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In the News
Roughly 1,700 workers at the Cargill meatpacking plant in Fort Morgan remain locked out as labor dispute drags on
June 20, 2026 // Rae Solomon for Colorado Public Radio
Even with the hardship, workers remain strongly supportive of the union and the negotiation process. “Because the contract was a horrible contract for us,” Tanner said. “They just don't want to pay us what we want, I guess.” Several workers said they were growing impatient with the impasse and were starting to look for other jobs. But many are reluctant to give up on what they describe as their best local option for employment. “Cargill has always been one of the best-paying jobs around here for people that don't have a college degree,” Mendez said. “They have good opportunities, good insurance."
Sean O’Brien Re-elected Teamsters President
June 19, 2026 // Mitch M. Rosenthal for Hoodline
O’Brien has also leaned on a weekly podcast, "Better Bad Ideas," to speak directly to members and shape the union’s message, according to Apple Podcasts. Episodes this year have mixed labor organizing talk with guests from across the political spectrum, giving the union chief an unfiltered venue to push priorities such as the Faster Labor Contracts Act and to outline strategy ahead of major contract battles.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley rips AI “cheerleaders,” backs Teamsters union agenda
June 18, 2026 // Nathan Bomey for Axios
Hawley told the Teamsters that "mega corporations" have "lost their moral compass" and that he supports the labor movement because unionized workers deserve fair wages and "decent working conditions," according to a copy of his speech obtained by Axios. Hawley: Argued that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to "speed up first contracts for new unions" and said his Christian faith backs up his belief in unions. Endorsed the Teamsters' position that Congress should pass legislation barring self-driving trucks from replacing commercial drivers. Ripped Amazon as "the biggest monopolist in the country," saying it's treating workers as "indentured servants." Slammed "AI cheerleaders" as corporate goons who "want to replace every job they can with an algorithm" and said "we need to give workers rights over AI in the workplace."
Ex-union official charged with theft from firefighters’ fund
June 18, 2026 // Chris Woodward for The Center Square
According to Bonta, investigators found that, between December 2022 and January 2024, Walker “stole” more than $82,000. “This individual opened a foundation bank account, naming himself as the sole signer, and then used that account to transfer foundation funds into his personal accounts,” said Bonta. “We found that he attempted to conceal those transfers by creating false reimbursement records and forged receipts specifically designed to mislead auditors.”
US moves to end Teamsters union oversight
June 18, 2026 // Ashleigh Fields for The Hill
“After 37 years, this filing marks an end to the longest monitorship of any union, corporation, nonprofit, or public entity in the history of the United States,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who won a reelection bid to lead the union on Tuesday, said in a statement. “Over the past four years, we have developed a system of internal controls and created a culture of vigilance in our union. Our efforts have proven that we can police our own, and the controls we have put in place are more stringent than any labor organization in the country,” he added. The union established a review board to address reports of corruption and has amended its election process to ensure it is “fair, democratic” and “member-driven.”
Voters reject effort to hike Oklahoma’s minimum wage
June 18, 2026 // Barbara Hoberock, Courtney Bell for Oklahoma Voice
Oklahoma's minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. It is also the national minimum wage. "The State Chamber applauds Oklahoma voters for rejecting SQ 832," said Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber. "Tonight, voters chose to protect Oklahoma's economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability."
UAW finalizes candidate list for upcoming election. See who is running
June 18, 2026 // Liam Rappleye for Detroit Free Press
The United Auto Workers finalized its nominations for the highest seats in the union on Wednesday, June 17, with current Vice President Rich Boyer officially jumping into a six-person presidential race to unseat the incumbent, Shawn Fain. Boyer, who has been in an enduring feud with Fain, emerges as a prominent contender against the popular president. Delegates of the UAW spent Wednesday afternoon in the convention hall at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit nominating which candidates they would like to see take over the union's international executive board, which is a 14-member panel of leaders that oversees the operations of the nearly 400,000-member union. Nominations for officers (president, vice presidents and secretary-treasurer) were finalized on Wednesday evening.
Brigham and Women’s nurses vote to authorize 1-day strike
June 18, 2026 // Author for NBC10 Boston
The next bargaining session will be held on June 18, the MNA noted, adding that the nurses will, as legally required, give 10 days' notice if a strike is scheduled.
Opinion: Hochul’s biggest failure in her budget deal with NY lawmakers
June 18, 2026 // Ken Girardin for New York Post
Hochul and state lawmakers gave retroactive pension increases to the state’s public-employee unions, which will increase state and local costs more than $500 million annually. They offered extra aid to ease fiscal distress in New York City, Buffalo, Albany, Yonkers’ public schools and elsewhere, so they too could avoid economizing (or, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani would bemoan nearly any spending reduction, suffering “austerity”).
Columbus Metropolitan Library workers begin union vote
June 18, 2026 // Tyler Thompson, Mark Ferenchik for WOSU
Columbus Metropolitan Library employees begin voting on Tuesday to decide whether to unionize. The vote is scheduled to take place by mail from June 16 through June 30, with votes counted on July 7. The election comes after an estimated 600 eligible employees signed authorization cards in support of a vote to create a union. The employees would be represented by the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
House-Passed Faster Labor Contracts Act Is a Disgrace to Free Enterprise
June 18, 2026 // author for Construction Executive
Setting a dangerous precedent, House Democrats and a few unprincipled Republicans today voted to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act,” said ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman. “The FLCA imposes arbitrary and unrealistic deadlines on employers to finalize negotiations with newly elected unions or face ‘binding interest arbitration of first contracts.’ In practice, this means, for the first time in American history, a federal government bureaucrat will appoint an individual to dictate exactly what is included in a contract between two private negotiating parties.
NTEU sues IRS over destruction of employees’ pro-union decorations
June 18, 2026 // Erich Wagner for Government Executive
The Internal Revenue Service last month issued a directive barring employees from posting flyers and other decorations related to the National Treasury Employees Union, which the union says violates the First Amendment.
Op-ed: Labor Board Must Fix Blocking Charges to Protect Employee Choice
June 17, 2026 // Marvin Kaplan for Jackson Lewis
When employees sought representation, the NLRB emphasized speed to capture employee sentiment before it dissipated. But when employees sought to remove or test support for an incumbent union, blocking charges made by the union could postpone a vote for years while allegations, valid or not, are investigated, tried, appealed, or supplemented by new charges. That asymmetry is difficult to square with the act’s protection of a two-way street. Changes in neither 2020 nor 2024 produced a system that reliably safeguards employee free choice. The current NLRB can fix this long-standing problem by closing loopholes, ensuring employees can vote promptly, and taking responsibility for decisions that prevent ballots from being counted.
QVC’s on-air hosts aim to unionize as bankruptcy case continues
June 17, 2026 // Erin McCarthy for Philadelphia Inquirer
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA — which represents 160,000 media professionals nationwide — filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the QVC hosts’ behalf, according to the federal agency’s website. If the employer does not voluntarily recognize the union, the petition can trigger an NLRB election and lead to a union’s formal certification. The hosts are taking steps to unionize as company higher-ups try to expedite the bankruptcy process, with the hope of emerging this summer.
I Asked My Florida Teachers Union for Basic Records. Then They Expelled Me.
June 17, 2026 // Kelley LaBedz for Real Clear Education
Thankfully, the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission ruled I’d been wrongfully expelled. The union filed an appeal just before the deadline, but the Commission’s clear ruling confirmed what should have been obvious from the start: that my expulsion was unlawful.
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.