The Battle for America’s Workers: How Progressives Are Fighting Conservative Rollbacks

Protecting Hard-Won Labor Rights in an Era of Uncertainty

In recent months, progressive organizations have intensified their efforts to safeguard worker protections established during the Biden administration. As conservative forces attempt to roll back these gains, labor advocates are taking the fight to state legislatures and mobilizing grassroots support to preserve and expand workers’ rights across America.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. As James Goodwin, policy director at the Center for Progressive Reform, warns, conservative plans like Project 2025 represent “a bleak world” for American workers—one where overtime pay disappears, civil rights protections weaken, and union power diminishes significantly.

The Conservative Threat to Worker Protections

Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative think tanks, outlines a comprehensive plan to reshape American labor policy. According to Goodwin, the document reveals a troubling vision: “We’d have no room for unions. More explicitly it talks about increasing oversight of unions, regulating them more stringently even as we deregulate employers” The Nation.

The plan would dramatically alter the federal workforce by implementing “Schedule F,” which would strip civil service protections from tens of thousands of government employees, making them at-will workers who could be fired without cause. This would effectively return America to the spoils system of the 19th century, replacing career experts with political loyalists.

Perhaps most concerning is the plan to eliminate the independence of agencies like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), placing them under direct presidential control. This would severely undermine worker protections and labor rights enforcement.

The Progressive Response

In response to these threats, progressive organizations are mobilizing at both federal and state levels. The Congressional Progressive Caucus recently unveiled its “Progressive Proposition Agenda,” a comprehensive vision for strengthening worker protections and expanding labor rights.

The agenda focuses on seven key areas, with worker power and economic security at its core. Key proposals include:

• Raising the federal minimum wage to $17 per hour by 2028
• Passing the PRO Act to strengthen unions
• Guaranteeing overtime pay
• Capping child care costs at 7% of income for all families
• Expanding Social Security benefits
• Adding dental, vision, and hearing benefits to Medicare
• Enacting policies to protect renters and make housing more affordable

“It’s really about worker power and raising wages and lowering costs for poor people, middle-class Americans and the working people across this country,” explained Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus NBC News.

Building a Broad Coalition

The progressive agenda has garnered support from a diverse coalition of organizations, including labor unions, civil rights groups, and environmental advocates. Endorsers include the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), National Nurses United, Sierra Club, and Working Families Party.

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus is leading the way for Congress to address the major issues affecting working families, from reducing health care and housing costs to strengthening workers’ rights to join unions, earn living wages and benefits, and have safe workplaces,” said Mary Kay Henry, President of SEIU Congressional Progressive Caucus.

State-Level Battlegrounds

While federal policy remains a key focus, progressives recognize that state-level action is equally important. In states with Democratic majorities, advocates are pushing for stronger worker protections, paid family leave, and anti-wage theft measures.

These state-level efforts serve as both a bulwark against federal rollbacks and as laboratories for progressive labor policies that could eventually be implemented nationwide.

The Stakes for American Workers

The contrast between the progressive and conservative visions for American workers couldn’t be starker. As Goodwin describes the potential impact of Project 2025: “As a worker, I wouldn’t have the free time to do these sorts of things, because overtime pay is gone. We’re going to allow increased concentration within different industries. So the disparities between me and my bosses, whoever they are, wherever they are, is going to be made even worse” The Nation.

Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party National Director, frames the progressive alternative: “This agenda is a clear road map to an America that works for all of us, not just the wealthy or well connected. By raising wages, guaranteeing paid family leave, and lowering the cost of health care and housing, we can strengthen economic security for millions of working families” Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The Path Forward

The battle for workers’ rights will likely intensify in the coming months. Progressive organizations are focusing on building grassroots support, highlighting the concrete benefits of worker protections, and mobilizing voters around economic issues.

As Rep. Jayapal noted, “We have to excite our base. We have to show them what the path forward is — not just say, ‘This is the most important election of your life, and we expect you to vote.’ I don’t think that’s going to turn people out” NBC News.

The outcome of this struggle will shape the future of American labor for generations to come. For millions of workers, the stakes couldn’t be higher.