The MeidasTouch Podcast
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on Fighting Back Against Trump's Attacks On Workers
Sat, 05 Apr 2025
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Trump voters who want their vote back. Meiselas interviews AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Meiselas plays a clip from the latest video release by a More Perfect Union. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why are some Trump voters regretting their decision?
We are hearing a lot of stories like this and credit to More Perfect Union for capturing this one of these Trump voters who are either deeply regretting the vote that they made now that they're seeing their union rights absolutely gutted or. I'm just feeling very concerned and alarmed right now and really don't know what to do, feeling betrayed and confused. I just want to share this with you.
Go watch the full video and more perfect union release, because I think they highlight this issue about the Trump regime tearing up the union contract covering forty seven thousand TSA workers. But that's a story that the Trump regime has repeated writ large across federal unions generally. invoking national defense and other warlike powers to union bust, gut unions. Here, listen to this story.
It's an interesting one. And then we're going to bring in a special guest.
I'm not going to lie. I like some of Trump's policies, and that's the reason why I voted for him. But did I know it was going to threaten America, the America that I keep safe every day?
Bobby, a former Marine, has worked as a TSA baggage officer at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport for nearly 15 years.
I've seen everything in a bag from dead gerbils in a bag to a kitchen sink. You name it, I've seen it. I've opened a bag where it was a garbage bag and there was meat full of maggots. As a passenger, you want those maggots getting loose under the plane and getting in your bag? What I like about my job is I protect America. You know, I love protecting America.
I love the people that I interact with, you know, because I'm a people person. People think it's a benign job, but it's an important job. If I have any suspicion at all, I check that bag because lives are at stake. It's not just a bag. That bag represents a life. What this current administration has done, and they literally took away our bargaining rights.
We signed a seven-year contract in good faith. They think the union's a bad thing. We're not telling them how to do their job. We're just making our life more comfortable, and they can concentrate on the security of people.
a tragic story and it's a story that's being repeated millions of americans union members are are feeling that workers across the country are feeling that watch the full video by the way by more perfect union they did a really great job there let's bring in liz schuler president of afl cio i'm sure you're hearing These stories a lot as well.
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Chapter 2: How has Trump's administration impacted union rights?
says 20% of Doge's health agency job cuts were, quote, mistakes. around a fifth of the 10,000 jobs cut from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were done in error and need to be corrected. I mean, you're talking about 10,000 people losing their jobs and they're saying now these are human beings who have given their life
to work jobs who just want fair pay and to be treated with dignity. And then it's like, like, oopsies, oopsies. Have you ever say you've been leading this union and you've been in the labor movement for a while? Have you ever seen anything like this?
I've never seen anything like it. It is absolutely appalling and offensive to think about what the carelessness with which they're approaching this, because I think about what you were just saying about those workers at HHS, and these are the people we're relying on who are making sure that children are given the health care that they need.
I mean, these are the services that people rely on on a daily basis that are taken for granted. And our union workers who work inside those agencies have been able to have a voice and speak out when they see something go wrong and not have to fear being fired in the past because they had a union contract.
And that's why this action of last Thursday was so, so offensive where President Trump, basically with the stroke of a pen, took away the collective bargaining agreements of 700,000 union workers. And the TSA worker at the beginning referenced this. TSA was separate and a precursor to that.
But then they just went whole hog across the entire government and just basically canceled legally binding collective bargaining agreements that were negotiated in good faith. And to cancel someone's rights like that is a slippery slope. And for those out there listening who say, oh, wow, you know, it sucks to be a federal worker. They're coming after you next.
This is essentially a beta test for how far they can go. Next will be, you know, rippling out over the public sector at the state and local level and then on to the private sector.
So the strategy is litigation. Strategy is rallying people publicly. The strategy is building coalitions with other unions. The strategy also that I'm seeing AFL-CIO promote, protests, peaceful protests out and about. I saw the post. We're covering this here all weekend, the April 5th hands-off. I saw a repost from AFL-CIO about that event right there.
Can you talk to us about that, mobilizing people to peacefully protest? And is that going to be part of a bigger strategy that you think may need to ramp up?
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