Labor and Workplace Health and Safety Groups Sue to Restore Programs at NIOSH

Unions across nursing, education, mining and manufacturing industries, along with a manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE), on Wednesday sued the Trump administration to reverse the illegal dismantling of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The Trump administration and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reckless cuts to NIOSH—made under the direction of Elon Musk’s DOGE—have shut down vital programs and will result in the firing of more than 85% of the staff by July. The chaos of dismantling, temporarily recalling and piecemeal reinstatements of staff has wreaked havoc on workers’ lives, discontinuing services and programs altogether and creating total disruption in the benefits and protections that workers and the public depend on. The lawsuit follows a May 1 letter from the AFL-CIO and 27 unions urging Congress to intervene to reinstate NIOSH staff and restore its programs. Public Citizen Litigation Group and the AFL-CIO’s Office of the General Counsel filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of unions, workplace safety experts and a PPE manufacturer.

“By gutting NIOSH, Elon Musk and his DOGE won’t just be cutting corners—they are cutting lives short and placing working people in danger. Working people have fought too hard for these critical protections to now watch an unelected billionaire dismantle them and take us back to a time when chronic disease and death on the job was commonplace,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with unions and partners today in filing this lawsuit to challenge this illegal, reckless and potentially deadly assault on worker health and safety.” Read more here.