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In the News
Court says small trucking company must negotiate with union defeated in a vote
February 24, 2026 // John Kingston for Freight Waves
The company had 109 employees at the time of the unionization drive, which meant the union needed to either win an election with at least 55 votes or secure 55 written authorizations in favor of unionization. The latter is a process known in some labor circles as “card check.” The union obtained 61 cards. But in August 2021, a representation vote found the union on the losing end of a 65-30 outcome.
Fresh hell for parents as another major CA teachers’ union votes for strikes
February 24, 2026 // Zain Khan for New York ost
The education association said 91% of participating members backed the move, accusing the district of failing to make meaningful movement on salary demands and classroom conditions. It comes just days after San Francisco signed a deal worth $183 million with teachers following a week without classes, with sweeping layoffs expected to come. Union leaders say educators in Oakland rank among the lowest paid in the Bay Area and have pledged to fight for a contract that delivers “safe, stable, racially-just schools.”
NY Fire Captain Charged with Forging Union Checks
February 24, 2026
A 45-year-old fire captain in Glens Falls, New York has been arrested and charged with forgery and petit larceny after allegedly writing and cashing two checks from the fire department union account for his own personal use. Richard Stafford, who has worked for the Glens Falls Fire Department for 16 years, was serving as the union secretary at the time of the alleged incidents. Why it matters This case highlights concerns about financial mismanagement and abuse of power within public sector unions,
Southwest Flight Attendants Voted Down Higher Union Dues Three Times—Now The Fourth Try Limits Voting To In-Person Meetings
February 24, 2026 // Gary Leff for View from the Wing
Southwest flight attendants have voted down higher union dues three times, but the proposal is back for a fourth try. This time, the union is limiting ballots to in-person meetings, turning a $5-a-month ask into a fight over turnout, process, peer pressure and whether “no” actually means no.
Boilermakers members call for federal probe into KC-based union’s elections
February 24, 2026 // Judy L. Thomas for Kansas City Star
Filed by two members of Kansas City’s Local 83, the complaint was sent to the Office of Labor-Management Standards, an agency within the Labor Department. It alleges that the union’s election system locks rank-and-file members out of the process and ensures that those in power will remain in their positions. The action comes as a trial is approaching in a federal corruption case in which several former union executives — among them ousted International President Newton Jones — are charged with allegedly scheming to steal $20 million in union funds. The union’s executive council voted to remove Jones in 2023, accusing him of misusing union funds for personal gain, including funneling large sums of money to his Ukrainian wife for work she never performed.
Four Colorado Safeway Workers Slam UFCW Union Officials With More Federal Charges for Illegal Strike Fines
February 24, 2026 // Author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
after the workers validly resigned their union membership in June 2025, union officials informed the workers around January 9, 2026 that they would be subject to “internal union charges…for, among other things, crossing the picket line while being a union member.”
Opinion: Did Biden save unions? Now we have numbers.
February 23, 2026 // Dominic Pino for Washington Post
Local government employs more union workers than any other industry, by a lot. State government is the next largest employer. The category education and health services comes next, and even though it’s counted as a private industry, most of those jobs are closely connected to government programs. The federal government has more union members than the entire manufacturing sector.
SFUSD to issue layoff notices a week after $183 million deal to end teachers strike
February 23, 2026 // Jill Tucker for San Francisco Chronicle
Prior to the teacher contract negotiations, the district faced an ongoing deficit even after cutting $114 million from the $1.4 billion budget last year.
Cornell Ph.D. Student’s Appeal to NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Urges Agency to End Union Control Over Graduate Students
February 23, 2026 // Author for National Right to Work Legal Defense Committee
Russell Burgett, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University, is asking newly-seated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Crystal Carey to issue a complaint and ask the NLRB to free graduate students across the country from being forced to fund and associate with union bosses.
Illinois at near record-low union membership in 2025
February 23, 2026 // Mailee Smith for Illinois Policy Center
Just 13.1% of workers in Illinois were union members in 2025. Thousands of government workers have rejected union membership. Union membership in Illinois was at a near-record low in 2025, according to a release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Feb. 18.
Vernuccio Op-ed: Trump Reveals True Cost of Federal Collective Bargaining
February 23, 2026 // F. Vincent Vernuccio for Real Clear Politics
Bottom line: Taxpayers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year, not on core government functions, but simply dealing with federal labor unions. What, exactly, are they bargaining over? For the most part, federal unions can’t bargain over wages or benefits. Instead, as my organization has found, taxpayers are funding negotiations that neither benefit federal workers nor have anything to do with serving the public. Case in point: One federal union bargained with the government over whether employees could wear spandex to work. The union argued that wearing spandex was a fundamental right. Taxpayers covered the cost of such absurd discussions.
UAW Gains Southern Foothold as VW Workers Ratify First-Ever Contract
February 23, 2026 // Michael Strong for Truth About Cars
The new deal also offers healthcare cost reductions, job security guarantees and other benefits. Volkswagen officials, as has been the case throughout the process, acknowledged the result in a short statement.
WA farmworker union bill doesn’t make it through Legislature
February 22, 2026 // ERICK BENGEL for Yakima Herald-Republic
Tuesday, Feb. 17, was the cutoff for bills to be voted out of the chamber — the Senate or House of Representatives — where they originated. The bill introduced by state Sen. Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle, would have given farmworkers a legal framework to engage in collective bargaining with their employers. The bill made it through the first round of Senate committees but not to a floor vote that would have advanced it.
Op-ed: The $921M Special Interest Machine That Controls California
February 21, 2026 // Garry Tan for California Policy Center
The California Policy Center’s analysis lays it bare: California’s public sector unions collected $921 million in 2018 alone. That’s not campaign contributions—that’s annual revenue. The prize they’re protecting? According to Govern For California, state and local governments spend $240 billion per year on public employee compensation and benefits.
Labor Dept deploys ‘strike team’ to California over $21B unemployment debt, fraud concerns
February 20, 2026 // Charles Creitz for Fox news
In a statement, the department cited an 83-page California State Auditor report that determined the state’s UI system is high-risk, in part due to "inadequate fraud prevention and claimant service [in its employment development department (EDD)], as well as a high rate of overturned eligibility decisions in its Unemployment Insurance Program."
Can Employers Restrict Wearable Tech at Work?
February 20, 2026 // Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP for JD Supra
In general, employers have the ability to create policies that restrict use of these devices. Companies have legitimate business reasons to protect their confidential information from disclosure. The policy can also address productivity and employee privacy concerns. If a worker claims that the device is needed as an accommodation for a disabling medical condition, the employer should review the request, determine if it presents an undue hardship, and put into place limits on the use of the device to take into account the above business concerns.
Freelance Busting: ‘Absolute Stalemate’
February 20, 2026 // Kim Kavin for Freelance Busting
The nearly two-thirds of Americans who would prefer to be our own bosses need protection from this encroachment on our freedom to choose self-employment. So do the vast majority of us who are already independent contractors and wish to remain so. It’s beyond frustrating that the help we need may be a long time coming, especially at the federal level. Experts recently gathered to discuss the reality of the situation in Congress during an hourlong Federalist Society panel, where they minced no words about why the challenges in Washington, D.C., persist.
You paid $181 million for union bosses to negotiate against you in 2024, but the Trump administration is doing something about it
February 19, 2026 // Michael Watson for Capital Research Center
Even the “usual” topics of labor-relations negotiations are not part of federal bargaining. As Molly Conway, who served as Chief of Staff to the Department of Labor in the first Trump administration, wrote in a primer for the Institute for the American Worker: Management rights and any matters “specifically provided for by Federal statute” are not bargainable. This includes pay, health insurance, retirement, and certain workplace insurance (e.g., workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance), among others. [citations omitted]
Aurora School Board Approves Union for Support Staffers
February 19, 2026 // Bennito L. Kelty for Westword
Since August, dozens of classified employees at APS have been wearing red shirts and rallying at the board of education meetings whenever their potential union popped up on the agenda, which happened in August, October, January and finally this month. Classified employees have said that they need a union for better pay and benefits as the cost of living rises, as well as protection from retaliation when they speak out, better retention of long-time classified staff and better training for their replacements. According to APS estimates, the district has about 1,800 classified employees.
Ex-State Police Union President, Mass Lobbyist Sent To Prison In Corruption Case: Feds
February 19, 2026 // Josh Lanier for Daily Voice
Dana A. Pullman, 64, of Worcester, was sentenced in a Boston federal court to two years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release on Wednesday, Feb. 18, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. US District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns also ordered him to pay $43,915 in restitution. Anne M. Lynch, 75, of Hull, received 15 months in prison and one year of supervised release. She was ordered to pay $41,795 in restitution, federal prosecutors said.