In the first 10 days of his second term, President Trump has put out an unprecedented number of executive orders, many of them unclear and/or illegal in their scope. These include firings, spending freezes, and shuttering entire offices and programs of the federal government. Workers in sectors throughout the economy – in childcare classrooms, on factory floors, on construction sites – are struggling to make sense of what it all means for them and their families.
“There’s a lot of fear and distrust and uncertainty among workers, and in immigrant communities,” confirms Alfreda Daniels, Executive Campaigns Director at Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, who also organizes in her community as part of the Black Immigrant Collective and sits on the Workers Confluence Steering Committee.
Greater Minnesota Worker Center Executive Director Ali Ahmed echoes this point: “The election results created an atmosphere where folks are back into survival mode…There’s a ton of anxiety”
True to President Trump’s campaign promises, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and members of other marginalized groups are the most directly targeted. But the sweeping changes identified in these early executive orders stand to harm an even wider swath of people. “It’s going to impact workers and our economy in a big way,” Daniels continues. “Workers and consumers don’t want to spend money. Immigrant workers are already starting to not show up to work. Kids aren’t going to show up for school.”
Some of the most disruptive orders, including a broad federal spending freeze, are being walked back or challenged in court. But rather than feeling relief, the Confluence stakeholders interviewed for this piece expressed ongoing anxiety.
“We are in full panic mode,” says Lydia Boerboom of the childcare teachers and providers she organizes through Kids Count on Us (the childcare coalition of ISAIAH). “The childcare system is under huge strain as it is. Sixty percent of the cost of childcare in this country is federally funded. We feel like we’re about to be pushed off a cliff.”
Ifrah Nur, director of South Metro Childcare Academy and leader with Kids Count On Us, explains that the funding freeze could force her to shut her doors. “It’s not just childcare when you are working with low-income families. We have 120 kiddos enrolled. Most of these families are new immigrants Some are homeless. We have kids we end up buying shoes and clothes for. We help their parents with employment. If we have to shut down, I don’t know what will happen to these kids. I don’t know how their parents will keep going to work.”
This uncertainty is impacting many other industries, including construction. According to Dan McConnell, President of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and member of the Workers Confluence Steering Committee: “Any time there is this amount of uncertainty in the system, it causes people to pull back on investment. That hurts our members who work in construction. We heard there may be a 90 day freeze on Department Of Transportation-funded projects. That would be a massive setback. We have a short construction season here in Minnesota. A 90-day pause could end up pushing projects back a year. Then we have a year of people doing nothing, not enough work to go around, and then a year of people being overworked to get back on track. Workers need consistency, and so far this President is giving us the opposite. ”
Another Confluence Steering Committee member, Paul Slattery of Teamsters Local 120, explains that by firing the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel and one of the board members, President Trump has in effect shut down the NLRB, which is the federal body that certifies union elections and adjudicates labor disputes. This, Slattery explains, is an attack on the rights of all workers.
“If the Teamsters or other unions bring forward any charges, we can’t get a decision. Workers can take all the heroic steps to organize, but without the NLRB the union cannot become their certified representative. We cannot file charges to challenge unfair labor practices. But we will continue to organize. We will demand recognition directly from employers. We will look to the history of our movement, to how organizing was done before the Wagner Act created the NLRB in 1935. What’s happening is bad. It’s unprecedented. But it won’t stop us from organizing and representing workers.”
But the threats to immigrants, and the withdrawal of federal resources from critical services such as SNAP and Medicaid, do stand to negatively impact organizing among workers at the margins of the economy. According to Ali Ahmed from GMWC, which organizes meat packing workers in central Minnesota, “We have had energy and momentum for worker power building and growing with our base. But now the worker committees inside the plants are saying ‘let’s be careful so we don’t do more harm than good.’ Some committee leaders want to do actions to push back on pay issues and injuries. These are steps we have taken before, often successfully. But now it all feels upside down. Our committees are worried about immigrant workers who are standing up for their rights drawing the attention of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).” And besides the chilling effect on immigrant workers standing up for their rights, worker center staff are suddenly having to split their attention between organizing and responding to frightened people seeking information and help with thier basic needs.
In spite of the chaos and uncertainty, Lydia Boerboom from Kids Count on Us/ISAIAH is clear-eyed about the challenges of this moment: “We know that the purpose of all of this is to sow confusion. We’re not going to operate like that. We are sounding the alarm, we are bringing our people together. We are going to continue to stand up to this, and to exercise our power.”
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