'Put Working People First,' Says AFL-CIO Angered by Trump Agenda and Government Shutdown

The largest federation of labor unions in the United States called out President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday after a government shutdown began at midnight following failed votes on competing congressional funding bills.

"The federal government is shutting down right now because President Trump and his administration chose chaos and pain over responsible governing," declared American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) president Liz Shuler in a statement.

"Now," she said, "countless jobs, the essential government services we all rely on, and the economy powered by our workforce are in jeopardy—all because the administration wants to take one more swing at wrecking the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and throwing working people off our healthcare."

Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress but need some Democratic support to advance most legislation to a final vote in the Senate. While the GOP wanted to pass a House-approved stopgap bill, Democrats fought to extend expiring ACA subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts in Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR 1.

"It's not Washington politicians who are at risk here—it's working people just like us."

"Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are being locked out and stand to lose the paychecks their families depend on," said Shuler. "Federal contractors, including custodians and cafeteria workers, won't have the assurance of back pay. It's not Washington politicians who are at risk here—it's working people just like us, more than 80% of whom live outside DC, and 30% are veterans."

Federal workers deemed essential continue working during a shutdown, and those deemed nonessential are furloughed; none receive pay until the government reopens. The Trump administration has threatened to use the shutdown to continue the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) effort to gut the federal bureaucracy.

"These are the people who get our Social Security checks out on time, keep our food and water safe, care for our veterans, and protect us at airports and during natural disasters," Shuler noted. "Under the administration's Project 2025/DOGE agenda, federal workers have been fired, rehired, and fired again. They've been stripped of their collective bargaining rights and union contracts."

"Now, President Trump is shutting down the government, using federal workers as pawns and threatening to illegally fire them—all to avoid fixing the mounting healthcare cost crisis that will hurt millions of Americans," she concluded. "The labor movement's message to the administration is clear: Get to work. Fund the government. Fix the healthcare crisis. Put working people first."

Leaders of AFL-CIO affiliates shared similar messages on Wednesday, including American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley, who stressed that "when the government shuts down, American families pay the price."

"Congress must stop playing politics with the livelihoods of federal workers and the communities they serve, end this shutdown immediately, and stop holding workers hostage," he said. "These employees should be able to do their jobs free of political interference. Instead, these employees and the services they provide are being thrown into chaos because Congress refuses to act."

"Making matters worse," Kelley noted, "President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought are threatening to illegally fire mass numbers of federal employees during the government shutdown to inflict further pain on communities and workers across the nation—an action we are already challenging in court."

In the lead-up to the shutdown late Tuesday, AFGE and another AFL-CIO affiliate, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), filed a federal lawsuit in hopes of protecting government workers from mass firings.

Mary Turner, president of National Nurses United, another AFL-CIO affiliate, said Tuesday that "the Trump administration's only desire appears to be to placate and please the billionaire class and to declare war on our country's own people. This was abundantly evident in the passage of HR 1, which gave corporations and the ultrarich huge tax breaks while stealing healthcare coverage from 16 million people."

"When the Republicans passed HR 1, they voted to upend an already fragile system," Turner added. "If Congress doesn't act immediately to reverse these cuts, our patients will suffer from going without care. They will have to ration their prescriptions and face bankruptcy just to see a doctor. Experts predict more than 50,000 people will die unnecessarily each year because of these cuts."

In a letter sent to federal lawmakers before the shutdown, the nurses had urged them to vote for the Democratic measure and "address the looming healthcare crisis that Republican congressional leadership created."

The union also emphasized that "by refusing to govern, Republicans bear full responsibility for the devastating consequences that would ensue if the government is shut down."