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In the News
Ohio City Worker Union Complains That Goats Are Eating Its Lunch
June 17, 2026 // Sejal Govindarao for New York TImes
The “blatant disregard” of labor through subcontracting is the crux of the issue for Will Harmon, the local’s president, rather than the voracious ruminants clearing vegetation at the facility. The union filed a complaint with the Columbus Water & Power department this month after the agency promoted its partnership with a goat grazing company on social media. The grievance accuses the management at the facility, the Southerly Water Reclamation Plant outside Columbus, of failing to properly notify the union of its intent to subcontract the work, which, it said, violates their collective bargaining agreement. “Now it’s animals doing my work,” he said. “Before long, they’ll be having A.I. doing my bargaining unit work.”
Coalition to Protect American Workers and I4AW’s Michael Alcorn: Petition for Rulemaking — Blocking Charges in Representation Proceedings
June 17, 2026 // Author for Coalition to Protect American Workers
The requested rule is straightforward: unfair labor practice charges should not postpone elections, dismiss petitions, or indefinitely prevent employees from voting on whether they wish to be represented by a labor organization. The Board should require elections to proceed promptly; eliminate merit-determination dismissals and other regional workarounds based on unadjudicated charges; permit temporary ballot impoundment only by written Board order under a demanding standard; and require the Board to act on any regional impoundment request within 30 days. If the Board does not issue an impoundment order within that period, the case should return to the Region and the ballots should be opened and counted.
SQ 832 gets final push from socialists before election
June 17, 2026 // Ray Carter for Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
State Question 832 would more than double Oklahoma’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2029 and then continue increasing it every year based on increases in the cost-of-living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco, where it far exceeds Oklahoma norms, particularly in rural communities.
D.C. fines Lewis George campaign, finding coordination with labor groups
June 17, 2026 // Steve Thompson, Jenny Gathright for Washington Post
The District’s Office of Campaign Finance on Friday ordered mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George and her campaign to pay $16,000 in fines after investigators concluded her team improperly coordinated with labor unions and an independent expenditure committee that has spent about $1 million supporting her candidacy, allegations the campaign quickly denied and said it would fight. Independent expenditure committees can raise and spend unlimited sums on advertising to support candidates — but only if they operate independently from the campaigns they back. When coordination occurs, those expenditures are treated as contributions, which are subject to strict limits.
CALIFORNIA Why is Carl’s Jr. closing? Franchisee to sell nearly 50 SoCal locations
June 17, 2026 // Ernesto Centeno Araujo for USA TODAY
In early filings, Dharod blamed the struggles his stores faced on Carl's Jr. for a lack of support and innovation, and on the state of California for the increase in the minimum wage to $20 for fast-food workers, the LA Times reported.
Faster is Not Always Better: House Passes Bill Seeking Radical Change in First Contract Bargaining
June 17, 2026 // Michael J. Lebowich, Joshua S. Fox, Daniel H. Dorson, Dixie M. Morrison, for Proskauer Rose LLP
The bill also raises questions about the lawfulness of strikes and lockouts during these first contract negotiations. Typically, where parties agree to interest arbitration (or where it exists in the public sector) it is premised on a mutual commitment of labor peace, i.e., the union will not go on strike, and the employer will not lock employees out while negotiations are ongoing and the arbitration is pending. However, in the private sector and in the absence of such a mutual commitment, both such economic weapons may be used offensively in furtherance of a party’s bargaining demand. The FLCA does not explain if or how a party may exercise such an economic weapon in furtherance of their bargaining position if the dispute will be submitted to an FMCS panel for binding interest arbitration. Equally troubling is the FLCA’s potential impact on unilateral implementation. Unilateral implementation upon reaching a good-faith bargaining impasse has long been a vital bargaining tool for employers. The possibility of implementing terms when negotiations stall has been an effective tool to encourage the parties to continue making movement towards the other. Eliminating this option will alter bargaining leverage and strategies particularly in successor contracts where the FLCA’s temporal framework does not apply.
Opinion: UAW Constitutional Convention can protect direct democracy
June 17, 2026 // Gary Chynoweth for Detroit Free Press
We also know what the delegate system got us: corruption and concessions. Throughout the final decade of delegate elections, members endured concessions that weakened our contracts and confidence in our union. At the same time, top officials were involved in a racketeering, bribery and embezzlement scandal that eventually landed them in prison. All the while, the delegate system continued to produce leaders from the same Administration Caucus.
Arizona voters to decide on measure curtailing taxpayer support for teachers’ unions
June 16, 2026 // Arielle Brown for Freedom Foundation
HCR 2040 would prohibit union members from using school email systems and equipment to recruit members or distribute union materials, end automatic payroll deductions for union dues and bar union meetings from being held on school property while students are present. Employees would also have the right to bargain on their own behalf if they are unsatisfied with a union-negotiated contract. “Teachers’ unions have long counted on government resources to do their organizing for them,” said Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation. “Arizona voters will now have the chance to weigh in on whether taxpayer resources should be funding union politics in public schools.”
SoFi Stadium workers given ‘Kick ICE Out’ buttons by union ahead of USMNT-Paraguay
June 16, 2026 // Adam Crafton for New York Times
Union shop stewards inside SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles are handing out buttons which read ‘Kick ICE Out’ for workers to wear at the venue hosting FIFA’s World Cup match between the United States and Paraguay on Friday night. The Unite Here Local Eleven union represent over 2,000 workers at the venue who largely work in food and beverage concessions, including cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders. The Athletic received images of both cooks and bartenders wearing the buttons. The union said the language of their agreement with the stadium operators, Legends Global, permits employees to wear “one (1) official Union button while on duty”.
Nurses at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital vote to authorize strike
June 16, 2026 // 6abc Digital Staff for 6abc
The Einstein Nurses United voted Monday to authorize a strike, weeks after nurses hit the picket line. They have been working without a contract for more than a month.
Whole Foods unionization upheld by U.S. Labor Board
June 16, 2026 // Joel Eidelson for Seattle Times
n a brief, unanimous order Monday, the members of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Whole Foods had raised “no substantial issues warranting review.” The order was issued by a pair of Republican board members appointed by President Donald Trump, as well as a Democrat appointed by his predecessor Joe Biden. Employees at the Philadelphia location voted 130 to 100 in January 2025 to unionize with the United Food & Commercial Workers union.
UAW members at American Axle ratify pending contract
June 16, 2026 // Paula Wethington for CBS News
Members voted by 80% to ratify the new contract, the union said. The new contract, according to a Local 2093 chairperson, included paying workers $30 by 2030, no increase in healthcare premiums, more time off around Christmas, a $2,000 ratification bonus and the commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans Day. Additionally, workers with at least one year of employment will receive nine additional vacation days per year.
The Beverage Market provides update about ongoing talks with striking workers, Teamsters Local 175 union
June 16, 2026 // Jack Carlson
Beer distribution company The Beverage Market said it wants to continue negotiations “in good faith” with striking workers involved in the current dispute between the company and the Teamsters Local 175 union. The current contract between the company and the union expired in early May. 49 workers at The Beverage Market began their strike May 12, and have been on the picket line ever since. Union members have said the company is asking for “unfair concessionary proposals” related to wages, insurance, and retirement.
Social conservatives split over abortion and transgender medicine in union contracts bill
June 16, 2026 // Gabrielle M. Etzel for Washington Examiner
Beck said he believes abortion and transgender medical coverage would be “an easy thing” for arbitrators to use as a bargaining chip to reach an agreement on the three-person panel. “It’s going to be easy for the arbitrator to say, ‘OK, employer, I’m not going to make you pay the high wages that the union is demanding,’” Beck said as a hypothetical. ‘“But what I am going to make you do is I’m going to make you give generous health benefits and give very generous access to abortion on demand and give very, very generous access to so-called gender-affirming care.”
Op-ed: A GOP Gift to the Cultural Left
June 15, 2026 // Editorial Board for Wall Street Journal
We wonder if Republicans know what they’ve voted for—and not merely on wages or pensions. Unions, allied with Democrats, have long supported a progressive agenda that includes collective bargaining for abortion coverage and transgender healthcare. The model language the AFL-CIO recommends to local chapters says “all health plans offered to bargaining unit members shall cover comprehensive . . . reproductive healthcare services, including contraceptives, abortion services . . . and gender affirming care.” In 2012 the Service Employees International Union unanimously approved a resolution “calling on local unions to bargain for trans-inclusive healthcare.” The NewsGuild of New York/Communications Workers of America said in 2022 it “unequivocally supports access to abortion as a healthcare right.”
Shawn Fain seeks reelection as UAW convention tackles major policy issues
June 15, 2026 // Jaelyn Campbell for CBT News
Key issues include: Increasing strike pay from $500 to $625 per week. Potentially reducing union dues from 2.5 hours of pay to 2 hours. Determining how aggressively to fund future organizing campaigns. Clarifying membership and retiree eligibility rules. Protecting the union’s direct election system. The convention comes as the UAW navigates the aftermath of a corruption scandal that sent two former presidents to prison and placed the union under federal oversight. Notably, court-appointed monitor Neil Barofsky has criticized Fain and other senior leaders over transparency and internal governance concerns, with another report expected soon.
Editorial: Why are some Republicans pushing price-hiking, pro-union bills in Congress?
June 15, 2026 // Post Editorial Board for New York Post
Democrats have long pushed pro-union measures sure to boost prices, even as they pretend to care about “affordability.” But why are Republicans now joining them? On Tuesday, a full 20 GOPers crossed the aisle to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act, 230-193. The bill, lifted from Dems’ PRO Act, aims to boost unionization by forcing employers to agree to labor contracts within 90 days after a newly formed labor group calls for talks.
Freelance Busting: The Lady Problem
June 15, 2026 // Kim Kavin for Freelance Busting
The Legislature should support this concurrent resolution, not just because of testimony in recent months that revealed employee misclassification isn’t a big problem in the first place, but also to make clear that the state supports all of us women who own and operate New Jersey’s smallest of small businesses. We are the translators, the financial advisers, the graphic designers, the traveling nurses, the dog walkers, the wedding planners, the writers, the photographers and so many, many more types of professionals who are worthy of real protection against this relentless, remorseless freelance busting.
Minnesota Business Owner Warns Against California-Style Attacks on Freelancers
June 15, 2026 // Hayley Feland
VanDerBill said she knew she had to try to make sure Minnesota’s task force wasn’t completely biased against independent contracting, so she applied to sit on it. To her surprise, she ended up securing a seat. She said she was shocked she was the only voice on the task force representing business owners or independent contractors who opposed increased regulations on their work. VanDerBill said that while she doesn’t want to throw labor unions under the bus, she believes they are partly to blame for the attacks on freelancing. Union membership has been falling over the last few decades, and unions requiring workers to be classified as full-time employees rather than freelancers could be one way to reverse that trend.
United Auto Workers’ Fain seeks reelection, buoyed by strike wins
June 15, 2026 // author for Reuters
"We've done things in three years that haven't been done in 30,” Fain told Reuters in an interview. “We're just getting started.” Rivals are seeking to turn the race into a referendum on Fain's leadership. A federal watchdog, appointed in 2021 to oversee union management following a corruption scandal, has accused him of retaliating against other UAW leaders and of a lack of transparency. Labor experts said those issues, however, are unlikely to outweigh the contract gains many members associate with his first term.