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Economy
SEIU Joins AFL-CIO to 'Unleash a New Era of Worker Power' as Trump 2.0 Looms
"CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Jan 09, 2025
The 2-million-member-strong Service Employees International Union announced Wednesday that it is joining the AFL-CIO, bolstering the ranks of the largest labor federation in the United States as unions prepare to fight the incoming Trump administration.
"CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they'd join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labor laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organize on the job," AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement.
With SEIU included, the unions that make up the AFL-CIO represent roughly 15 million workers across the nation.
April Verrett, SEIU's international president, said union members "are ready to unleash a new era of worker power, as millions of service and care workers unite with workers at the AFL-CIO to build our unions in every industry and every ZIP code."
"Working people have been organizing our workplaces and communities to build a stronger economy and democracy," Verrett added. "We are ready to stand up to union-busters at corporations and in government and rewrite the outdated, sexist, racist labor laws that hold us all back."
"By standing together, SEIU and the AFL-CIO are sending a powerful message to President-elect Trump and his allies who are trying to pit working people against one another."
While neither the SEIU nor the AFL-CIO mentioned President-elect Donald Trump by name in their statements announcing the move, Shuler acknowledged during an MSNBC appearance late Wednesday that organized labor is "going to be on defense, probably right away," as the Republican leader takes office and moves to stack his cabinet with lobbyists and others with deep corporate ties.
"We know that we've got to play a good defense game, but we also, as April and I have been talking about, we've got to be on offense," the AFL-CIO's president added. "Coming together is how we're more powerful and we rebalance the scales of this economy."
ICYMI: AFL-CIO President @LizShuler and @SEIUPres April Verrett joined Joy Reid to talk about our efforts to build on the labor movement’s momentum and build real worker power. pic.twitter.com/CssN8P74nT
— AFL-CIO ✊ (@AFLCIO) January 9, 2025
Trump's second term is expected to bring an assault on workers' rights much like his first four years in the White House, which saw rollbacks of safety rules, wage protections, and collective bargaining powers.
Among other steps, Trump is expected to fire worker champion Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, and nominate a pro-corporate replacement after he takes office later this month. Abruzzo has led the charge to ban anti-union captive audience meetings, and the incoming Trump administration is expected to try to reverse progress on that front and elsewhere.
Unions are also bracing for Trump's mass deportation plan. Bloombergreported Wednesday that the AFL-CIO "has been working to equip its affiliates around the country to help defend immigrant workers against potential workplace raids and mass deportation efforts once Donald Trump becomes president this month."
"The union federation is also readying rapid response plans to defend federal government employees against the Department of Government Efficiency," Bloomberg added, referring to the advisory commission set to be led by anti-union billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said Wednesday that "by standing together, SEIU and the AFL-CIO are sending a powerful message to President-elect Trump and his allies who are trying to pit working people against one another: The labor movement will not be fractured or silenced."
"Unions are a crucial part of a robust and fair economy—and SEIU's affiliation with the AFL-CIO strengthens the collective power of millions of workers, enabling them to fight more effectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions," said Shierholz. "It also amplifies labor's voice in advocating for progressive economic reforms that benefit all working families."
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Seeking 'Better Future,' Kentucky EV Battery Workers File for Election to Join UAW
"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said one worker.
Jan 08, 2025
Workers at a new electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday requesting an election to join the United Auto Workers, a union that's making a concerted effort to organize in the U.S. South.
The UAW said Wednesday that a supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK (BOSK)—a joint venture of the U.S. car manufacturer Ford and the Korean firm SK On—have backed the organizing effort, citing the need for improved safety protections as well as better pay and benefits. The plant in Glendale, Kentucky is set to begin production this year.
"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at BOSK. "The chemicals we're working with can be extremely dangerous. If something goes wrong, a massive explosion can occur. With our union, we can speak up if we see there's a problem and make sure we're keeping ourselves and the whole community safe."
According to the UAW, the Kentucky workers' NLRB petition marks "the first major filing in the South in 2025 and continues the movement of Southern autoworkers organizing with the UAW."
Andrew McLean, a logistics worker in formation at BOSK, said Wednesday that "with a union, we'll be on a level playing field with management."
"That's so important when you're getting a new plant off the ground," McLean added. "The union allows us to give honest feedback without fear of retaliation."
In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, one worker said she will be voting yes on unionization because she wants "a better future for not only myself, but future generations and everyone that works here with me."
The Washington Postnoted that, "if successful, the effort could lead to the first unionized Ford-backed EV battery venture, at a time when EV sales in the United States are picking up."
BOSK has made clear that it will fight the organizing drive. A spokesperson for the joint venture said in a statement to the Post that the union election petition is "premature" and claimed that it "puts at risk the freedom and opportunities of our current and soon-to-be-hired Kentucky team members."
The UAW said Wednesday that BOSK "has responded to the campaign by hiring anti-union consultants who are trying to block the workers from organizing."
Angela Conto, a production operator in formation at BOSK, said that "instead of listening to our safety concerns, management has been ordering people to work without proper protective equipment."
"Now they're trying to stop us from forming our union to win a strong voice for safety," said Conto. "But the strong supermajority of workers who've signed union cards shows we're going to fix what's wrong at BOSK and make it the leading manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in America."
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And the Winners of the 2024 Shkreli Awards for Worst Healthcare Profiteering Are...
"All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation," said the head of the think tank behind the awards.
Jan 07, 2025
The "winners" of the annual Shkreli Awards—named after notorious "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli and given to the 10 "worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare"—include a Texas medical school that sold body parts of deceased people without relatives' consent, an alleged multibillion-dollar catheter scam, an oncologist who subjected patients to unnecessary cancer treatments, and a "monster monopoly" insurer.
The Shkreli Awards, now in their eighth year, are given annually by the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank "advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health." A panel of 20 expert judges—who include physicians, professors, activists, and others—determine the winners.
This year's awardees are:
10: The University of North Texas Health Science Center "dissected and distributed unclaimed bodies without properly seeking consent from the deceased or their families" and supplied the parts "to medical students as well as major for-profit ventures like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson," reporting revealed.
9:
Baby tongue-tie cutting procedures are "being touted as a cure for everything from breastfeeding difficulties to sleep apnea, scoliosis, and even constipation"—despite any conclusive evidence that the procedure is effective.
8: Zynex Medical is a company facing scrutiny for its billing practices related to nerve stimulation devices used for pain management.
7: Insurance giant Cigna is under fire for billing a family nearly $100,000 for an infant's medevac flight.
6: Seven suppliers allegedly ran a multibillion-dollar urinary catheter billing scam that affected hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients.
5: Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico allegedly refused cancer treatment "to patients or demanding upfront payments, even from those with insurance."
4: Dr. Thomas C. Weiner is a Montana oncologist who allegedly "subjected a patient to unnecessary cancer treatments for over a decade," provided "disturbingly high doses of barbiturates to facilitate death in seriously ill patients, when those patients may not have actually been close to death," and "prescribed high doses of opioids to patients that did not need them." Weiner denies any wrongdoing.
3: Pharma giant Amgen was accused of pushing 960-milligram doses of its highly toxic cancer drug Lumakras, when "a lower 240mg dose offers similar efficacy with reduced toxicity"—but costs $180,000 less per patient annually at the lower dose.
2: UnitedHealth allegedly exploited "its vast physician network to maximize profits, often at the expense of patients and clinicians," including by pressuring doctors "to reduce time with patients and to practice aggressive medical coding tactics that make patients seem as sick as possible" in order to earn higher reimbursements from the federal government."
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1: Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre was accused of orchestrating "a dramatic healthcare debacle by prioritizing private equity profits over patient care" amid "debt and sale-leaseback schemes" and a bankruptcy that "left hospitals gutted, employees laid off, and communities underserved" as he reportedly walked away "with more than $250 million over the last four years as hospitals tanked."
"All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation," Lown Institute president Dr. Vikas Saini said during the award ceremony, according toThe Guardian.
"Doing these awards every year shows us that this is nothing new," he added. "We're hoping that these stories illuminate what changes are needed."
The latest Shkreli Awards came just weeks after the brazen assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth subsidiary UnitedHealthcare. Although alleged gunman Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty, his reported manifesto—which rails against insurance industry greed—resonated with people across the country and sparked discussions about the for-profit healthcare system.
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Biden DOJ Sues Major Landlords Over Algorithmic Price Fixing
"If you mess with the price of rent, be prepared to meet the DOJ on the other side of that scheme!" wrote the American Economic Liberties Project.
Jan 07, 2025
The U.S.Justice Department on Tuesday announced that it has added six landlords as defendants in an antitrust lawsuit that the agency initially filed against the real estate software company RealPage, which the DOJ accused of engaging in a price fixing scheme that allows reduced competition between landlords so they can increase rents.
At the center of the case is RealPage's "algorithmic pricing software," which generates rent price recommendations using software based on their and their rivals' "competitively sensitive information," which they submit to RealPage, according to an August statement from the Department of Justice regarding the initial complaint.
The new complaint alleges that the six companies—Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC; Blackstone's LivCor LLC; Camden Property Trust; Cushman & Wakefield Inc and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC; Willow Bridge Property Company LLC; and Cortland Management LLC—"participated in an unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing, harming millions of American renters," according to a Tuesday statement from the Department of Justice.
The landlords collectively operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and the District of Columbia, according to the agency.
The Department of Justice alleges that in addition to using RealPages's "anticompetitive pricing algorithms," the companies coordinated in a number of ways, including "communicating with competitors' senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics" and participating in "user groups" hosted by RealPage, during which landlords would discuss, for example, how to modify the software's pricing methodology and the companies' own pricing strategies.
"While Americans across the country struggled to afford housing, the landlords named in today's lawsuit shared sensitive information about rental prices and used algorithms to coordinate to keep the price of rent high," said Doha Mekki, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, in the Tuesday statement.
Two states, Illinois and Massachusetts, have also joined the suit as plaintiffs.
The American Economic Liberties Project, a group that urges government to confront corporate concentration, touted the updates to the lawsuit, writing Tuesday, "If you mess with the price of rent, be prepared to meet the DOJ on the other side of that scheme!"
Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog Accountable.US, said in a Tuesday statement that "corporate landlords like Camden Property Trust, one of the landlord companies included in today's complaint, have reaped hundreds of millions in profits while using RealPage's algorithm, and that's just the tip of the iceberg."
According to the Tuesday release from the Department of Justice, pending a consent decree which must be approved by the court, the DOJ may resolve its claims against one of the landlords, Cortland, which would then cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation and litigation.
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