Trump’s reckless tariffs have already started to hit workers’ wallets and jobs. Price increases are returning, especially for everyday items like groceries, electricity, clothing, and other basic goods. And now the administration has removed regulations to open up workers’ retirements to Wall Street speculators to gamble on risky investments like cryptocurrencies. And as workers’ purchasing power decreases, these price increases are hitting small businesses hard, with many filing for bankruptcy so far this year.
There have been massive layoffs nationwide. In the first six months of 2025, there were about 745,000 jobs cut, the highest number since 2020 during the pandemic. A huge portion of these layoffs have been federal workers, with an estimated 300,000 job cuts. Small retail shops have laid off tens of thousands of workers. Layoffs have impacted the auto industry, and John Deere recently pointed to new tariff costs as the reason for its layoffs of 150 workers so far, with plans to lay off more soon. All of this is just beginning.
We are also seeing this administration escalate its attack on labor unions, unilaterally ending the collective bargaining rights for over one million federal workers, ripping up their union contracts with the stroke of a pen. And they have increased their attack on the National Labor Relations Board, further cutting some of the protections and rights workers have on the job.
At the same time, Trump’s campaign of terror against immigrant communities has deepened. ICE has its largest budget in history and has been unleashed on our streets as a rogue, militarized police force. Workplaces are being raided, and entire families are being ripped apart. This has led to fear and huge shortages of workers in certain industries like agriculture and construction, which drives up prices even further. Just days ago, ICE even arrested two immigrant firefighters while they were fighting a wildfire in Washington state.
Meanwhile, attacks on healthcare and government programs have intensified, with huge cuts to Medicare and Medicaid intentionally set to start right after the midterm elections, which will slash access to services for millions of elderly people and workers. Access to vaccines has been cut, putting people at greater risk of contracting preventable diseases. Programs such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have also been gutted, leaving working-class communities without even minimal protections against climate disasters that grow worse every year.
The message from those in power couldn’t be clearer: this system serves the billionaires, and the rest of us are expendable. These are the real priorities of Trump’s government: enrich the ruling class, attack the working class, consolidate their power, and intimidate the rest of us into silence through repression.
But there is a reason why their attacks and repression are so fierce. Trump and the billionaires know there is only one force that can stop them: the organized power of the working class. They want us divided by things like national origin, race, gender, and sexuality. They want us afraid of each other instead of united against them. They want us to be paralyzed by their repression. And they want us exhausted, so we will not fight back.
This Labor Day, let’s reflect on the attacks we face today, but also the power of workers here and around the world to fight back and defend ourselves. The system they uphold is not invincible. We have fought back before and we are beginning to do it again. Recent examples of Boeing workers, flight attendants, nurses, autoworkers, and others give us a small glimpse of the kind of power workers could unleash if we can organize our forces together. We are the ones who make this society run, and we are the only ones who can bring it to a halt in order to defend our interests.
The future this system has in store for us is clear. But it is up to us to fight for our own future.
>> Reprinted from Speak Out Now.
Comments
Post a Comment