Top Stories
Click the star next to a story to save your favorite articles.
Sign Up For Our Daily Digest
Account Sign In
To customize your experience, you can save your favorite research by clicking the stars next to each article in during your visit.
Save your favorites permanently to your profile by signing in here.
Don't have a profile yet? Register now.
Registration
In the News
Some Mount Holyoke College workers went on-strike
September 4, 2025 // Caleb Cook, Ryan Trowbridge for Western Mass News
Dining workers, facility workers, and housekeepers at Mount Holyoke College have gone on-strike. The move comes after workers attempted to negotiate new contracts with wage increases in an effort to get the lowest paid workers a livable wage as the cost of living continues to rise
Trump Ends Union Protections for NASA Employees, Citing ‘National Security’
September 4, 2025 // Passant Rabie for Gizmodo
Although NASA is defined as “America’s civil space program,” the new order argues that the agency’s activities fall under national security. “NASA develops and operates advanced air and space technologies, like satellite, communications, and propulsion systems, that are critical for U.S. national security,” the executive order reads. The order affects the approximately 53% of NASA employees in a bargaining unit represented by two labor unions, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the American Federation of Government Employees, according to the agency.
Metro Transit workers’ union is taken over after ‘corruption or financial malpractice’
September 3, 2025 // Joe Holleman for St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The international ATU says Local 788, which represents 2,600 bus drivers, light rail operators and associated service employees in the St. Louis area, has a budget deficit of more than $930,000.
Opinion: It’s time to put American workers ahead of big labor
September 3, 2025 // ERIC VENTIMIGLIA for Inside Sources
in 2024 alone, the Department of Labor documented 177 enforcement actions against unions for fraud, embezzlement, wire fraud, and falsified records. Congressional investigations have targeted a dozen unions for similar abuses, highlighting a pattern of self-dealing that diverts funds from pensions, training programs, and strike support. When union officials embezzle or racketeer, it’s the everyday worker who pays the price through diminished benefits and tarnished reputations. Perhaps most troubling is the growing chasm between union leaders’ policy stances and the actual views of their members. Union bosses, often ensconced in Washington or state capitals, pour millions into liberal causes and Democratic campaigns, even as their grassroots base leans increasingly conservative or independent. In the 2024 election, while top labor officials doubled down on Democratic endorsements and criticized Republican outreach, many union households shifted toward Donald Trump.
A fresh executive order aims to ban unions at more federal agencies
September 3, 2025 // Erich Wagner for Government Executive
The targeting of additional agencies and their respective unions comes as the Trump administration has begun formally terminating collective bargaining agreements at more than half a dozen agencies, despite assuring federal judges that such a step wouldn’t be taken until the conclusion of litigation surrounding the executive order. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week signaled that it will consider reversing a prior decision to allow the edict to go into effect.
Commentary: Unions Are Shrinking Nationwide—But Not in California
September 3, 2025 // Mark Kreidler for American Prospect
California, though, is noteworthy for its steady union presence. It hasn’t fluctuated much since 2005, despite the national decline. Further, the federal data set used to produce the union figures does not include home health care and child care workers who are classified as self-employed. In California, that takes in some 700,000 workers, even though their hourly wages are negotiated with individual counties through unions.
Tucson charter school unionizes
September 3, 2025 // author for Arizona Daily Star
Last month BASIS Tucson North earned the top spot in the 2025-26 U.S. News Best High Schools Rankings. The tuition-free public charter network BASIS Charter Schools operates in four states and has 10 Arizona schools in the Top 100 schools as ranked by U.S. News, the Arizona Republic reported last month.
Op-ed: Does Big Labor Truly Represent the American Worker?
September 3, 2025 // Michael Watson for Capital Research Center
But recent Bureau of Labor Statistics reports indicate that less than one in ten workers, and less than one in 16 workers in the private sector, are union members. Meanwhile, almost half of union members work for state, local, and federal governments, even as less than 15 percent of all workers in the U.S. work for government. Perhaps unsurprisingly given that career path, the Union Membership and Coverage Database estimates that union members are more likely to be college-educated than the workforce as a whole.
Strike Funds help union members survive when strikes occur
September 3, 2025 // Lisa M. Hale for Civic Media
In recent years, the Teamsters have gone on strike at New Dairy Select Milk and at Leinenkugel’s. Strickland said the strike fund kept the union workers flush during a tough time. “Those folks were on the picket line for eight weeks because there was a strike fund,” Strickland said. “In addition, the union insurance. It’s not just the strike fund. Our health people stepped up to provide healthcare coverage while our members are striking. So it’s not just our strike fund, it’s also our union health benefits.”
Op-ed: Celebrating the Decline of Big Labor
September 2, 2025 // The Editors for National Review
New York and California have 17 percent of U.S. workers, but almost 30 percent of U.S. union members. The states with the lowest rates include the Carolinas, which do not allow collective bargaining in the public sector. More states should look to abolish public-sector collective bargaining, as Utah did this year. And more states should pick up where Republicans left off in the early-to-mid 2010s by passing right-to-work laws. The first order of business should be restoring Michigan’s law that Democrats repealed. In 24 states, private-sector workers can still be coerced to join or financially support a union.
Georgia sets the national standard for pro-worker leadership
September 2, 2025 // Vinnie Vernuccio for New Brunswick News
Rep. Rick Allen, from Georgia’s 12th congressional district, recently re-introduced the Employee Rights Act—the single most important pro-worker in America today. The Employee Rights Act is full of reforms that would protect and strengthen workers’ rights. Building on Georgia’s state policy, it would require the secret ballot for all unionization elections in America—no more card check. It would also protect workers’ privacy by letting them determine what personal information unions can access. And in the 26 states like Georgia with right-to-work laws, the Employee Rights Act would let workers who opt out of union membership negotiate their own contracts—something they’re currently banned from doing.
Kamala Harris pro-union X post inspires major Labor Day backlash
September 2, 2025 // Carleen Johnson for The Center Square
An X post from former Vice President Kamala Harris on this Labor Day has generated hundreds of mostly critical comments. “When unions are strong, our communities and our country are strong. Every person in our nation has benefited from the labor movement. This Labor Day, we celebrate the workers and unions who have fought for fair wages, safe workplaces, and sick leave for all of us,” posted Harris. One commenter posted in response, “The Dems talking point for today is…UNIONS. Today is literally for the worker but in true form, democrats make it about the evil system.”
Disputed ballots could swing outcome of union election at EV battery complex
September 2, 2025 // author for Spectrum News
An election to determine whether workers unionize an electric vehicle battery manufacturing complex in Kentucky is in limbo Thursday because of a few dozen disputed ballots that could swing the outcome.
Uber and Lyft drivers in California win a path to unionization
September 2, 2025 // Rebecca Bellan for Tech Crunch
In exchange, California regulators say they’ll support legislation to reduce expensive insurance coverage mandates that ride-hailing companies have to pay. Uber and Lyft have attributed those insurance payments to higher ride fares in California and lower driver pay. “With Sacramento now aligned on the need to make rideshare more affordable in California, we’re happy to see these two important pieces of legislation moving forward together,” Ramona Prieto, Uber’s head of public policy for California, said in a statement. The deal comes years after Uber, Lyft, and other app-based gig companies spent more than $200 million to convince California voters to pass Prop 22, which classifies gig workers as independent contractors while granting them limited benefits.
Over 600 workers begin strike at 2 GE Aerospace facilities
September 2, 2025 // Sara Samora for Manufacturing Dive
The Boeing engine supplier will continue to provide benefits to the striking union members at its sites in Ohio and Kentucky in accordance with the law, according to the company’s website.
Labor unions are much stronger in Oregon than nationally
September 2, 2025 // Mike Rogoway for Oregon Live
Nearly 300,000 Oregon workers belong to a union, according to federal data, about 1 in 6 workers statewide. Union membership rates have fluctuated since the 1980s but have gradually increased over the past two decades.
A ‘Copy And Paste’ Campaign? – Opponents ‘Flood The U.S. Department Of Labor With Identical Comments Against Proposed Union Rule
September 2, 2025 // author for LaborLab
During the month-long comment period, a total of 299 comments were received and all can be viewed on line. Interestingly, over a quarter of the comments (78) were submitted by “anonymous,” which is problematic for a number of reasons including the inability to verify whether the same commenter submitted multiple comments. Actually, of those who did identify themselves, 20 commenters filed 41 comments. Most disturbing, however, is that there appears to have been a concerted effort to “juice” the number of comments against the rule change.
Commentary: Putting Liberty at the Heart of Labor Policy
September 2, 2025 // James M. Hohman for Mackinac Center for Public Policy
High levels of unionization could be a good thing for the state. But the state needs better unions. When unionization is based on coercion and force rather than voluntary association, unions don’t need the support of their members. They can engage in political activity regardless of what their own members believe. They negotiate contract terms based on ideology rather than in the interests of their members. The ongoing corruption scandals at major unions also show that they continue to steal from their own members. There is a better way. That’s why we advocate for 21st Century Unionization, where labor policy is based on the freedom of association.
Op-ed: Organized Labor Pushes Blue States to Protect Private University Student Workers
September 2, 2025 // James Baratta for American Prospect
Without a quorum at the NLRB, state legislation that codifies collective bargaining for private-sector employees may be key to preserving workers’ rights.
Walking Dead Production Driver Defends Victory over Teamsters for Unlawful Discrimination in Rigged “Hiring Hall”
September 2, 2025 // author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Virginia-based driver asks National Labor Relations Board to order notification and compensation of other victims of Teamsters’ discriminatory scheme
Blog Research ● Labor Unions
author
A ‘Copy And Paste’ Campaign? – Opponents ‘Flood The U.S. Department Of Labor With Identical Comments Against Proposed Union Rule