The following was presented by the CPUSA’s Labor Commission to its February 2nd NC meeting.
The labor movement in 2024 showed signs of strength with new organizing efforts and record popularity, despite low union density. Looking ahead to 2025, key organizing campaigns include the UAW’s push to organize auto manufacturing and battery plants in the South, the Teamster’s aggressive push to unionize Amazon, multiple drives at Delta Air Lines, and efforts to organize new tech manufacturing facilities and battery plants.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) dockworkers’ strike, while resolved, demonstrates the ongoing struggle against automation. Educators and federal workers are also at the forefront of labor battles, defending the very existence of public services and education itself. Tens of thousands of healthcare workers across the country are facing contract negotiations and potential strikes which will further cement the failures of our “for-profit” healthcare system.
Unions across various industries are strategically aligning their contract expiration dates to maximize bargaining power and potentially coordinate strikes for May Day 2028. This includes the auto workers, teachers, hospitality workers, and others. Our Party collectives should begin thinking about joining May Day committees in their area or initiating them with labor support where there aren’t any yet – with care given to ensure that these committees are labor-led.
UFCW grocery store workers at Kroger and Albertsons are preparing themselves for coordinated bargaining, which was previously unheard of in that union. Flight attendants at major airlines have voted to strike, demanding raises and “boarding pay” for pre-flight work. There are multiple drives at Delta Air Lines seeking to organize 55,000 workers under a coalition of unions including the AFA-CWA, Teamsters, and Machinists. Our postal workers are energized: the NALC is experiencing a rank-and-file upsurge over a bad contract proposal and it was overwhelmingly rejected. The APWU is still without a contract at USPS.
In a new initiative, our Organizational Department and the Labor Commission are collaborating to prepare clubs and districts for potential large-scale strikes. We’ve developed a template for club and district leaders to use and are exploring new organizing technology to enhance our capabilities. This will enable us to coordinate our support and Party participation more effectively and better measure our strengths and shortcomings.
Big Business divides and conquers
Trump’s presidency raises serious concerns for the labor movement, and indeed the entire working class. The administration is expected to target the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and potentially even the National Labor Relations Act, in order to gut worker protections and make union organizing more difficult. Beyond these direct attacks, Trump’s anti-immigrant policies are a threat to the entire labor movement, aiming to divide and weaken our power.
Trump’s victory poses a significant threat to the working class, particularly undocumented workers, who face deportation and attacks on their human rights. However, unions and workers’ centers are responding: they are organizing, providing legal assistance, and political education to protect undocumented workers and ensure their rights are respected.
The AFL-CIO recently published a Frontline Solidarity toolkit to address the upcoming crisis and are holding Know Your Rights training weekly. But more can be done on this front – including garnering support among the rank-and-file on the shop floors. Our trade union members should continue to organize immigrant workers and counter Big Business attempts to intimidate them with false claims about their rights. The struggle to defend immigrant workers and combat fear in the workplace will ultimately aid in improving working conditions for all workers.
The trade union movement must be prepared to fight for the rights of the working class, even if the companies disregard legal rules, the Trump administration guts the NLRB, or appoints big-business friendly agents to the board. The Trump administration plans to reinterpret and restrict labor law which will weaken protections for workers and strengthen monopoly power.
They are likely to reverse pro-worker rulings from the NLRB, including the national ban on captive audience meetings and the recognition of graduate workers at private universities. Companies like Amazon, SpaceX, and Trader Joes are arguing that NLRB enforcement of labor law is unconstitutional, aiming to neutralize labor law enforcement.
Elon Musk, the billionaire appointed to lead the so-called “department of government efficiency”, is expected to target the federal workforce and programs. They aim to eliminate federal jobs, cut regulations, and reduce social services in the service of monopoly capital. Unions such as the AFT, AFGE, and AFSCME are now leading the fight to challenge the anti-worker proposals and file charges in court against them.
We can fight back against fascism’s assault
The labor movement plays a special role in building the independent, multi-racial, multi-gender working-class movement. It has a rich history of fighting against exploitation, oppression, fascism, and political repression. Union membership is proven to promote more progressive views on the economy, race, gender, and other democratic issues.
The trade union movement can combine defensive tactics against Trump’s attacks with an offensive contract and organizing campaign to bring our class into motion. For example, teachers unions, like UTLA and CTU, developed contract proposals for the common good, including immigrant defense initiatives, ending racist student searches and stop-and-frisk policies, and promoting affordable housing. And international solidarity remains foundational to our movement and key to fight against Trump’s racist attacks on immigrants and protectionist trade policies — all workers have the same fundamental class interests everywhere, regardless of country.
Our main task is to increase our effectiveness in connecting with grassroots workers in order to draw them into struggle and promote rank-and-file activity. Our success here will serve to expand the base for political and economic democracy more broadly, reinforce the defense of democratic rights, and strengthen the labor-led coalitions against the threat of fascism.
The Communist Party Labor Commission has been taking active steps to implement the Party’s workplace concentration policy coming out of our 32nd National Convention. In sum, our workplace concentration policy is:
The process of winning over workers and community members in the places where we already live and work, drawing these allies into more active class struggle, and building out from these strong points of worker organization.
For example, we have established subcommittees in sectors where we are already present: the building trades, public education, service workers, the South, and soon to be healthcare and logistics. These subcommittees are taking concrete steps to connect with workers at the grassroots level and build up a presence for the Party.
Like our commission did in 2023, we are preparing to organize an in-person Labor Commission Conference this year. We are also making plans to visit the South and conduct educational workshops on trade union strategy and tactics. Our comrades in the South are spearheading an excellent project with a People’s World labor edition, Southern Workers Voice, which is being distributed to workers on shop floors, plant gates, and central labor councils.
We have produced a pamphlet titled Labor’s Fight Back that deals more in depth with the topics of workplace concentration, the communist plus, and building a fighting labor movemen t— with the Communist Party playing its role. It should be released soon.
Getting club and district leaders involved and bought into the policies of workplace concentration and preparing our membership to become “strike ready” presents an organizational challenge for us.
We remind everyone that our general assembly meetings are open to all workers. We encourage clubs and districts to contact us when questions arise, to invite members of the Labor Commission Executive Committee to visit meetings, or speak with comrades who are involved in the labor movement.
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