America's labour movement has positioned itself as the defender of United States democracy against a sweeping authoritarian agenda posed by Trump’s presidency, according to Public Services International (PSI). 

PSI highlighted how unions forming the American workforce's backbone—from teachers to nurses, service workers to government employees—are at the vanguard of defending democracy, confronting the existential threat posed by Project 2025's plan to dismantle America's most important institutions. 

A range of recent executive orders in the United States have caused a wave of transfer of public services and goods directly into private hands to serve elite interests instead of the common good.  

This includes significantly reducing the federal workforce, privatising essential social programs like social security and Medicare—federal health insurance for those aged 65 or older and younger people with disabilities—and auctioning off critical services, such as the US Postal Service, to corporate interests. 

In response, US unions have launched unprecedented multi-front resistance in the streets, the workplace, the media and in courts.  

The American Federation of Government Employees last week secured a landmark legal victory against Trump's illegal termination of federal workers. The ruling found that the administration had fabricated performance claims to justify firings and ordered the immediate reinstatement of thousands of workers while declaring that the terminations were "based on a lie."  

PSI states how this victory proved unions could successfully challenge authoritarian overreach through the courts—a lesson being institutionalised through new initiatives like Democracy 2025, which pre-positions legal teams to file challenges within hours of unconstitutional actions taking place. 

The American Federation of Teachers mobilised against school voucher schemes that defund public education. The National Nurses United is fighting to defend Medicare from privatisation through patient advocacy campaigns. Members of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are deploying emergency response plans for mass firings of civil servants. The Service Employees International Union has partnered with civil rights organisations to combat voter suppression tactics targeting working-class communities. 

On the legislative front, labour’s allies in the US Congress have also reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act to strengthen union organising and collective bargaining rights.  

On 28th March, Trump’s administration took its most blatantly anti-worker, anti-union action yet: an executive order stripping the right to organise from hundreds of thousands of federal workers.  

The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, described the action as plain and simple union-busting, firmly stating “we won’t stand for it.” They described the recent executive order as a punishment for unions that are leading the fight against the administration’s illegal actions in court and in the streets, calling it “a blatant attempt to silence us.” 

This Saturday, 5th April, America’s unions are coming together with allies at hundreds of events all across the country with a series of ‘Hands Off’ events to send the message: “Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our public schools. Hands off our Medicare. Hands off our jobs. And hands off our unions and our contracts!”  

PSI also highlighted how organised labour's recent resistance in the United States has transcended trade unionism and has become a defence of the social contract itself. “As unions deploy their organisational might through strikes, lawsuits, legislative pushes, and voter mobilisation drives, they're fighting not just for contracts and benefits, but for the fundamental character of democracy. Their victories—from courtroom triumphs to workplace organising wins—provide guidance and inspiration for the broader fights to defend democracy in the US and globally,” said PSI.  

You can PSI’s full coverage of the issue and the range of organising activities undertaken by American affiliates here.  

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