to fight this threat with every last vestige of their power, right?

I thought I'd take a moment to report on my efforts to figure out what exactly unions are planning to do to respond to this crisis of authoritarianism. To be clear, I'm not a journalist. I'm just someone who is knowledgeable about the structure and language of union campaign strategy but is no longer immersed in the actual governance and decision-making of those organizations. I wanted to see if I could discern a PLAN – or even a process or discussion that might be underway about creating a plan – for fighting in the war on the working class that is currently being waged.

I figured I would start at the top. On August 27, the AFL-CIO released the following statement, which summarized a speech by President Liz Shuler: AFL-CIO President: ‘The State of Our Unions Is Under Attack and Fighting Back’. The gist of the speech was to share the stories of veteran government employees who have lost their jobs, discuss recent polling that indicates that trust in unions has never been higher, and to announce the beginning of "Labor Week." The following day, there was another press release summarizing another speech: AFL-CIO Blasts New Trump Administration Union-Busting Executive Order Issued Ahead of Labor Day.

Publicly, that's all I can find from the largest labor organization in the US.

Change to Win, founded in 2005 as an alternative and more militant labor organization, dissolved after 2010, when several of the affiliated unions either left or returned to the AFL-CIO. The remaining unions (Service Employees International Union, Communication Workers of America, and United Farm Workers) re-organized as the Strategic Organizing Center. They've provided some material support to Starbucks and Amazon campaigns and have focused on organizing in the South. As of today, their last public statement was on August 19, 2025, and it concerned cuts to Social Security. They are hiring a Strategic Campaigns Director for their New York and DC offices. Since the posting is still up, I'll assume that even if it's filled on Monday, that person won't have a "strategic campaign" launched for at least (optimistically) one to three months. In this administration, that's a lifetime.

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee held an organizing conference in June. No word yet on whether the master plan to save the labor movement was hatched ten weeks ago. I think we would have heard.

I'm not the first - and I'm certainly not the most eloquent - to point out the massive crisis we face. Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan wrote about Three Crises of Labor in his newsletter How Things Work, demonstrating that the attack on labor preceded the Trump administration. Other organizations are sounding the alarm. The Economic Policy Institute notes that Trump is the Biggest Union Buster in American History. The Real News Network (I don't know what that is) reported Unions face extinction under Trump. Is labor fighting back?

On Labor Day, SEIU and other unions championed the "Workers over Billionaires" March and launched "Solidarity Season." News of Solidarity Season on the SEIU Facebook has 75 likes. CWA launched Accountability August but announced it on September 4.

One of the most discernible strategies underway is litigation to protect workers. Here's some news about lawsuits meant to protect workers. American Federation of Government Employees: Summary of AFGE Lawsuits against Trump & How Litigation Works. Just Security's Trump Litigation Tracker, which tracks lawsuits against executive orders, now allows you to search by subject, including those concerning Governmental Structure/Personnel, many of which concern attacks on federal workers. I spoke yesterday to a CFPB attorney who is a member of NTEU who spoke highly of his union's litigation efforts, but that story is simply not being shared publicly by his union.

Okay, so we've got some litigation. But unions have other assets besides legal theories. According to Radish Research, in 2022, Unions had more than $32 billion in assets, which was an increase of 147% since 2010. Meanwhile, union membership in that time period decreased 2%.

Unions don't just have financial assets; they have organizational infrastructure that includes media and communications experts, political consultants, geographical scope, diffused power structures, and millions of members. I'm going to keep looking for evidence that it is being marshalled to fight the Trump administration in a more organized fashion. I may even share another blueprint of my own. Until then, if you see evidence that labor is mobilizing nationally, let me know.....