February, 13 2025, 04:41pm EDT
Unions Expand Suit to Block Elon Musk from Accessing Private Data at DOL, HHS and CFPB
The AFL-CIO, AFGE, AFSCME, AFT, CWA, SEIU, Economic Policy Institute, and partner organizations are expanding their legal challenge to stop DOGE’s takeover of Americans’ private data
A coalition of the AFL-CIO, unions, an economic think tank and partner organizations filed an amended lawsuit to protect the confidential information of America’s working people housed at the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The lawsuit expands the initial challenge to the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE)’s attempt to raid the DOL for key information on America’s workers in order to hobble the agency tasked with protecting their rights, health and safety on the job, as Elon Musk expands his slash-and-burn approach to Americans’ private data and their most essential government services.
As the complaint lays out: “DOGE seeks to gain access to sensitive agency systems of data before courts can stop them, dismantle agencies before Congress can assert its Constitutional prerogatives in the federal budget, and intimidate and threaten employees who stand in their way, without regard for the consequences. The results have already been catastrophic. DOGE has seized control of some of the most carefully protected information systems housed at the Treasury Department, taken hold of all sensitive personnel information at the Office of Personnel Management, and dismantled an entire agency within a week.”
“Elon Musk and DOGE continue to jeopardize Americans’ most sensitive, personal data, and threaten our health, safety, rights, paychecks, and the essential services we depend on,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Unions and allies will vigorously fight DOGE’s attempt to put working people at risk through reckless actions that endanger workers and our families. They must be stopped—and today we’re getting back in court to do just that.”
“What Elon Musk is doing is not an audit—it’s an illegal violation of American citizens’ most sensitive personal information by an unelected billionaire who seems to believe he has been delegated the powers of the elected president,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Unions and our allies will continue to stand up against Elon Musk and anyone else who thinks they can buy the government of the United States.”
“Together with our union partners and allies, we filed a lawsuit to protect working people from billionaires stealing their data. Elon Musk thinks his wealth and political contributions give him the right to disregard the law and masquerade as an elected official—but he is not,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Working people deserve a government that will protect their privacy and hold corporations that break the law accountable. We call on the courts to address this unlawful corruption and ensure that our government remains for the people."
“Elon Musk, under the guise of making bureaucracy more ‘efficient,’ is effectively eviscerating Americans’ privacy and fundamental freedoms,” said American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. “This may be one of the biggest data hacks in U.S. history—I doubt anyone who voted for Donald Trump thought he would enable Musk to vacuum up their Social Security numbers, spousal details, and kids’ medical records for his own ends. Americans want a better life for themselves and their families: lower costs and higher wages. Yet Musk’s goal is evidently to weaponize this invasion of privacy to cut support for working families and ram through tax cuts for himself and his billionaire buddies. We are joining this lawsuit to stop the heist, end the chaos and confusion, and prevent Musk from causing irreparable harm to millions of American lives.”
“Elon Musk is a notorious union buster whose retaliation against workers exercising their union rights won praise from Donald Trump as thousands of CWA members went out on strike,” said Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Claude Cummings Jr. “Musk and the other billionaires who supported Trump aren’t looting our confidential records to find ways to help workers organize to join unions and collectively bargain. They aren’t feeding sensitive personal data into AI systems to make sure working families are able to secure the benefits they are entitled to or to stop the big banks from ripping us off. They are looking for ways to enrich themselves and punish anyone who stands in the way of their profits.”
“Every person in our country—regardless of race, occupation or political party affiliation—should have the comfort of knowing that their government is attempting to work in their best interests,” said Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President April Verrett. “No one deserves to have their privacy violated when they visit their doctor and seek care for their sick child. Nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals should be able to provide their patients with quality care without the threat of having their personal healthcare information being exposed to unelected billionaires. Medical privacy is the cornerstone of quality patient care and necessary for improving health outcomes across our nation. It is an injustice when our leaders willingly leave any person vulnerable to becoming a victim of fraud, scams, and discrimination. Today SEIU members and our allies are saying that working people will not back down to these attacks on our health and safety from the Trump-Musk Administration. We will not stop fighting to build a future where every worker, of every race and from every place, can join together in a union to win the wages, healthcare, and security we all deserve.”
“Elon Musk’s DOGE is illegally seizing Americans’ private data. No responsible policymaker—whatever their political party—should tolerate this, and we all have a moral obligation to stand up against Elon Musk’s takeover,” said Economic Policy Institute (EPI) President Heidi Shierholz.
The lawsuit was brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the AFL-CIO and a coalition of unions representing workers across the federal government and public sector: the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFSCME, AFT, CWA and SEIU, as well as EPI, Economic Action Maryland Fund and Virginia Poverty Law Center.
The full complaint can be found here.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) works tirelessly to improve the lives of working people. We are the democratic, voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions that represent 12.5 million working men and women.
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