April 14, 2025 — Thousands of workers across the country attended “Hands Off!” rallies on April 5 to signal to local leaders and the federal government that they are outraged with cuts to government jobs and services. About 1,300 Hands Off! rallies were held around the United States, Canada and even in some parts of Europe.
Since taking office in January, President Trump and his administration have cut funding from several agencies including the Education Department, Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration and more. Many of these agencies deliver program funding to states, including New York.
In Albany, the rainy and windy weather did not deter roughly 6,000 protestors from showing up and pushing back against potential cuts to the federal government and New York State’s public sector. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, State Senator Patricia Fahy and Assemblymember John McDonald joined more than a dozen PEF members at the Albany rally, held in West Capitol Park outside the Legislature.
Among the PEF attendees was Myron Getman, a research scientist at the Department of Health, who sits on the PEF Executive Board and is the council leader of Division 205.
He expressed concern over the potential loss of federal funds at DOH, which is where New York successfully developed one of the first effective tests to diagnose Covid during the height of the pandemic.
“The weather is terrible, but that didn’t stop us from coming out,” said Getman. “PEF and our fellow unions came out to defend the valuable services we provide to society and fight against the administration’s illegal attacks against labor rights.”
Mickey Dobbin was another Executive Board member on hand as well, representing the State Education Department, including the New York State Museum.
“We cannot just hope that our parent unions filing lawsuits to stop these attacks on essential services we provide to the people of New York will work,” Dobbin said. “We can’t just hope that our leadership can end this. We have to show up and make our voices heard by those in power. Unions have always been, and always will be, one of the strongest places for workers to make their voices heard.”
PEF’s mobilization to “Stop the Cuts” is ongoing. Visit our campaign page for ways you can get involved.
