Hundreds of organized workers, representing a variety of unions including the United Auto Workers (UAW), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the National Educational Association (NEA), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), among other groups, took to the streets in demonstrations across the country opposing planning Trump administration cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
The Trump administration has announced major changes to NIH funding, including cutting funding for “indirect costs” which include helping pay for facilities, equipment, staff, and safety checks for health research at institutions. In February, the Trump administration announced that the NIH would cut the indirect cost rate on all new and current grants by 15%. Trump has also proposed to reduce the budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget by 66%.
Hundreds of academic workers across NYC marched to demand that lawmakers #killthecuts on federal research funding yesterday, part of a National Day of Action! pic.twitter.com/DTd5qutcdj
— Columbia Postdoctoral Workers – UAW Local 4100 (@CPWUAW) April 9, 2025
According to the Science and Community Impacts Mapping Project, if NIH funding is cut, the US economy would lose billions of dollars, thousands of jobs would be lost, and “medical research would be slowed, making it harder to cure diseases and keep people healthy.” According to an initiative launched by unions and labor groups including UAW, AFT, AAUP, NEA, AFSCME, CWA, SEIU, UE, and other groups, if Trump cuts NIH funding, those at risk include “millions of families who look to NIH and federally-supported research to produce lifesaving treatments,” as well as “millions of students who attend higher education institutions where they train to become nurses, teachers, doctors, engineers, and otherwise advance the public good.”
In the lead up to planned rallies on April 8, researchers have spoken out on the impact of cuts on health research that benefits millions in the US. “My research focuses on creating a complex model of the human lung to study diseases and test drug treatments without using animals or human subjects,” said US Merced graduate student researcher and UAW 4811 member Metzli Montero. “Using these models, we are testing potential therapies for lung cancer. A freeze on NIH funding has put our lab’s future at risk, forcing us to limit innovation and question whether we can continue our work on life-saving treatments.”
Academic workers from @UAWRegion9A rallied in Boston yesterday to #KillTheCuts, because an injury to one is an injury to all! pic.twitter.com/nC6Du4Kn0n
— UAW (@UAW) April 9, 2025
According to a 2023 report by the American Association of Cancer Research, “ the overall US cancer death rate has fallen by 33 percent between 1991 and 2020, a reduction that translates into averting an estimated 3.8 million deaths from cancer.” Improvements in cancer detection, prevention, and treatment have been driven by “investments in NIH, NCI, FDA, and CDC by the US federal government,” according to the report.
Rallies took place in campuses and cities across the country under the slogan “Kill the cuts.” Hundreds marched in Los Angeles, with 200 demonstrators joining from the University of California – Los Angeles campus, in a rally organized by UAW Local 4811, which represents student workers at the University of California system. Hundreds of workers also rallied in Washington, DC, holding signs with slogans including “Kill the cuts, save science,” and “protect science.” Hundreds of academic workers marched through the streets of New York City, holding signs which read “Defund billionaires not science” and “money for education, not oligarchs.”
