Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members across the country have been holding demonstrations throughout the last week against the plans of US President Trump to cut Medicaid.
The union said in a statement on Wednesday that there have been over 50 events since Monday with the biggest happening in New York, Philadelphia and Medford in Oregon.
SEIU International President, April Verrett, said: ‘Congress must reject the disastrous path of ripping away healthcare for 80 million children, pregnant women, veterans, seniors and people with disabilities by gutting Medicaid.
‘We will hold elected officials accountable for their votes and demand that they support working peoples’ priorities and the wages, healthcare, and security we all deserve.
‘Congress’s plan to slash Medicaid to give trillions in tax cuts to billionaires will take healthcare from millions of seniors, veterans, working moms and dads, people with disabilities and nearly 40 per cent of our nation’s children.
‘Medicaid is also essential for funding healthcare jobs, nursing homes, and hospitals.’
In Medford, Oregon, SEIU members rallied in Republican Congressman Cliff Bent’s district – speaking out and making their voices heard.
In Manhattan, New York city on Tuesday, over 5,500 protesters marched down Broadway past City Hall to Bowling Green. Several hundred protesters split from the march and staged a rally in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
- Education unions in the US on Wednesday said they have taken part in a national school walk-in to fight against President Donald Trump’s cuts.
As part of his continued attack on the right to education in the United States, the Trump administration have sacked around half of the staff at the Department of Education.
The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the agency that, among other things, enforces anti-discrimination laws and distributes funding to support disadvantaged students around the country.
Becky Pringle, President of the National Education Association and Education International Vice-President said: ‘Firing – without cause – nearly half of the Department of Education staff means the Trump administration is getting rid of the dedicated public servants who help ensure our nation’s students have access to the programmes and resources to keep class sizes down and expand learning opportunities.’
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, said: ‘With much of the department’s total annual budget going towards providing student loans for Americans trying to secure a college education, dismantling the agency will make it even harder for the children of low-income and middle-class families to cover skyrocketing college and university costs.
‘Dismantling the agency would rob 26 million students living in poverty of critical services, and 7.5 million students with disabilities, of special education support. It would eliminate career and technical education for 12 million students, threatening their future job opportunities.
‘Slashing student loans could make college unaffordable for another 10 million working-class families.
‘In addition, the Trump Administration has terminated two programmes that provided public schools and food banks more than $1 billion to buy food from local farmers. With food prices rising, the termination of these programmes will impact millions of students and families across the country.’
Education trade unionists across the United States joined forces with their communities to organise a National School Walk-in on March 19 demanding that public schools are protected. During the school walk-in, parents, educators, and students, along with neighbours and community leaders, gathered in front of their school 30-45 minutes before the school day began.
School communities rallied and listened to speakers discussing what they want for the school.
All participants then walked into the school together in a show of unity and support for the essential programmes that help communities thrive.
The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, both members of Education International, have joined forces to oppose the Trump agenda to undermine public education.
The unions have received an outpouring of solidarity from colleagues around the world.
Mugwena Maluleke, President of Education International, which is made up of education unions across the world, said: ‘The Trump administration and its billionaire supporters seek to dismantle progress, turning education into a privilege and prioritising propaganda over truth.
‘Our colleagues in the United States are standing strong against these attacks.
‘They do not stand alone. Educators around the world stand with them. As the global education union movement, our strength lies in solidarity and resistance.
‘Together, we have the power to challenge injustice, to fight for the rights of educators and students, and to rebuild public education as a foundation for peace, progress, and equity.’
Members of the Higher Education Research Standing Committee of ETUCE, Education International’s European group, meeting in Brussels on 12th-13th March, adopted a statement in support of US colleagues and student.
ETUCE stated: ‘This unconscionable attack on public education is dramatically illustrated by the declared intention to shut down the Federal Department of Education and also by the unprecedented and egregious cuts in the funding of critical public education and research programmes, the assault on academic freedom and the associated imposition of anticipatory obedience and self-censorship in education and research institutions.
These actions threaten the foundations of the democratic society. We strongly oppose any attempts to stifle academic freedom.
- At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025, the formation of a new, industry-wide union for video game workers was officially launched.
The United Videogame Workers union will be a section of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), with a view to build community and protect the rights of game workers across the United States and Canada.
Anyone in the United States or Canada that works in video games – in any discipline, in any workplace or industry-adjacent setting – is able to join the union, and thereby gain the benefits of an organised force.
The union aims to protect video game workers after years of mistreatment.
The UVW stated: ‘Our mission is to take back our lives, our labour, and our passion from those who treat us like replaceable cogs; to empower our fellow workers; to link up arms with the laid off, with the freelancer, with the disillusioned contractor, with the disenfranchised and the marginalised, with the workers labouring invisibly to keep this industry afloat.
‘We are going to create a game industry that works for us, one that nourishes its talent and invests in its future, rather than constantly seeking short-term profits.
‘We are the ones that make the games, so we must be the ones that set the terms of how we work.’
