PWHL Players Association strengthens voice by affiliating with AFL-CIO and its 15 million workers

Women’s hockey players have taken the next major step to strengthen their voice in shaping the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s future by affiliating with the AFL-CIO at a time when their sport is more popular than ever.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association on Thursday became the 65th union to join America’s largest labor federation, which represents nearly 15 million workers. And the PWHLPA became the 10th players association to join the AFL-CIO’s sports council, which already includes unions representing NFL, NHL, major league baseball, WNBA and women’s soccer players.

The affiliation agreement was approved during meetings in Washington, D.C., and the timing coincides with women’s hockey enjoying a surge in momentum following the U.S. women’s team winning its third Olympic gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games last month.

“This isn’t a moment, it is a movement,” PWHLPA executive director Malaika Underwood told The Associated Press.

“I think this affiliation really reflects something our members have believed from the beginning," she added. “When athletes stand together and they work collectively, they can shape the future of their sport. And they are doing just that. It is amazing to be part of.”

Gaining affiliation for her 184 PWHL players was an objective Underwood pushed upon taking over the PWHLPA job nearly a year ago to the day. Underwood previously was a partner at the consulting firm OneTeam, which represented the commercial interests of many of the player associations already affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

She considered the PWHLPA joining as the next logical step in the union’s ascendency.

The women’s hockey association was formed when the league was first launched in the summer of 2023, and hailed for being the first women’s pro sports league to have a CBA in place before playing its first game.

The privately controlled PWHL began as a six-team league and has enjoyed considerable growth since. The league expanded by two teams last summer, with plans already in place to add as many as four more next season.

The league has also seen a ground-swell of popularity since players returned from the Olympics, with the PWHL enjoying numerous sellouts. And that includes the league announcing on Thursday that it has already sold out two upcoming games scheduled at New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Boston’s TD Garden.

Underwood stressed that while the PWHLPA and league have maintained a respectful and collaborative approach in shaping the league’s future, the affiliation with the AFL-CIO strengthens the union’s position. The partnership provides the PWHLPA additional resources and strength in numbers when advocating for its players at the bargaining table.

“These players have platforms, and they have a voice and power. And when they use it to advance workers’ issues, we all win,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told the AP. “So I think connecting those common struggles has been at the root of why we think this partnership is so important.”

Shuler said the AFL-CIO has played a role in ongoing talks between the Women’s National Basketball Players Association and the WNBA, after the union opted out of the previous CBA. And she noted the clout women’s soccer players had in eliminating the college draft in reaching its latest collective bargaining agreement with the NWSL.

“When women athletes come together as workers, they don’t only elevate their own leagues, they raise the bar across all of women’s sports,” Shuler said.

The PWHL controls and operates each of its franchises, and is financed by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter.

The league’s current CBA runs through 2031, with Underwood saying the union is open to whatever PWHL executives choose — whether deciding to re-open the deal early or allowing it to run its course.

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Toronto Sceptres' goaltender Raygan Kirk (1) celebrates with her teammates after defeating the Vancouver Goldeneyes during the third period of a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

United States' Hilary Knight (21) celebrates after scoring her side's opening goal during a women's ice hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Boston Fleet's Abby Newhook (19) celebrates her goal with teammates during the first period of an PWHL hockey game in Ottawa, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)

President Donald Trump has fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and says he’ll nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

Trump made the announcement on social media on Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats.

Trump says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.

Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Noem’s departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.

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Noem made hers the face of immigration enforcement, often putting herself in the center of the action.

She sometimes dressed in a flack jacket and accompanied agents on immigration raids as cameras recorded, though she does not have a law enforcement background.

She also posed in front of a group of shirtless, tattooed men behind bars during a March visit to an El Salvador prison where the Trump administration sent people it accused of being gang members.

Noem spoke for more than 20 minutes, but didn’t mention her firing as she spoke to the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville on Thursday.

Even when she began answering audience questions, no one mentioned it. Asked about future law enforcement grants, Noem seemed to suggest that she would continue to be on the job.

“I think your best options for funding alternatives would be through some grants that with the department, we have specific grants towards, terrorism grants,” she said at one point. “So maybe what I’ll do is I will forward those grant opportunities to all of you so that you can share them with your departments and have that opportunity.”

Mullin would take over the third largest department in government that has responsibility for carrying out Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda. And he takes the office at a pivotal time for that agenda.

Immigration enforcement during the first year of Trump’s administration was largely defined by high-profile, made-for-social-media operations with flashy names that were often led by Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who reported directly to Noem.

Noem herself often went out on those operations, riding along with officers when they went out to make arrests.

But those high-profile operations in places like Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, often led to clashes with activists and protesters that were captured on video and drove opposition to the president’s immigration agenda.

That culminated with the shooting deaths in Minneapolis after which Trump sent in his border czar Tom Homan to take direct control of the operation in Minneapolis. Bovino was also reassigned.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, Wednesday, March 4, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)