CHICAGO—The AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better In a Union” bus tour made a stop here Friday to address a gathering of Black trade unionists about the dangers posed by the Trump administration and the importance of union-led civil rights struggles.
Beginning on July 5, the AFL-CIO has been sending two buses to collect testimony from workers across the country who are concerned about the Trump administration’s policies, in a lead-up to rallies across the country on Labor Day and in preparation for the 2026 midterm elections.
Prior to Friday’s address, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Fred Redmond and others attended rallies in support of striking workers in the Chicago area at QSL America, The Emily Hotel and The Chicago History Museum.
“We want to make sure that people understand that organized labor is committed to stand up for working people and their concerns are our concern,” Redmond said in an interview with People’s World. “We’re going to elevate their voices in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.”
“The common complaint that we’re hearing is workers do not understand why these attacks are taking place; why these government agencies that they depend on are being shut down for the benefit and the expressed purpose – this president hasn’t denied it – to deliver historic tax breaks to the wealthiest people, the billionaires in this country,” Redmond said. “People are expressing that they don’t agree with these policies, this isn’t what they voted for, and that seems to be a common theme everywhere we go.”
Redmond previously served as the chair of the board of the directors for the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization of Black trade unionists with a stated mission of fighting for racial equality and economic justice, which held its annual educational conference in Chicago from August 6 through 10.
The institute was established in 1965 by A. Philip Randolph, a labor organizer and civil rights activist who organized the first African-American-led labor union in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; and Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist who helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and who was active in the Congress of Racial Equality.
In an address to a few hundred trade unionists at the Hilton Chicago hotel, Redmond said workers have been “betrayed” by President Donald Trump and other “elected leaders who sold out the working class to the billionaire class.”
“People didn’t vote for dangerous and unsafe workplaces or for cuts to scientific and medical research,” Redmond said. “People didn’t vote for health care costs to rise or their local hospital to close. People told us they didn’t vote to wait longer to get the health care that they needed.”
“People didn’t vote for our workplaces, our parks and our hospitals and churches to be raided by masked agents in tactical gear; and have our co-workers and neighbors detained and deported without due process, regardless of their immigration status, for simply breathing while brown,” Redmond said.
Redmond encouraged workers to call out and protest against the elected officials who “sold out” workers to billionaires by voting for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; an act which —as previously noted in People’s World—will negatively impact Black employees in the federal workforce.
“We can’t be stuttering or scratching our heads,” Redmond said. “We got to make sure that people know who sold them out. Call them out by name. We got to show up at their doors. We got to picket in front of their offices. We got to make sure that people know who’s taking our jobs, our constitutional rights, our paychecks, our healthcare. And we’re making sure that every working person knows the truth about Trump’s big, ugly budget bill and the disastrous consequences it will have on our lives.”
Another speaker was Robert Reiter, the president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, which represents half a million workers across 300 affiliated unions. Reiter opened his remarks by talking about the history of labor struggles by generations of Chicago workers who gave “their blood, sweat and tears to build a strong labor movement” in the city.
“Now it’s our turn to pick up where they left off and build on the foundation laid before us by leaders like one of my idols A. Philip Randolph, who I am not afraid to say was a Marxist organizer in the style that I like to follow,” Reiter said. “Our mission remains unchanged since the days of A. Philip Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters: we fight for social, racial, and economic justice for all workers.”
Criticized Chicago History Museum
Reiter went on to criticize The Chicago History Museum, whose “workers were fired after years, even decades of employment, despite a clean disciplinary record, just because they chose to form a union.”
Reiter accused the museum of hypocrisy for having exhibits of Chicago labor organizers like Mother Jones, only to now be fighting to undermine unionization efforts of their own workers.
Reiter also mentioned workers’ struggles at Mauser Packaging, whose employees are fighting not just for improved personal protection equipment but for contract language that protects workers from ICE raids.
“Mauser Packaging… refuses to protect workers, the workers that are making them millions of dollars,” Reiter said. “But you know what happened at that rapid [response]? A Black worker born and raised here in Chicago spoke out in solidarity for his Latino co-workers. That’s solidarity. That’s following in the footsteps of A. Philip Randolph.”
The final speaker at the indoor rally was the Rev. Terrence Melvin, who is the president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Melvin challenged those in attendance to be more aggressive, more organized and more focused in their work in resisting the Trump administration’s attacks on civil liberties and workers’ rights.
“We’re sick and tired of seeing the rich get trillions in tax breaks while politicians raise our costs, eliminate our jobs and take away services for veterans, seniors, and kids, and slash life-saving programs like Medicaid and food assistance. We ain’t going to stand by and let that shit happen are we?!” Melvin told the audience, who stood up to applaud and cheer him on.
“It’s time for politicians to stop giving our taxpayer money to the wealthy elite and start investing in families and communities to create good jobs,” Melvin continued. “That’s what we’re fighting for!”
“Every day, working people worry about our jobs, our economy, our futures. We stress over every bill, every purchase, every paycheck. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” Melvin said to continued cheers. “We’re standing up like we’ve never stood up before for all of our rights.”
“We are not going to watch our members suffer anymore, are we? We’re not going to watch our community go broke, are we? We’re not going to watch our government turn fascist, are we?” Melvin said, to which the audience responded with a loud “no!” to each question.
“Then let us stand up, sisters and brothers! We’re going to keep on organizing and fight back!” Melvin said as he was drowned out by loud applause and chants of “preach!” from audience members.
Redmond told People’s World that after their visit to Chicago, the AFL-CIO bus tour would make its way to Cleveland and Columbus in Ohio, before then traveling to New York to visit Syracuse and Buffalo. He added that a second AFL-CIO tour bus is making stops in cities along the Pacific coast.
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