Kill the Cuts! Defend Public Research, Healthcare, and Education

Written By Aaron Thomas

Dear UAW sibling,

From gutting funding for NIH research to slashing Medicaid and Medicare, launching directed attacks on immigrants, repressing free speech, rolling back trans rights, and gutting higher education, the Trump administration has been mounting a concerted attack on the public health, research, and education services that working people in every part of the U.S. rely on. In pursuit of this anti-worker agenda, the Trump admin is using federal funding as leverage to force universities, states, and cities to adopt their political agenda – and public funding for things like NIH research hangs in the balance.

NIH funding drives research that leads to lifesaving medical breakthroughs on some of the deadliest and most widespread diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease – advancing  treatments and access to care for working families in every area of the country. Cutting NIH funding means more working people will die needless deaths. The only ones who stand to benefit are the billionaires and corporations who want complete control over our health economy so that they can make massive profits off the backs of workers and patients.

UAW members across the country see this billionaire power grab for what it is, and are fighting back to defend the public good. Keep reading to learn how UAW members in Region 6 have been taking action to defend public research, healthcare, and education, and how you can get involved. You can also visit the Public Funding Action page on the Region 6 website for continually updated information, resources, and actions.

Take Action to Defend Public Research

  • Kill the Cuts! National Day of Action on April 8: UAW members are joining with fellow research, healthcare, and education workers across the country to plan a national day of actions on 4/8 to demand NO CUTS to education and life-saving research. Join the National Planning call on Saturday 3/22 at 9am Pacific to get involved in planning an action in your area, and check out https://www.killthecuts.org/ for more. 

International Scholar Know Your Rights

As with the first Trump administration, the second Trump administration has increasingly taken action to threaten the rights and status of immigrants, undocumented workers, and international scholars, including on issues of immigration status, rights to work and organize, and free speech. On Wednesday, March 26th at 12pm Pacific, UAW members will be holding a Know Your Rights training on international students' and scholars' legal and contractual rights and how academic workers can work together to enforce and expand these rights through organizing as a union. RSVP here to attend!

Justice for Mahmoud Khalil 

The UAW represents 100,000 higher education workers, including campus staff, student workers, faculty, research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows. Drawing on our long tradition of protest, support for international peace, and commitment to education and research for all, the UAW condemns in the fullest terms recent actions taken by the Trump administration to detain, intimidate, and deport international students and workers on visas.

The Trump administration, with the complicity of Columbia University leadership, has illegally detained Mahmoud Khalil, a former UAW member and activist who has spoken out against the war on Gaza and has been targeted for his political beliefs. We join the ACLU in calling for his immediate release and urge you to sign the petition to free Mahmoud Khalil.

Campaigns against immigrant students and workers are an attack on any person who organizes for economic and social justice, and the Trump administration is using threats of funding cuts as leverage to push universities to self-dismantle their existing protections for free expression. In his letter dictated from his jail cell in Louisiana, Khalil emphasized Trump’s “broader strategy to suppress dissent.” As Khalil recognizes,“at stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.” Read the full Region 6/Region 9A statement here. 

César Chávez Day March for Immigrant Workers

This César Chávez Day, UAW Region 6 members will join the California Federation of Labor Unions, United Farm Workers, and others in the labor community for a march in Delano, CA to take action for immigrant worker solidarity. As a labor movement, we know an attack on one worker is an attack on all workers, and UAW Region 6 has a proud tradition of solidarity with the farmworker movement. That tradition reaches back to the work of Region 6 Director Paul Schrade in the 1960s to build early support for the work of César Chávez, Dolores Heurta, Larry Itliong, and other farmworker organizers. The support of Schrade and fellow UAW Region 6 members helped garner higher-profile support for the farmworker movement from the broader UAW and figures like Robert Kennedy, as well as providing material support for historic actions like the Delano Grape Strike (pictured above). More recently, UAW members have built strong showings of solidarity for UFW campaigns, including supporting mushroom workers at Sunnyside Farms in Washington.

UAW members of today are encouraged to join the march to continue this proud tradition! March 31 at 11am in Delano, CA. RSVP here for more info and to get connected with other UAW members joining the march. 

Defend Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Veteran Healthcare

Congressional Republicans are aiming to enact dramatic cuts to critical federal programs in order to extend tax breaks to billionaires. They want to cut $880 billion from Medicare and Medicaid, $330 billion from student financial aid and loans, and $230 billion from SNAP – all to give over $4.5 TRILLION in tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. These are critical benefits working people have paid for, while the wealthiest people and corporations have been systematically avoiding paying their fair share. 

For millions of working people – particularly retirees, disabled workers, and survivors – programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare are the difference between stability and poverty. Meanwhile these essential programs are being gutted by the Trump administration: the Social Security Administration announced that it is planning to cut 7,000 jobs, and is considering ending telephone claims and benefits processing – a change that would result in late and unprocessed payments and force beneficiaries to visit offices in person even while many of those same field offices are being closed. Veterans Affairs announced that it plans to fire up to 83,000 workers – many of whom are veterans themselves – including those who provide healthcare, medical research, and benefits support. Proposed cuts to Medicaid would equal almost 11% of all Medicaid spending, particularly impacting seniors and low income families. 

UAW members across the country are taking action to stop these cuts – add your voice by calling your U.S. Representatives and Senators to demand no cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare!

Message from Region 6 Director Mike Miller

Tens of thousands of UAW members work as researchers at institutions across the country on projects funded by NIH, NSF, and many other agencies. They work to uncover the underlying causes of disease and conduct clinical trials for treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and many other chronic diseases that impact millions of people. The Trump administration has attempted to slash research funding in multiple ways – freezing existing grants, blocking review of new grant proposals, and proposing massive cuts in the 2025 and 2026 federal budgets. Trump’s cuts to NIH funding would set this research back and delay the development of life-saving treatments. The importance of NIH funding cannot be overstated: as recently reported in Nature, “NIH-funded research contributed to 354 of 356 drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010–19.” If not for federal funding, much of this research – conducted in large part by UAW members – would not happen.

In addition to the impacts on research progress, these cuts to NIH and other agencies funding scientific research threaten the U.S. economy. NIH funding alone supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in every state and produces nearly $100 billion in economic output. For every one federal dollar spent on NIH research, $2.46 is produced in economic activity. In many places throughout the country, the university that receives NIH grant funding is the largest employer and supports many small businesses and jobs in the surrounding community. This multiplier effect is significant. Slashing NIH funding would be swinging a giant wrecking ball to the U.S. economy – taking thousands of jobs down along with the important institutions that contribute to medical and scientific progress.

Trump’s assault on scientific research funding is also part of his administration’s broader attack on higher education, public health, and the social safety net. The persecution, arrests, and deportations of people who dare to exercise their rights to free speech, assembly, and inquiry is taking place under the Orwellian banner of fighting antisemitism. The administration’s bullying is meant to quash any criticism of barbaric and imperialist U.S. foreign policy – chilling speech and intimidating civil society in the process. The universities have proved reprehensible allies to Trump’s authoritarian agenda by ratting out students to federal authorities, revoking the degrees students have earned, and canceling classes on topics that are presumed to run afoul of the Trump administration’s decrees. These draconian measures are directly affecting UAW members.

With regard to public health and welfare, the Trump administration has ignored the reemergence of measles – a disease long thought banished through effective vaccination programs – and is threatening the development of new vaccines and cancer medications with a misguided attack on mRNA research. The administration continues to go after the vulnerable and needy in a furious frenzy to slash Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans’ benefits, and children’s school lunches – all intended to dismantle the social safety net and give tax breaks to the rich.

We must stand up to this dangerous, authoritarian, and reactionary agenda.

Updates from around the Region

  • New Organizing: More than 700 Research Coordinators and Consultants at University of Washington won their union card check to join Local 4121! Faculty and Staff at CalArts are holding their union election now, and expect results later this month. Student Services and Advising Professionals at University of California continue organizing to pressure the university to certify their union and begin bargaining a first contract. Research and Public Service Professionals at UC have continued signing cards to form a union at a rapid rate as well. Grad Student Workers at University of Nevada Las Vegas and University of Nevada Reno mobilized a powerful lobby day to call on the Nevada State legislature to pass a bill enshrining collective bargaining rights, and held a rally to pressure university administration to recognize the democratic choice of a supermajority of workers to form a union. After Washignton state legislators failed to advance a bill that would have enshrined collective bargaining rights for Operational Student Employees at Western Washington University, workers are organizing and resolved to take escalating action in their ongoing fight for a union. Non-Tenure-Track Faculty at University of Southern California held a Town Hall to build worker participation and power to get management to agree to a union election. 

  • Bargaining: Postdocs at University of Washington continue bargaining for a successor contract. A supermajority of Student Assistants at University of Oregon resoundingly passed a Strike Authorization Vote in their ongoing fight for a strong first contract. And more first contract fights continue at University of Southern California (Postdocs, and Adjunct Faculty in the School of Cinematic Arts), Washington State University (Postdocs), UC Law SF (Student Workers), and more. 

  • Gender, Civil, and Human Rights Committee: Members of the Region 6 Gender, Civil, and Human Rights Committee mobilized a sign-on letter calling on U.S. Senators to vote no and filibuster a bill that would have opened the door for dangerous changes to non-discrimination protections in an attempt to exclude trans people – and shortly after, the bill was successfully defeated in the Senate. Members also organized a mass public comment action to oppose proposed changes by the Department of State to roll back trans people’s rights to accurate passports. And members celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8.

Upcoming events

  • Region 6 Political Action (CAP/PAC) meeting: March 20 and April 17, 6-7pm via zoom. RSVP here.

  • Kill the Cuts! National Planning Call: March 22, 9-10am. More info & RSVP here. 

  • UAW International Scholar Know Your Rights Training: March 26, 12-1pm via zoom. More info and RSVP here. 

  • Region 6 Just Transition Committee meeting: March 27, 6-7pm via zoom. Fill out this survey to get connected. 

  • César Chávez Day March: March 31, 11am, Delano, CA. 

  • The UAW Women in Leadership Conference will be April 3-6 at the Pat Greathouse Center in Ottawa, IL. Contact your Local for more info and to join. Attendance is limited. 

  • Kill the Cuts! National Day of Action: April 8 at a location near you! More info here.

  • The UAW Health & Safety Conference will be April 27-May 2 at the Walter & May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in Onaway, MI. Contact your Local for more information and to join. 

  • Region 6 Gender Justice & Civil Human Rights Committee meeting: April 14, 6-7pm via Zoom. RSVP here.

  • Region 6 Education & Communications Committee meeting: April 18, 12-1pm. RSVP here.

  • The Region 6 Injury to One Is an Injury to All Conference: May 3-4 at the University of Washington in Seattle. Contact your Local for more info and to join. 

  • Region 6 Summer School: July 24-27 at Cal State Los Angeles. More info to come. 

  • The full 2025 UAW Education Department conference schedule is now available, with multiple options upcoming at the Walter & May Reuther Family Education Center in Onaway, MI. Contact your Local for more info and to join.

Aaron Thomas
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The Trump Admin’s Attacks on Higher Ed, Immigrants, & Freedom of Speech