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On April 8th, members of UAW 4811 at UC Riverside joined union members nationwide to tell the Trump administration three words: Kill the Cuts!
Following the administration’s attacks on research, education, and healthcare, unions across the United States chose to hold a National Day of Action. Federal funding is vital to supporting workers across these industries, with many losing jobs already. These cuts have far-ranging effects beyond employment, as speakers emphasized.
The impact of funding cuts on the Inland Empire
UAW 4811 organized UC Riverside’s “Kill the Cuts” rally, leading the day’s program. Speakers addressed the crowd from UAW 4811, the UC Riverside Faculty Association, SSAP-UAW, and NUHW. The IELC in addition to other unions were also present in the crowd.
Members of UAW 4811 and the UC RFA spoke about the direct impacts that loss of funding will have on their research and livelihoods. The following specific examples were listed: environmental monitoring systems that are critical to mitigating the Salton Sea crisis, entire classes about health and the environment, and studies about adolescent health. All ending due to the Trump administration removing their funding.
Cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH) would total a staggering loss of 106 million dollars across the Inland Empire. Federal research funding produces treatments, and outright cures, for disease and other ailments.
Research at public institutions like the University of California is a public good. Public health is a priority for much of this research, but the removal of funding came entirely from above. Furthermore, universities are often strong economic bases with high unionization rates. Cuts to funding will inevitably lead to a loss of union jobs, and hurt ongoing contract negotiations.
We are called here because the University of California and the research that we do here are public goods. Public goods exist because the public – that’s us – shows up and demands that they BE GOOD.
Michelle Porche, UC Riverside Faculty Association
Solidarity from beyond campus
NUHW continued the message of defending research from the perspective of behavioral healthcare workers. They see firsthand the impact that research has on helping their patients live healthier, better lives. On Kill the Cuts “Our Stories” webpage, many researchers develop treatment for mental health conditions. NUHW members spoke about seeing the positive outcomes in this, bolstering their already robust solidarity with other union members.
NUHW members at Kaiser Permanente are 6 months into a strike that is focused on patient care. Members of the union know that any loss of funding for mental healthcare will ultimately hurt patients. Donate to their strike fund at ielabor.org/DonateNUHW.
A commitment to continue the work
After the first group of speakers’ remarks, the crowd marched to the newly built School of Medicine. The new building, maybe more than any other, signifies the importance of NIH funding.
The final speaker of the day was Shun, an associate instructor with UAW 4811 from Japan. He spoke of the improvements made in his life by having collective bargaining since arriving in the United States, and the need to continue mobilizing for justice. Echoing the sentiment of many crowd members, he also spoke out against the Trump administration’s slew of recent visa revocations and deportations. These have just hit UC Riverside. Many union members have been impacted across industries, like SEIU 509 Member Rumeysa Ozturk, FUJ member Alfredo Juarez, and SMART Local 100 apprentice Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
The rally concluded with the crowd recommitting to fighting both against the cuts and for a better contract in the forthcoming negotiations, which would include protections for political activity. In order to stay up to date on future actions, keep visiting https://www.killthecuts.org/.
To protect against more cuts harmful to public health, take the following actions:
Send a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding that respirators be properly checked before they’re sold, reversing the cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Call your member of Congress and demand they stand up for the NIOSH and its workers against DOGE and the Trump administration.
