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In the News
Kaiser Permanente employees return to work after 5-day strike
October 21, 2025 // author for City News Service
The strike was part of a walkout involving 31,000 members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP). Members include registered nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, rehab therapists, dietitians, speech-language pathologists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives and other specialty health workers. Picketing was held at three facilities in San Diego County: Zion Medical Center in Grantville, San Diego Medical Center in Kearny Mesa and San Marcos Medical Center.
Heavy Equipment Operators File Federal Charges Against Operating Engineers Union for Illegal Retaliation
October 21, 2025 // author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
The charges filed by Michael Mitchem, Billy Johnson, and Chris Oaks each state that even before formally resigning from the union, the employees were never voluntary union members, as they had been misled into believing that union membership was mandatory. Though union officials frequently mislead workers into believing that formal union membership is required, the problem is especially prevalent when employment involves union hiring halls. Under longstanding law, only fully voluntary union members can be subjected to internal union discipline, which often involves fines levied against workers at odds with union boss demands. Workers cannot face discipline for actions that occur after a worker has resigned from such voluntary union membership.
Amazon Plans to Replace More Than Half a Million Jobs With Robots
October 21, 2025 // Karen Weise for New York Times
Amazon also said that it’s not insisting executives avoid certain terms, and that community involvement is unrelated to automation. Amazon’s plans could have profound impact on blue-collar jobs throughout the country and serve as a model for other companies like Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, and UPS. The company transformed the U.S. work force as it created a booming demand for warehousing and delivery jobs. But now, as it leads the way for automation, those roles could become more technical, higher paid and more scarce.
NAGE IAEP Union Boss Robert Rasulo Sentenced for Crimes
October 21, 2025 // author for National Institute for Labor Relations Research
NAGE IAEP Treasurer Robert Rasulo has been sentenced to two years of probation, along with paying nearly $20 in restitution, after pleading guilty to petit larceny and attempted petit larceny.
How are unions pushing back against Trump’s attacks on labor and layoffs?
October 21, 2025 // Michael Sainato for The Guardian
Unions are battling the administration in federal courtrooms nationwide, after filing dozens of lawsuits to try to halt attempts to shed hundreds of thousands of government employees, strip collective bargaining rights from over a million workers, and gut some federal agencies. On Wednesday, they made a significant breakthrough: Judge Susan Illston, of the US district court’s northern district of California, granted a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s latest mass layoffs from the government shutdown.
Starbucks Baristas File Brief Urging Supreme Court to Allow President to Remove Rogue Agency Officers
October 21, 2025 // author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
The brief concludes with the Foundation’s legal argument that Humphrey’s “cannot neuter the President’s ability to supervise those who exercise substantial parts of [executive] power.” Therefore, the Supreme Court “should make clear that the President’s removal power applies to every agency that exercises executive power, including the NLRB.”
Arkansas teachers union’s dues revenue drops 36 percent in one year
October 21, 2025 // Maxford Nelsen for Freedom Foundation
A new Freedom Foundation analysis of tax returns filed by the Arkansas Education Association (AEA), the state teachers union and an affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based National Education Association (NEA), shows a modest decline in AEA’s revenue from membership dues following the collective bargaining ban, but reveals a staggering 36 percent decline in union dues collection in the first full year following passage of SB 473. As a baseline, the AEA’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 tax return for the tax year ending August 31, 2020, reported nearly $2.4 million in revenue from membership dues.
The next major film studios could be in Nevada if some unions have their way
October 21, 2025 // author for Associated Press
“We believe if we can get the public behind us, we’ll be able to get the legislators to understand what a big change this can bring to Southern Nevada,” said Tommy White, business manager-secretary treasurer of Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 872 in Las Vegas. Trade unions formed a political action committee called Nevada Jobs Now, which has raised over $1 million to be used for digital advertisements, mailers and some TV commercials, White said. The production companies behind the project say it would create 19,000 construction jobs.
Breaking News Strike Update – Tentative Deal Reached Between Equity and the Broadway League
October 21, 2025 // Robert Diamond for Broadway World
No one has called for a strike quite yet. Actors' Equity Association, representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers, has argued for new a Broadway contract that ensures safe staffing, humane scheduling, sustainable working conditions, and paying fair share of benefits. Local 802, representing thousands of highly skilled musicians in New York City, is bringing similar issues to the table: fair wages that reflect Broadway’s success; stable health coverage; and employment and income security.
Amazon Sued by NJ Top Cop Over Delivery Driver Employment Status
October 20, 2025 // Alex Ebert for Bloomberg Law
Amazon is misclassifying thousands of New Jersey “Flex” drivers who use their own vehicles to deliver packages, the state attorney general claimed in a state lawsuit filed Monday.
Op-Ed: Instead of subsidy fights, Georgia should allow ‘portable’ benefits
October 20, 2025
Meanwhile, other states have taken the lead on the matter. Utah, Tennessee and Alabama have all formally recognized portable benefits as a form of independent contractor compensation. Georgia can be next by passing a safe harbor portable benefits model, which will cost the state and federal government zero taxpayer dollars. It simply clarifies that companies can contribute to portable benefits accounts if they want and doing so is not evidence of an employee/employer relationship.
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions titled “Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward.”
October 20, 2025 // author for Senate HELP Committee
Wednesday, Oct. 22, I4AW's Vinnie Vernuccio will testify at a labor hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions titled "Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward."
Turbulence at LAX: Union Revolt Against Airport Police Chief Cecil Rhambo Exposes Leadership Crisis Ahead of World Cup and Olympics
October 20, 2025 // Cece Woods for Current Report
Union leaders argue that while executive pay has ballooned, front-line officers are left to shoulder the burden with minimal resources. LAAPOA noted that morale and recruitment are at all-time lows even as top administrators enjoy salary hikes. Meanwhile, passenger satisfaction scores have dropped, and incidents requiring police response are rising. “Rhambo’s leadership is not only ineffective—it’s dangerous,” said one veteran officer. “When the Olympics arrive, the global spotlight will expose just how broken things are behind the scenes.”
Caregivers sue state over ‘false’ public employee classification
October 20, 2025 // Jamie A. Hope for Capitol Confidential
The practice drew widespread condemnation when the Mackinac Center brought it to light early in the previous decade. But the SEIU refused to accept defeat after the Legislature ended the practice. The union struck back with a 2012 ballot initiative that failed by a 56% to 44% vote. Following that failure, SEIU used various means to keep alive the idea that home care workers are employees of the government. The union got its second chance last year, when the Democratic trifecta under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer quietly enacted laws classifying home care workers as public employees and opening caregivers’ personal records to the union. As happened in 2005, the SEIU got its win, but with a very small vote.
How Josh Hawley Is Empowering Unions in New York and California
October 19, 2025 // Eric Boehm for Reason
A week later, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to confirm two of Trump's NLRB nominees. Mayer's nomination was tabled. Without that seat filled, the NLRB still lacks a quorum—and, as a result, the labor boards in New York and California have power. Of course, blocking Mayer's appointment to the board is within Hawley's authority as a senator and a member of that key committee. Still, exercising that authority has opened Hawley to criticism. "Hawley is definitely trying to help unions," Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, told Reason via email.
The UAW Is Still Fighting to Unionize Auto in the South
October 18, 2025 // Daniel Kopp for Jacobin
Daniel Kopp At the time of your election in 2024, you had a rather supportive National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Biden administration. This is no longer the case, as Donald Trump is starving it of resources. Has that influenced your strategy at Mercedes? Jeremy Kimbrell You don’t change your strategy, because organizing is organizing. Workers have to have courage. You have to understand that the risk will never be zero. Inherently, you hope and expect that the risk is limited.
OMB delays firing federal workers to comply with court order
October 18, 2025 // David Jordan for Roll Call
The unions and other opponents of the reductions say the firings are a significant departure from the norm in a shutdown and are not the type of work agencies can undertake during a shutdown. Previous shutdowns, including during President Donald Trump’s first term, did not result in any reductions in force. In all other shutdowns, federal workers who are classified as “excepted” employees remained on the job while all others were furloughed, and all received back pay after the government reopened.
The Cannabis Labor Crossroads: Historic Strikes, Labor Peace Agreements (“LPAs”), and What Comes Next
October 18, 2025 // Gustav Stickley V for Blank Rome LLP
The strikes at Exclusive Brands in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Green Thumb Industries’ RISE dispensary in York, Pennsylvania, now stand as the longest in the legal cannabis market. While both actions reflect shared themes—demands for better wages, a voice in the workplace, and concerns about bargaining conduct—they are unfolding in starkly different market contexts and with different strategic aims.
NALC Union Boss Marcus Miller Faces Embezzlement Indictment
October 18, 2025 // author for National Institute for Labor Relations Research
On September 9, 2025, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Marcus Miller, former Vice President of National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 775 (located in Niles, Mich.), was indicted on one count of embezzlement, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c). The indictment follows an investigation by the OLMS Detroit-Milwaukee District Office and the United States Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General.
City of Everett Employee Appeals to Washington State PERC in Case Challenging Unconstitutional Money Seizures by AFSCME Officials
October 18, 2025 // author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Davidsen’s latest filing in her case, which is an appeal from a PERC Hearing Examiner’s ruling, maintains that after revoking her dues-deduction authorization, “on 14 separate pay periods…dues were nevertheless deducted from her paycheck.” According to the appeal, Davidsen requested that dues deductions end in June 2024, at which point union officials informed the City of Everett that it should cease remitting money from her paychecks into the union’s accounts.