How Philadelphia Is Fighting Back Against Donald Trump’s Anti-Worker Crusade

There is no bad time to stand up and protect workers’ rights, but there is no better time than now.

In the first few months of his term, Donald Trump has dismantled the Labor Department, illegally fired the former head of the National Labor Relations Commission, fired hundreds of thousands of federal workers without considering union contracts, and is now trying to complete the collective bargaining rights of federal workers.

Here in Philadelphia, I fight it in partnerships with domestic workers, unionists and colleagues on the Philadelphia City Council. And what we’re doing could be a model for cities across the country.

One of our main initiatives is to expand protection for 750,000 workers, ensure that the City of Philadelphia has the tools and resources needed to protect workers, and to retain accountable and bad actors who break the law. Cities across the country who want to trace the lawsuit should consider strengthening local labor policies and ensuring effective enforcement.

If we take on the greed of billionaires and businesses, we need to lead the value and place it before local policy wars. Trump and Musk may not care about workers, but the working families and our allies who helped with this law certainly do.

That’s why I, along with 13 colleagues, introduced the protection of our Worker Enforcement Law. Since Trump’s election, providing drastic protection to workers is the most important law. The law was passed early today support Workers from the National Union of Domestic Workers, AFL-CIO and Black and Brown support them all across Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is a Union town. We have deep roots in dignity, respect, and the struggle for laws of professional workers that allow us to escape poverty, raise our families and lead good lives. This includes the recent passage of the Fair Work Week law, rising wages for airports and security personnel, and one of the nation’s first Bill of Rights for Domestic Workers. As a city council member and former domestic worker, I wanted to strengthen and update current laws so that workers could be protected from retaliation and make it easier to assert their right to work. Philadelphians work hard every day. And they need to provide them with the protection they deserve when they go to work.

With this law, we will seize the moment by making the Ministry of Labor more aggressive, more transparent and more sensitive to the needs of everyday workers. The bill would prevent retaliation against workers who assert their rights, enact stronger legal protections against workers, and enact sudden financial punishments for law-breaking employers. This allows workers to receive direct financial support when an employer violates their rights. Previously, all financial penalties were made only for cities, strengthening the Ministry of Labor, allowing for more thorough and aggressive workplace investigations, allowing the department to suspend business licensing for bad employers. It also gives workers the option to pursue private rights, requires more public reports, including a “bad actor database,” and provides more public accountability to employers who cite three or more violations and break the law.

Power also raises hourly wages for advanced workers on paid sick leave, and proves immigration protections for workers facing abuse and other violations.

Corporate support politicians and their billionaires allies are fighting a war with workers across the country. And it’s clear that with the Republican Triple Ecta in DC, the federal government won’t save us. At the city level, it’s up to us to step up.

As we speak, we are only 100 days in this administration. But one thing is already clear. The billionaires who run our country don’t care about the workers. We can’t sit sloppy in the face of Trump’s protection of workers and dismantling parent union precedent. Elected officials must use all legal and legislative options to push back and protect city-level workers, regardless of what Trump is doing.