Airport workers continue to feel pinched as the funding for airport screening with workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) remains frozen for now over five weeks. Over 50,000 workers are in the second stretch of work without pay in the last 6 months. In fall 2025, there was a 43-day shutdown that forced workers to work for over 50 days without pay.

TSA workers are classified as “Emergency Response Officials”, so even when there is a government shutdown or funding lapse, they still have to show up to work. TSA is also on a different pay system from the rest of the federal workers that pays much less. This is by design when the agency was formed in the wake of September 11, 2001. The TSA only recently won the right to collective bargaining in court and there is legislation to pay them at the same pay system of other federal workers. These victories have been rolled back by the Trump regime as it wages its war on workers.

Over 370 workers have quit since the current shutdown began. Others have taken side work either in gig economy jobs or selling plasma just to make ends meet and pay bills. Workers are frustrated as they are being run to exhaustion with no pay. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Agency the TSA is under, has issued letters to workers asking creditors for leniency or late fees to be waived, though workers are finding those inefficient in the second shutdown as some are sleeping out of their vehicles, bank accounts overdrawn, empty pantries and refrigerators, and evictions from homes.

Airports have opened food pantries, donation centers, and are now asking travelers for donations. Officials have warned that some smaller airports “may be shut down” as about 10% of the TSA workers have failed to show for work daily.

Politicians in Congress have offered no help as both Democrats and Republicans blame each other and have put forward proposals to pay workers but no progress has been made yet. The Trump regime engages in violations of the Hatch Act by blaming the shutdown on political opponents, but offers no concrete solutions. Federal workers are barred by law from striking courtesy of Ronald Reagan firing striking air traffic controllers in the 1980s.

LUEL calls on elected officials to pay workers a fair wage during this shutdown in an industry that is important for everyone. Airports have wide-reaching effects on their local area, and slowdowns and shutdowns hurt American workers. The way forward for workers in the airline industry is to band together in a mass anti-monopoly coalition with the other airport workers, pilots, flight attendants, and others to demand the monopoly capitalists pay workers a fair and just wage even during a government shutdown. Workers must join together in mass action to put pressure on those that hold the economy and workers hostage.

The post Workers Suffer as Airports Shutter first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Workers Suffer as Airports Shutter appeared first on Labor Today.

By James Dugan

Organizing Methods in the Steel Industry by William Z. Foster offers a potent plan for organizing labor to confront not only their bosses, but Monopoly Capital. Written after Foster suffered a heart attack and received treatment in the Soviet Union; its 28 pages are an instruction manual for the resuscitation of organized labor for the establishment of industrial unionism.

Foster advises cooperation between progressive and Left-wing elements in the labor movement noting that “only these elements [ ] have the necessary vision, flexibility and courage to go forward with such an important project as the organization of the 500,000 steel workers in the face of the powerful opposition of the Steel Trust and its capitalist allies.”

Foster says “The organization movement must be industrial and national in character. That is, (a) it must include every category of workers in the steel industry, not merely a thin stratum of skilled workers at the top; and (b) the drive must be carried on energetically and simultaneously in every steel center, not simply here and there spasmodically in individual mills or steel centers.’ For workers to build a class-oriented trade union movement of an industrial character, they need to look no further than Foster’s work.

His emphasis on creating a mass movement of the steel industry, a nationally critical industry, balances comprehensive motivation with rigorous self-criticism, optimism, and determined organizational discipline. To accomplish this, Foster says, “Hard work and sobriety are basic essentials for success. Chair-warmers and irresponsibles should be made to feel unwelcome in the organizing crew.”

Foster’s plan includes specific tactics for outreach members of racial and ethnic groups, youth and women. Foster suggests how an Amalgamated Association (A.A.) or mass organization could be constituted using demonstration, print, and broadcast. Foster posits that this should be balanced with focused interpersonal and relational work for developing and defending the members and organization.

His strategy’s hallmark is its inclusivity and remarkable efficiency.  Foster is thoroughly defensive of the membership and its work of uniting each of society’s layers of preexisting strata, forming the A.A. from the matrix his plan forms within these. This plan integrates his era’s primary social institutions including fraternity and church, to form the platform and to give physical space from which to mount the overall effort.

Industrial unionism gathers membership by forming flexible alliances, overlaid by a firm organizational structure focused on growing the union at every level, industry wide. Rank and file members need to be empowered to actively recruit members and build the union. His methodology offers the most capable means for workers to defeat the trustified industries.

The post Organized Steel Defends Workers and Democracy first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Organized Steel Defends Workers and Democracy appeared first on Labor Today.

By James Dugan

The working class is misinformed. The state’s “official” information is suspect. Workers are responsible for calling them out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) “unemployment rate” is widely accepted as the standard measurement of unemployed Americans at any given time, but it’s not what you think it is. It is not the number of people filing for unemployment, as many assume. Instead, it is a composite figure based on a monthly poll of 60,000 households, taken by the Census Bureau.

Poll respondents are asked scripted questions, and their answers are tabulated into categories which somewhat overlap and are used by the BLS for its “calculation”. The BLS creates the statistic in this way, “because that’s how it’s always been done” according to one BLS source. The truth is, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t measure the joblessness rate but it does conceal systemic racism and an economy in steep decline.

Instead of the false BLS figures, workers should refer to a valid source of information. One such source is the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) True Rate of Unemployment (TRU) report. While the BLS reports 4.4% unemployment, the TRU reports 24.9%.

The BLS unemployment rate ignores incarcerated unemployed workers who outnumber white workers 5:1. As this economy continues to devastate these workers, predominantly male blacks and Hispanics, the official reporting is that “all is well”. By excluding nearly 2 million locked up Americans from the official count, the real economic conditions of the working class never come to light. The TRU unemployment rate accounts for the vast numbers of nominally employed make up today’s working class. The TRU rate, by including the incarcerated sector of unemployed workers, highlights these as the most segregated sector of the working class. The racial disparities dividing workers are staggering, but the BLS would have the working class remain ignorant.

According to the TRU, fully one quarter of the American working class straddles financial catastrophe, despite having a job. This sort of worker, known as the “functionally unemployed” are defined as workers who “don’t have a full-time job but want one, or have no job, or do not earn a living wage, conservatively pegged at $26,000 (in 2025 dollars) annually before taxes”.

The BLS unemployment rate hides prisoner unemployment to dress-up the racist American economy as racially neutral. Black men are disproportionately imprisoned in the U.S. and the BLS conceals that they’re also disproportionately unemployed. Workers should question the so-called facts, call out the lying monopolists, their cronies in office and corporate media, and use scientific means to describe their conditions.

Workers should consider their situation carefully in the United States, where the government hides the unemployed in prisons and incarcerates the highest percentage of its population in the world.

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The post Bureau of Labor Statistics Hides Racist, Lagging Economy appeared first on Labor Today.

These large facilities now occupy three percent of total county land and a full forty percent of the county budget but while the industry has been booming, local residents have suffered. Wholesale electricity costs have been driven up more than two-hundred and fifty percent in the last five years alone.

In a 2025 report from Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review it has been revealed that in the previous year, the state of Virginia lost more than a billion dollars to its sales and use tax exemptions for data centers, compared to all other state incentive programs which cost the state a combined two hundred and thirty five million dollars. Meanwhile, as of 2024, data center tax breaks make up more than eighty one percent of of all Virginia state incentive costs.

In the areas surrounding the newly constructed data centers the constant humming of the giant computer systems has become loud enough to scare away the local wildlife. In a statement to the BBC, Loudoun resident Greg Pirio laments “There are no birds around here anymore.”

The Virginia House and Senate passed a bill this year intended to regulate private sector AI use and development but it was vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, leaving Loudoun residents vulnerable and without redress. As one Loudoun resident said to the BBC “I never thought that a data center would be built across the street from my house. I would not have bought this house if I had known what was going in across the street.”

The post Rapid Data Center Construction Results in Electricity Price Increase first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Rapid Data Center Construction Results in Electricity Price Increase appeared first on Labor Today.

On January 23, 2026, in negative temperatures, thousands of Minnesotans turned out in Minneapolis for a strike to protest the current administration’s policies. Multiple businesses across the city and state were also shut down in solidarity with the protests. At the same time of the protests downtown, another protest broke out at the Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) airport as airport workers and clergy shut down the airport for a time to protest in solidarity. Over 100 clergy members were arrested.

On January 15, 2026, the Minnesota Regional Labor Council endorsed the action, calling it, “A Day of Truth and Freedom”. This was significant as the Minnesota Regional Labor Federal is composed of over 175 unions with 80,000+ members. The Minnesota AFL-CIO followed suit in endorsement. Many local unions did not call this action a “strike” though citing contracts that forbid striking. Many on the street called it a general strike and brought up parallels to the 1934 General Strike in Minneapolis.

The buildup to this was long time in coming. Since last year, federal agents had been conducting raids and harassing workers. On January 17, 2026, agents shot legal observer Renee Good as she was driving away. Federal agents had begun targeting ethnic communities around the country. As of writing of this article, on January 24, 2026, federal agents have shot another legal observer on the street that was being held down by multiple agents.

Other cities followed suit to the strike on Friday, with solidarity strikes and protests in Philadelphia, New York, Oakland, and other cities. The strikes appear to have the form of a pre-democratic labor front that is necessary to combat fascism and monopoly capitalism.

Even with the overwhelming support for the strike, some business union leaders pushed against it. There were reports of a local Teamsters union distributing flyers stating anyone who joined in the strike would be in breach of contract. Large businesses that have contracts and cooperate with the federal government, like Target, 3M, Best Buy, and Delta Airlines have stated nothing on the strike. The silence of the corporations echoes more loudly with Target stores being used as staging ground for ICE raids even as one Target made national news on January 13, 2026, when ICE kidnapped two workers from a Roseville, MN Target store.

LUEL is closing following this developing situation. LUEL calls on labor to unite with progressive groups and other civic groups to build an anti-monopoly coalition. Only then can labor develop into a fighting force that can combat the rising fascism brought on monopoly capitalism.

The post Minnesota Labor Walks Out in Mass Strike! first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Minnesota Labor Walks Out in Mass Strike! appeared first on Labor Today.

We remember with horror US President James Monroe’s doctrine which declared that South America was the domain of the United States. The US government’s decision was done without the consent of any other South American government. Recently, President Trump’s America has repeatedly used this doctrine to justify foreign invasions, coups, piracy, and assassinations across the western hemisphere. The US has toppled democratic left governments in Peru, Chile, and Bolivia, and installed puppet right wing dictators. As during the period of the Monroe Doctrine these installed dictators served the interest of US multi-national corporations; crushing unions, restricting labor laws, and denying basic human rights to their people.

As international trade unionists we remember the example of the 1954 US military intervention in Guatemala where the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a CIA coup to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company of America.

Today it is Venezuela who faces the guns of the US Empire, if we do not unite in international solidarity, it may be us tomorrow. An injury to one is an injury to all.

In conclusion, Labor United Educational League calls upon all trade unions, progressive organizations, and peace-loving people across the globe to stand unequivocally in solidarity with the Venezuelan people. Our solidarity must be active and material: we demand the immediate and unconditional release of President Nicolas Maduro, an end to the economic sanctions against Venezuela and the return of all confiscated oil tankers to the Bolivarian government of Venezuela. No more coups, no more invasions, no more kidnappings, no blood for oil for US corporations. Hands Off Venezuela!

The post Labor United Educational League Denounces the Kidnapping of Maduro first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Labor United Educational League Denounces the Kidnapping of Maduro appeared first on Labor Today.

We earnestly request that all organizations worldwide—political, social, labor, governmental, and the general public—publicly and categorically reject the military aggression we suffered in the early hours of today, January 3, 2026, at the hands of the United States. We remain steadfast in our struggle; we will not rest until we overcome this abhorrent threat of foreign invasion. The people of Bolívar and Chávez remain steadfast in their struggle; we will not surrender or give in.

This attack only confirms what we have been denouncing to the world: this is not a fight against drug trafficking or terrorism; it is the most pestilent greed of a decadent empire desperately seeking to maintain its dying hegemony, its fangs drooling as it tries to deliver the final blow by seizing our strategic natural and energy resources, which we will defend with our very lives if necessary. At this hour (11:30 am) on January 3, 2026, our homeland is calm; however, we are organizing and preparing to face any event of this nature that may occur in the coming hours, days, weeks, etc. We expect your solidarity, mobilization, and international support so that, with renewed determination, we can continue fighting the most genocidal empire in the history of humankind.

Remember, today it is us, tomorrow it could be any other nation on the planet. In light of the foregoing, we categorically and unequivocally reiterate our support for the Revolutionary Socialist Government, led by the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Worker Commander, Nicolás Maduro Moros.

UNITED WE WILL WIN.
ONWARD TO VICTORY, ALWAYS.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOLIVARIAN NATIONAL UNION OF POSTAL WORKERS OF VENEZUELA (SINBTRAPOSTAL-VENEZUELA).

The post Statement from the Bolivarian National Union of Postal Workers of Venezuela on US Attacks on Venezuelan Sovereignty first appeared on Labor Today.

The post Statement from the Bolivarian National Union of Postal Workers of Venezuela on US Attacks on Venezuelan Sovereignty appeared first on Labor Today.

In solidarity,
Labor United Educational League

The post LUEL Becomes An Associate Of The FISE/WFTU first appeared on Labor Today.

The post LUEL Becomes An Associate Of The FISE/WFTU appeared first on Labor Today.

In September, SMART-TD, the largest rail union, reversed its opposition to the merger after a job protection agreement was reached with Union Pacific that promised job security for all its members working in train and yardmaster service for their entire careers if the merger goes through. This is the first time a union has supported a major Class I merger of this size.

RWU’s response mentioned that SMART-TD in an earlier statement warned: “We approach this development with measured skepticism rooted in the real-world impact such consolidation could have on rail workers, safety, service quality, and the long-term health of the freight rail industry.”

Their later statement, which reversed its opposition, did not mention how these promises would be enforced. This is a concern of not only RWU but many railroad workers, as past mergers have shown, corporations – including rail companies – often make empty promises to justify and build support for illegal mergers.

Rail consolidation results in job loss, diminishing labor power in negotiating better working conditions and pay, resulting in staffing shortages that lead to burn out and increased safety risks for workers and the public. And in general, consolidation results in stagnant and reduced wages for workers, as there are fewer buyers for labor and greater leverage for the consolidated companies.

This agreement may end up like those in the past which often forced workers to move to different regions of the country or felt unfulfilled by their new duties.There is nothing to protect jobs from being moved – particularly if this deal leads to even further consolidation.

Union Pacific’s History of Lying to Their Workers

The United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers endorsed

The 1996 merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific to protect 2,500 workers. However, this agreement did not prevent job losses, as the company ultimately laid off or moved thousands of employees across the country the same month the merger was finalized.

Any job guarantee from Union Pacific in particular rings hollow, as Union Pacific began rapidly laying off or furloughing workers in 2023, once again choosing to “prioritize cost-cutting measures over ensuring safe operations, jeopardizing the well-being of both [Union Pacific’s] workers and the public,” alone among the Class I companies. At the same time, the company returned money to investors, paying over $3 billion in dividends and stock buybacks of over $700 million.

What are other Railroad Unions Saying?

Because of these harms, several major labor unions oppose the merger. The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), which represents many Norfolk Southern employees, has come out strongly against the merger, citing Union Pacific’s troubling record with skirting safety standards and record of cost-cutting layoffs, even relative to other railroads.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED), which represents workers who build and maintain tracks, bridges, buildings, and other infrastructure on railroads, also opposes this merger. BMWED rejected a proposed agreement with Union Pacific to support the merger, as the proposed deal did not do enough to protect workers. President Tony Cardwell stated that the union would “vehemently deny [the merger]” and work with the White House to block it.

Railroad Workers United on UP-NS Merger

RWU continues to lead the fight against the merger joining railroad and non-railroad trade unions, shippers, customers, environmental advocacy groups, and other railroads. RWU opposes “this merger as well as any and all takeovers, mergers, or other combinations of the remaining Class One railroads…” as rail mergers result in service disruption, inefficiencies, staffing shortages and exhausted workers.

They pointed to the negative effects of past Class I rail mergers. Class I railroads are the largest, with yearly revenue over $1 billion. The U.S. rail industry has been consolidating for decades. In 1980, there were more than 30 Class I freight rail carriers, but now there are only six.

“It will not in any way help mitigate safety concerns,” Alex Nantell, a signal maintenance worker for Union Pacific in Portland and a member of Railroad Workers United. “It will not in any way help out with workforce retention, or having ‘good American jobs.’ And it’ll give the railroads, which already have an inordinate amount of power, significantly more power.”

RWU in their statement said that if rail unions had “developed a joint position opposing a merger that offers no clear benefits to workers” in a coordinated bargaining agreement that all unions, including SMART-TD, would come out in a better position. “The union [SMART-TD] did not poll its membership, disclose the agreement, or provide any mechanism for members to approve or reject it. A merger of this scale, with profound implications for workers, demands democratic oversight. Rank-and-file members deserve a vote, just as they would on any major contract.”

This Merger Would Hurt ALL Workers

Since deregulation of the industry and the mergers that followed, monopoly power has made the industry difficult for railroad workers given its concern with financial performance and metrics rather than operational reliability and sustainable working conditions. With competition gutted, other industries will face new consequences from a newly formed UP/NS railroad making shipping costs for farmers, manufacturers, and energy producers higher.

Labor Today endorses RWU and their efforts to prevent the UP/NS merger. If you work in a railroad consider joining RWU. If you are like Labor Today and concerned with the corporate takeover over the railroads consider supporting them as a solidarity member. We need a rail system that delivers for all Americans under one union that represents all the workers of the railroad industry.

Sources

RWU Responds to Latest Fratricide in Rail Labor 11-24-2025

https://www.economicliberties.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-09-30-AELP-Railroad-Brief.pdf

https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/oppose-rail-mega-mergers

The post RWU Lambasts Biggest Railroad Union on its Support for Merger first appeared on Labor Today.

The post RWU Lambasts Biggest Railroad Union on its Support for Merger appeared first on Labor Today.

Allina Health care and the Doctors Council SEIU had been engaged in contract negotiations for 20 months. The Doctors Council SEIU Union represents 600 physicians, physician assistants, and Nurse Practitioners. Allina operates 12 hospital campuses, over 60 primary clinics and 20 urgent care centers and employs 27,865 care team members. 

“Unionizing gives me and my colleagues a voice in our workplace, control over our lives, and the ability to advocate for our patients. The future of medicine depends on doctors working together in unions to stand up for ourselves and to advocate for our patients.” Said Dr. Matt Hoffman, of Vadnais Heights, MN.  

The union, formed in October 2023, has been negotiated for a contract with Allina ever since it’s certification. The United Doctor’s Council and Allina were unable to agree on standards for safe staffing at clinics and staff compensation, which the workers consider “basic contract items like healthcare, retirement and sick leave” Allina Health representatives claim the dispute centers on “significant compensation increases and extreme benefits proposals”.  

The Minnesota Reformer’s Allyssa Chen reports that pediatrician Arnold London, 77, “never imagined he would be on a picket line until recently”, thanks to worsening conditions in lab services and staffing levels. 

Chen reported that Allina Health responded to the strike by saying “it would be irresponsible for either party to agree to a contract that adds significant new expenses that will undermine access and increase costs to those who pay for care,”. Chen cites Allina Health representatives who justified leaving the bargaining table over increased costs and anticipated funding cuts. The next bargaining session is scheduled for early December. 

Labor Today will follow up for more information in the future.

The post Largest Strike of Union Doctors first appeared on Labor Today.

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