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
86-Year-Old Veteran Files Federal Charges Against UFCW Union for Causing his Illegal Firing from Part-Time Grocery Job
September 30, 2026 // Author for National Right To Work Foundation
With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, an 86-year-old veteran who worked part-time at Village Market in Oakland has filed federal charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 (UFCW) union. The charge says UFCW 5 union officials illegally had Phil Holland fired in early September claiming he owed thousands of dollars in back dues and fees. Holland, a Navy veteran with 30 years’ of experience in law enforcement, who also works part-time as a YMCA fitness instructor, was hired by the Village Market grocery store that he shopped at for 30 years in February of 2022 after he noticed a “help wanted” sign in the window. During his first four years of employment, UFCW Local 5 union officials never contacted him, never asked him to pay union dues or fees, and never notified him of his legal rights under the 1988 Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision, which protects employees from being required to pay full union dues for activities unrelated to union bargaining like union-boss political activism.
Boeing (BA) Reaches Tentative Four Year Union Deal Covering 17,000 Engineers
September 30, 2026 // Bailey Pemberton for Simply Wall St i
Boeing (NYSE:BA) reached a tentative four year labor deal with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace covering about 17,000 workers. The proposed agreement includes guaranteed wage increases over the contract term, according to union communications released alongside the announcement.
Keeping Workers in the Dark: The Push for Employer Neutrality in Union Campaigns
September 30, 2026 // Sean P. Redmond for U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Whether or not one supports unionization in a particular workplace, elected officials should not pressure one party in a labor dispute to relinquish rights recognized to balance competing interests. The law recognizes rights and responsibilities for employees, unions, and employers alike. Yet calls for neutrality almost always run in one direction: in favor of organized labor. There is rarely a corresponding demand that unions remain neutral. Instead, neutrality initiatives frequently seek to silence only one side of the debate. The answer to competing claims should be more information, not less. Collective bargaining can involve difficult or protracted negotiations and may affect workplace flexibility, labor costs, wages, benefits, and business operations.
Opinion: The Postal Service is Drowning the NLRB
September 30, 2026 // Matt Bruenig for NLRB Edge
Around 15 percent of all ULP charges brought against employers are brought against the USPS. Around 23 percent of all ULP charges brought against unions are brought against the postal unions. The charges brought against the postal unions are generally individuals alleging that their union violated the duty of fair representation (DFR). Most of these charges appear to be without merit, as less than 15 percent of them result in some kind of remedy, whether a formal remedy from the Board or an adjusted dismissal/withdrawal. This is pretty typical of DFR charges across the country. What usually happens is an individual worker tries to pursue a grievance, the union decides the grievance is no good and opts not to pursue it, and the individual worker files a meritless DFR charge against the union.
Oakland Airport to Adopt Mandate Clearing Path for More Workers to Unionize
September 29, 2026 // Farida Jhabvala Romero for KQED
Companies that handle baggage, clean airplane cabins, assist passengers and provide other services for airlines would be prohibited from interfering with employees’ efforts to organize.
Ballot Question 2 asks: Should public defenders have the right to unionize?
September 29, 2026 // Nazalia Justiniano for Newton Beacon
Question 2 would allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS, to participate in collective bargaining. If they negotiate a contract, CPCS would then be required to request the funding needed for that agreement from the governor within 30 days. The Yes On 2 campaign was organized to help grant public defenders the right to join a union. The campaign’s central argument states: CPCS employees should have the same opportunity to organize and negotiate collectively that many others have.
Graduate program shifts fellowship classifications, sparking contention in historic unionization effort
September 29, 2026 // James Libresco for Brown Herald Daily
The doctoral program in behavioral and social health sciences previously designated many first-year students as fellows — a nonunionized class that does not have access to the same grievance processes that unionized graduate employees have. Under current University policy, fellows are not considered employees, since the University views their funding as not contingent on their working for Brown. As a result, they are not covered by GLO’s main contract. But the SPH officials determined that their fellows had similar work requirements to other students in the BSHS program — including research assistants — who are included in the Graduate Labor Organization’s contract, BHSS program director Kate Carey said.
Op-Ed: Taxpayer money for government employee compensation demands real transparency
September 29, 2026 // Meg Goudy for The Center Square
But in Washington, what the public rarely sees are the financial details under consideration. Agreements are struck behind closed doors with taxpayer dollars, between government officials and the very unions whose dues often fund those officials' campaigns. There's something uncomfortable about a governor negotiating wages and benefits with one of their largest campaign supporters, with almost no public visibility into the process. And it's worth asking how that squares with a state that otherwise prides itself on open government.
Committee on the Education and Workforce Grapples with Unions and Lawmakers Being Out of Touch
September 29, 2026 // Jennifer Oliver O’Connell for Independent Women
Chougule also pointed to the lack of support by unions and certain representatives on the Employment and the Workforce Committee, for the Employee Rights Act. The Act would require unions to obtain opt-in permission from a member before using his or her dues and fees on political activity or policy advocacy—a provision which enjoys 81% support from union households.
Labor Board Dumps Biden-Era Framework for Offensive Conduct
September 29, 2026 // Robert Iafolla for Bloomberg Law
The decision hands employers a major win by effectively wiping the controversial Lion Elastomers ruling off the books and reinstating General Motors’ more employer-friendly framework for deciding when worker language or conduct is so egregious that it loses the protection of the National Labor Relations Act. It shows the impact of new member James Macy giving the Republican majority the third member it needed to change board law. General Motors calls for the well-worn Wright Line standard, frequently used to determine whether a worker’s rights have been violated, to be the test for analyzing worker outbursts during activities otherwise shielded by the NLRA.
NEW AFFT REPORT: Teachers Pour Millions Into Colorado’s Largest Union. CEA’s Spending Still Outruns Its Revenue
September 29, 2026 // Author for Americans for Fair Treatment
CEA spent $17 million in fiscal year 2025, including $10.5 million — 61.4% of all spending — on salaries, benefits, pensions and payroll taxes for its own staff. For every dollar the union distributed in grants, it spent about $5.88 on its own workforce. And despite collecting roughly $13 million in membership dues, CEA’s expenses again exceeded its revenue when a one-time asset sale is excluded. CEA reported a $2.6 million surplus, but that included a $3.1 million gain from selling assets. Without that gain, CEA finished $535,034 in the red — the fourth consecutive year its expenses exceeded revenue on that basis. At the same time, accounts payable and accrued expenses nearly doubled in one year, from approximately $4.4 million to $8.8 million. CEA’s public filing does not specify what drove the increase.
National Right to Work Foundation Asks NLRB to Halt SEIU Scheme to Impose Union on 190,000 New York In-Home Medicaid Caregivers
September 28, 2026 // Author for National Right to Work Foundation
Motion: Briefing needed as SEIU and PPL work together to impose unionization; PPL facing DOJ fraud lawsuit and isn’t actually caregivers’ ‘employer’
Do Union Bosses Speak For The Working Class?
September 28, 2026 // Peter Roff for Daily caller
Akash Chougule, the president of The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, puts the mismatch bluntly: roughly 45 percent of union households voted Republican in 2024, while about 87 percent of union political spending benefited Democrats.
Liberty Justice Center Sues Brooklyn Library Union Over Compulsory Dues
September 28, 2026 // Author for Liberty Justice Center
The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Brooklyn Public Library employee Jeffrey A. Schwartz, challenging the requirement that he pay union dues as a condition of his employment. In Schwartz v. Brooklyn Library Guild, Local 1482, AFL-CIO et al., the Liberty Justice Center represents Schwartz, a Government Documents Librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL). The lawsuit challenges the continued deduction of union dues from his wages by BPL and Local 1482. It alleges that the arrangement is unconstitutional because the City of New York is so deeply entwined with BPL’s governance—especially with respect to employee pay and benefits—that BPL’s actions are fairly attributable to the government. As a result, the lawsuit argues, BPL employees are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as other public employees.
Oregon’s 7 public universities, union reach tentative agreement on new contract
September 28, 2026 // Mckenzie Richmond, Julia Lopez for FOX 12
A strike set to impact all seven of Oregon’s public universities has been cancelled after the schools and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) reached a tentative agreement overnight.
WATCH: Union urges lawmakers to curb influencers amid daycare fraud coverage
September 28, 2026 // Carleen Johnson for The Center Square
Political & Legislative Director at SEIU 925 Erin Haick sent a Tuesday email to lawmakers obtained by unDivided podcaster Brandi Kruse, raising concerns about the video, and suggesting lawmakers should do what they can to make sure reporters can’t go out “harassing” daycare providers.
New Rule in Washington State Conflates Labor Policy with Public Health
September 28, 2026 // Simone Barron for Full Service Workers Alliance
Simply put, if an operator doesn’t pay the tab for an alleged violation, they will get a sign posted in their restaurants’ windows that alerts the public of a failure to comply. The sign also states, “Due to this non-compliance, this establishment is subject to additional food safety inspections,” implying the violation is about food safety rather than an unpaid fine over a labor dispute. Perspective customers upon entering may be shocked by the red warning placard claiming the restaurant is a threat to public health.
20 healthcare strikes in 2026
September 28, 2026 // Kelly Gooch for Beckers Hospital Review
Union activity in healthcare continues in 2026, with 20 reported strikes since the beginning of the year. Some of these actions involve healthcare workers and leaders across hospitals and clinics in multiple states.
First Starbucks in Oregon to unionize is being shuttered
September 27, 2026 // Brian Bull for KLCC
A Starbucks representative told KLCC that the Willamette Street store will close on Saturday, Sept. 26. She said the closure wasn’t retaliatory for unionizing, but was instead based on “an objective evaluation” of customer experience and financial performance as outlined in a letter sent by Mike Grams, Starbucks’ chief operating officer. “We’re accelerating our pace toward completing 1,500 coffeehouse uplifts, and Green Apron Service has become our defining standard,” Gram’s letter states. “Our Back to Starbucks strategy is working
Trump administration settles unions’ legal challenge to mass layoffs during shutdown
September 27, 2026 // Daniel Wiessner for Reuters
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday agreed, opens new tab to pull back open-ended permission for federal agencies to lay off employees during government shutdowns to settle a lawsuit by a group of unions.