A man who emerged as an unlikely ally pushing Donald Trump's tariffs is now back to criticizing the president over a problem a blue state is said to have solved.
The union leader who has an on-off relationship with the president says the administration is waging an all-out war on American science—and California is fighting back.
In a scathing op-ed, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers International Union, revealed his view on the devastating toll of the White House's relentless assault on federal research funding. While billionaires pocket massive tax cuts, scientists are getting pink slips and cutting-edge labs are shutting down cold, he wrote.
Fain says the Trump administration's assault on federally funded research is forcing California to take matters into its own hands. Over the past year, the White House has pursued aggressive cuts to scientific research while simultaneously slashing taxes for billionaires, leaving the nation's research infrastructure in jeopardy, according to his analysis.
"The implications are not abstract. The University of California system alone — where the United Auto Workers union, the organization I lead, represents 60,000 workers, including academic employees and researchers — risks losing between $5 billion and $6 billion every year from the Trump administration’s cuts," he wrote on Saturday. "Another estimate put the total loss at $7.6 billion annually. The UAW represents more than 120,000 academic workers across the country, many of whom work on the bleeding edge of innovation, all of whom are at risk."
As for California's answer, Fain thinks it's a good one.
"Against this disturbing backdrop, California is considering an unusual intervention. California Senate Bill 895, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act, poses a fundamental question to voters: Who should decide the direction of scientific investment when the federal government falters?" he wrote. "The legislation’s solution is starting a foundation, advised by a council of experts, with the council establishing the foundation’s research priorities, and funding awarded accordingly, based on 'the scientific merit of the proposed research, as determined by an open, competitive, scientific peer review process that ensures objectivity, consistency, and high quality.' The foundation would be of Californians, for Californians, to advance projects and research in line with the state’s values."
According to Fain, "If passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the bill would place a measure on the state’s November 2026 ballot funding up to $23 billion worth of scientific research at California institutions. It would give people — not political appointees or corporate lobbyists, as too often happens in Washington — the power to prioritize the research that matters most to their lives and their families."