News

It’s been another week in the legislature and… let’s just say that we all should pay attention in the next few months.

Eight hundred thousand workers. That is the number of government employees and contractors impacted by President Trump’s shutdown of the federal government.

Furloughed federal employees and out-of-work contractors greeted one another Thursday with a sarcastic nickname that, on the 20th day of a partial government shutdown, captured their feeling of powerlessness: “Hello, fellow pawns.”

Sisters and Brothers,

This last week the North Dakota Legislature ramped up. As usual a variety of bills are already out, some threatening, some helpful. Of course, we will throw everything we have into the fight for better laws, but we’ll need everyone’s help.

1. Janus dealt a heavy blow to labor—but public-sector unions didn’t crumble overnight.

A federal employee union sued the Trump administration Monday over the government shutdown, claiming it is illegal for agencies