Trump Spent 2025 Attacking Workers, But the Labor Movement is Fighting Back!

Leslie is joined by Jody Calemine, Director of Advocacy for the 63 Unions and 15 million members of the AFL-CIO. The two review President Trump's first year of his second term, and how it's been filled with relentless attacks on workers during his pursuit of 'Project 2025.' However, they also discuss how the labor movement is fighting back, and winning! The administration: committed the single biggest-act of union-busting in history,  launched a brutal assault on immigrants and communities across the country, ripped health care from millions, made billionaires richer and corporations more powerful, moved to unleash untested AI technology, And dismantled government agencies that provide essential services.  President Trump promised to “make America affordable again,” but instead, he spent a year driving up costs, holding down wages and letting jobs disappear—including jobs that would keep energy bills from skyrocketing.  But in the face of relentless attacks on our livelihoods and freedoms, workers are turning to unions to fight back. And we’re winning.  In December we saw the first sprouts of victory when a bipartisan group of lawmakers canceled votes on the SCORE Act, succumbing to pressure after months of organizing from the labor movement. Then before the year ended, a group of bipartisan lawmakers passed a discharge petition advancing one of labor's top priorities: restoring federal workers collective bargaining rights. At the beginning of 2026, we saw lawmakers in the house rally around an extension of the ACA tax credits and a band of Republicans come together to sink a series of anti-worker labor bills. The website for the AFL-CIO is AFLCIO.org and their handle on Blue Sky is @AFLCIO.org. Their handle on Facebook, Instagram and X is @AFLCIO.  Jody's handle on Blue Sky is @guerino.bsky.social.