NHP news | February 2025

AFT President Randi Weingarten gathered AFT leaders and national organizers in a virtual town hall Feb.19 to deliver an urgent call to action: On March 4, stand up for our schools. Fight for our communities. Protect our kids. The call to action is part of the AFT’s newly launched nationwide campaign, Protect Our Kids, mounted in response to the Trump administration’s threat to cut the Department of Education and the funds that go with it.  

 

In a major victory for the nearly 5,000 frontline nurses at Providence, who are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association, voted overwhelmingly to ratify their contracts and end the strike. The historic agreements, which were reached after 46 days on the strike line and more than a year of bargaining, will set a new standard for wages, staffing and patient safety at one of Oregon's largest healthcare systems.

 

President Trump’s push toward mass deportation is bad enough as policy—but for many, it is more than just heated rhetoric and obscure rulemaking. It is terrifying. The AFT and our affiliates are responding with information and resources that help prepare immigrant families—and the healthcare providers, teachers and public workers who serve them—with emergency plans and information about how to react if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials target them for deportation. In an op-ed, Debbie White, president of New Jersey’s Health Professionals and Allied Employees said that hospitals, schools and places of worship must be spaces free from fear and trauma.  

 

 

Nurses at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, and Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, Ore., have overwhelmingly voted to unionize with the Oregon Nurses Association, marking a historic moment for healthcare workers in Oregon. The vote represents a hard-fought victory for nearly 2,300 nurses who have long sought a collective voice in advocating for their patients, profession and working conditions.

 

President Donald Trump and his henchman Elon Musk are swinging a wrecking ball at the U.S. Department of Education. In her latest column, AFT President Randi Weingarten wonders if it’s due to a lack of understanding of the department’s vital functions, or because funding tax cuts for the wealthy is more important to them than building our future, or because they simply don’t care about the collateral damage to our students, public schools and country.