As it becomes increasingly clear what a second Trump presidency means, America's labor movement has positioned itself as democracy's strongest, most important and best organized line of defense against a sweeping authoritarian agenda. The unions forming our workforce's backbone—from teachers to nurses, service workers to government employees—have transformed from worker advocates into the vanguard defenders of democracy, confronting the existential threat of Project 2025's plan to dismantle America's most important institutions.

This coordinated assault targets democracy's foundations through three interlocking strategies: gutting the federal workforce using executive actions, privatizing essential social programs like Social Security and Medicare, and auctioning off critical services including the U.S. Postal Service to corporate interests. These moves represent more than policy changes—they constitute a wholesale transfer of public goods into private hands, deliberately eroding worker protection while restructuring government to serve elite interests.

In response, PSI’s affiliates have launched unprecedented multi-front resistance in the streets, the workplace, the media and in the courts. The American Federation of Teachers is mobilizing against school voucher schemes that defund public education. National Nurses United is fighting to defend Medicare from privatization through patient advocacy campaigns. AFSCME members are deploying emergency response plans for mass firings of civil servants. The Service Employees International Union has partnered with civil rights organizations to combat voter suppression tactics targeting working-class communities.

The movement's strength lies in its proven ability to win battles across multiple arenas. The American Federation of Government Employees demonstrated this last week when they secured a landmark legal victory against Trump's illegal termination of federal workers. Federal Judge William Alsup's blistering ruling exposed how the administration fabricated performance claims to justify firings, ordering immediate reinstatement of thousands of workers while declaring that the terminations "based on a lie." This victory proved unions could successfully challenge authoritarian overreach through the courts—a lesson being institutionalized through new initiatives like Democracy 2025, which pre-positions legal teams to file challenges within hours of unconstitutional actions.

Legislatively, labour's allies have reintroduced the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act to strengthen union organizing and collective bargaining rights. The strategic reintroduction of railroad worker safety legislation—following the preventable disasters—demonstrates how unions are forcing accountability for anti-worker policies.

What makes this resistance unique is its comprehensive nature. The United Auto Workers' historic strike strategy—simultaneously targeting the three biggest automakers—has inspired similar coordinated actions across sectors. Teachers’ unions now pair strike actions with political education about school privatization threats. Postal worker protests highlight both workplace issues and the danger of privatization.

April Verrett, SEIU President, remembers that unions will not stay and still. “Working people are not going to stand idly by while this administration destroys public education and other services, we all rely on—just to give tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-wealthy. Education workers—from food service workers, janitors, and bus drivers to higher education workers, teachers, special education support staff, and administrators—stand united in this moment to protect the interests of the students and communities they serve.”

The stakes transcend traditional labor issues. Should Project 2025 succeed, we'd see not just eroded worker protections but the dismantling of social safety nets that have sustained generations. Public education could become a patchwork of privatized systems answerable to corporate boards rather than communities. Essential services could be transformed into private equity profit centers. The professional civil service could be replaced by political loyalists, replicating the corrupt patronage systems of the Gilded Age.

“The message is really clear and simple: It’s not okay to rob students of the education they need and deserve in order to give big tax cuts to the wealthy. What you’re seeing on the ground across America are people—parents and teachers, together—saying our kids need these services. We cannot cut them”, said Randi Weingarten from AFT.

In this fight, organized labor's resistance represents more than unionism—it's become a defense of the social contract itself. As unions deploy their organizational might through strikes, lawsuits, legislative pushes, and voter mobilization drives, they're fighting not just for contracts and benefits, but for the fundamental character of democracy. Their victories—from courtroom triumphs to workplace organizing wins—provide guidance and inspiration for the broader fights to defend democracy in the US and globally.