There’s no question that these last couple months have been heavy, chaotic, and challenging as working Oregonians face the impacts of this new federal administration. Unfortunately, after seeing a divisive campaign centered around the 900-page anti-union Project 2025 playbook, what we’re currently seeing shouldn’t surprise us, and the Oregon labor movement knew these attacks would be coming starting on Day 1. This “shock and awe” approach to the cuts, the attacks, and the damage, however, has been uniquely challenging for those who care about democracy, the rule of law, and the rights and protections of working people to keep up.
It began with over 40 far-reaching executive orders on Inauguration Day – including targeted attacks focused on the federal workforce and existing union contracts, immigrants, and clean energy construction projects, to name a few. Every week since has seen an unhinged, unelected billionaire in Elon Musk – the richest person on earth – taking a chainsaw to the fabric of our federal government, key services and programs our communities depend on, and terrorizing dedicated public servants in every corner of our nation.
These impacts are far-reaching and painful: Workers in the U.S. Postal Service concerned about the latest and most aggressive attempt to privatize the people’s post office, construction workers who have seen their federally funded projects put in limbo and their industry slowing as the latest trade war takes root, low-income workers concerned about the future of Medicaid, immigrant workers fearful about deportation raids, LGBTQ workers increasingly targeted as a result of the hateful rhetoric and actions by the administration, or TSA workers who recently had their hard-won collective bargaining rights stripped away with one stroke of a pen. So many of the institutions our nation depends on, including the Department of Education and National Institute of Health, are also under attack, impacting thousands of workers and the impacts from those cuts will be felt nationwide and far into the future.
But here’s the thing: The same billionaires and oligarchs who are eagerly awaiting their enormous tax breaks from this chaos – they want us to feel overwhelmed, to spend all of our time in constant triage and defense mode, to feel numb, and to tune out because we just can’t take it all.
The American labor movement was built for moments like these, and has weathered painful, bloody, and chaotic times at many points throughout our history. And while pundits and politicians like to talk about how divided we are as a nation or as a state, what I see every single day is a working class that is united in our frustration with an economic system that just doesn’t work for them. I see a system where CEOs make 238 times what we make and where we work too many hours just to live paycheck to paycheck and not have enough time to spend with our families or afford the things we actually need to thrive.
And right here in Oregon, I see a working class movement that is laser-focused on not just holding the line against horrific attacks, but is actively moving the ball to continue our obsessive journey of making life better for working people – from our state capitol to the bargaining table to new and historic organizing and growth strategies. Oregon is Union Strong and we have an added responsibility to show the nation what’s possible – especially in these challenging times.
This is when our solidarity must be unwavering. We must continue to show up for each other, stand strong together, and never stop defending the rights of workers under attack because when you take one of us on, you take all of us on. And Oregon workers will never back down from a just fight.
Graham Trainor is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, the statewide federation of labor unions, representing over 300,000 working Oregonians.
