These are some noteworthy labor headlines we read this week.

Weekly Labor Reads:

TOP STORY

Trump Strips Job Protections From Thousands of Federal Workers

On Thursday, the Trump administration finalized a new policy that would strip job protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, in its latest effort to dismantle the federal workforce. Until now, roughly 4,000 “political appointees” were the only federal workers who could be fired at will. The policy issued this week allows the administration to expand that number to include career employees whom the administration considers to have policy-related roles. The move would make it easier for President Trump to remove or discipline workers, raising concerning questions about nonpartisanship and stability in the federal workforce.

The New York Times

Eileen Sullivan

IRLE IN THE NEWS

Amid immigration raids, a coalition of U.S. leaders gather in L.A. to share resistance strategies

Los Angeles Times

Ruben Vives

Ft. Saba Waheed, UCLA Labor Center Director

LOCAL LABOR ACTIONS

Kaiser Permanente health care workers enter second week of strike over staffing, wages

ABC7

Leticia Juarez

AI REGULATION



Union leaders have a message for Newsom: Regulate AI if you want to be president

CalMatters

Khari Johnson

AUTOMATION

California’s Teamsters call for Waymo ban, saying driverless cars threaten safety and jobs

Los Angeles Times

Caroline Petrow-Cohen

IRLE IN THE NEWS

WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY



The Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation Announces 2026 Young Worker Leadership Academy on February 12 - February 14

California DIR

Mentions UCLA LOSH

WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY

LOSH supports workers in the aftermath of the 2025 Los Angeles fires

UCLA LOSH

Remember This!

Memory Work Los Angeles is a project of UCLA IRLE. We bring the past to the present to highlight the diverse experiences and perspectives of working people in Southern California, the changing world of work, and the continuing struggle for equality.

1986: Unions review impact of immigration reform

The AFL-CIO published this information for unions and workers in the wake of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. The law created a process for many undocumented residents to regularize their status, and the pamphlet highlights organized labor’s role in helping “undocumented workers attain legal status and prevent discrimination by employers.” In Los Angeles, the Labor Immigrant Assistance Project (LIAP) supported workers’ amnesty applications, and the California Immigrant Workers Association (CIWA) served as a general union for immigrant workers without collective bargaining in their workplaces. IRCA also created a new federal prohibition on hiring undocumented workers, something immigrant rights advocates and organized labor in Los Angeles had strongly opposed, but the national AFL-CIO supported. The AFL-CIO abandoned this policy in 2000. View the Document.

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UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) advances labor research and education for workplace justice. Through the work of its units – the UCLA Labor Center, the Human Resources Roundtable, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health program (LOSH) and its academic program, UCLA Labor Studies – the Institute forms wide-ranging research and agendas that carry UCLA into the Los Angeles community and beyond.