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In the News
AFL-CIO president aims to unionize 2 million workers in 5 years
June 9, 2026 // Max Nesterak for Minnesota Reformer
To get there, Shuler said the labor movement would turn out an additional 2 million voters to the polls this November along with 50,000 "trained election protectors." Shuler was addressing a crowd of hundreds of union members on the first day of the labor federation's national convention in downtown Minneapolis. The convention, which happens every four years, brings together representatives from 65 unions covering all sectors of the American economy, from Hollywood actors to Pittsburgh steelworkers.
Why Would Any Republican Support Forced Unionism?
June 9, 2026 // Steve Moore, Phil Kerpen for DC Journal
What makes this even more shocking is that President Trump has proposed completely eliminating the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which the bill would supercharge. The president understands that contracts imposed by government bureaucrats are more likely to be based on political than economic logic, and that negotiations are better left to the private parties. Ironically, government-imposed contracts are likely to harm the workers whose union bosses are pushing this idea. Because when economics don’t add up, it’s the workers who pay in layoffs, reduced hours and the diversion of capital investments that would have raised productivity. This risks broader economic disruption by creating a threat perception that, at any time, a single union request could trigger a government-enforced contract clock. That perception would tend to chill hiring and investing, especially by smaller businesses that can’t afford to fight out an arbitration battle.
Kearney man among former union leaders convicted of embezzlement
June 9, 2026 // Natalie Dattilio for KCTV
Prosecutors said the group used union money for no-show jobs, expensive trips, lavish meals, and other personal costs. They also said there were unearned payouts, and an unauthorized $7 million loan tied to a union-related bank.
Opinion: Marshall-backed bill threatens employer-employee relations
June 9, 2026 // Brent Bowers for Wichita Eagle
Small business owners are not anti-worker. My employees are my neighbors. I want them fairly compensated and genuinely heard. A contract handed down by government arbitrators who have never stepped inside the doors of a given workplace — and who face zero consequences if their ruling forces it out of business — is not a voice for workers. Sen. Marshall has spent his career fighting for Kansas values against Washington overreach. I hope he will take a closer look at this bill and reconsider his support.
Labor Department toughens union transparency rules
June 9, 2026 // Michael Watson for Capital Research Center
The purpose of the changes (and less substantial changes to the LM-2 for unions reporting receipts of $350,000 to $39,999,999) are to carry out the purposes of the LMRDA (and the consensus principle it codified): Ensure union members, prospective union recruits, and the public can appropriately track the use of member dues and compulsory fees required of workers in non-right-to-work states.
Economically Devastating Rent-Seeking in America’s Labor Markets
June 9, 2026 // author for National Institute for Labor Relations Research
Nowhere is rent-seeking more pervasive—or more costly—than in America’s labor markets. From compulsory unionism to occupational licensing, prevailing-wage laws, gig-worker reclassification rules, and strategic minimum-wage campaigns, concentrated interest groups (often unions and incumbent professionals) routinely use state power to extract “rents” from workers, employers, taxpayers, and consumers. These are not abstract economic theories. Rent-seeking is an everyday mechanism that distorts wages, limits opportunities, and transfers trillions of dollars every year, creating harmful economic inefficiencies penalizing employees, employers, taxpayers, and consumers. Compulsory Unionism: The Textbook Case of Labor-Market Rent-Seeking Compulsory unionism
Workers for Opportunity joins the fight against the Faster Labor Contracts Act
June 8, 2026 // David Guenthner for Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Vincent Vernuccio, a senior fellow with Workers for Opportunity and president of Institute for the American Worker, recently recapped a Senate hearing where he testified. An unwitting union official opposed the Faster Labor Contracts Act idea of forced arbitration. Vernuccio wrote: [U.S. Senator and Chair of the federal labor committee Sen. Bill] Cassidy explained this policy in real-world terms, saying that it would “take workers out of the process by removing the need to ratify a contract.” He put a finer point on it by saying that if the government mandated arbitration, workers “cannot reject” the resulting agreement, even though it would be binding on them. “What would happen,” he asked, “if workers lost that ability to ratify a contract?” The union official didn’t mince words: “That would be removing the democracy from the workplace.” Then he doubled down: Such democracy “is the whole point of the union,” he said, because it gives workers “a say.”
CA Post Editorial Board: ‘Unite Here’ needs to unite, here, to make World Cup a success
June 8, 2026 // CA Post Editorial Board for CA Post
The union, which spent piles of cash on the recent primary elections, wants to exploit the World Cup to flex its political muscle. It’s top demand has nothing to do with its contract with the stadium, or with FIFA, but is rather just a complaint about immigration enforcement. The union wants employees to be able to walk off the job if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating at the venue. That’s an insane demand. Essentially, the union wants illegal immigrants to be able to work at SoFi — jobs Americans, want and deserve. The unions also wants its members to be able to skip work virtually at will, whenever they decide that ICE is some kind of threat.
Commentary: Why Are Union Officials So Comfortable Stealing From Their Own Members?
June 8, 2026 // Chip Rogers for Americans for Fair Treatment
That’s why we’re highlighting legislation like Iowa Senate File 472, championed by Iowa State Senator Adrian Dickey. The legislation requires public-sector unions to obtain affirmative consent from workers before deducting union dues from their paychecks and to renew that authorization on a regular basis. Workers must actively opt in rather than being treated as automatic revenue sources. The measure strengthens transparency, reinforces worker choice, and ensures unions maintain the support of the people whose paychecks fund them. Organizations that serve their members well have nothing to fear from accountability. Accountability strengthens trust. It forces leaders to remain responsive to the people they represent. Union members deserve the same protections, transparency, and financial safeguards that shareholders expect from corporations and taxpayers expect from government.
Hollywood unions, workers push back against Paramount-Skydance deal
June 8, 2026 // Simon Mugo for Investing.com
The event, held at Lumiere Music Hall, marked the first stop of a three-city "Main Street vs. The Merger" campaign organized by advocacy groups, industry workers, and the Writers Guild of America.
Lawmakers Consider Hiking Fees for Filling Prescriptions
June 8, 2026 // Bill Hammond for Empire Center
In response to that opposition, the bill’s sponsors amended the bill to exempt the “collectively bargained” health plans covering union members. It also does not apply to Medicare or the “self-insured” health plans offered by most large employers, which are exempt from state regulation by federal law. As a result, the bill primarily targets the health plans purchased from insurance companies by small and medium-sized employers – where it will add to premium costs that are already among the highest in the U.S.
What Voters Don’t Know When They ‘Support’ Teachers’ Unions
June 8, 2026 // Justan Rice for Libertas
Yet, despite the poor outcomes shown by the “Nation’s Report Card” and parents’ desire for better options, teachers’ unions continue to oppose school choice. Each student who leaves a public school for an alternative setting reduces district enrollment, which can erode union membership, lower dues collection, and ultimately diminish the union’s influence. Opposition to school choice is often tied to preserving the unions’ base, even though more than two-thirds of Democrats—the primary beneficiaries of union political support—express preferences aligned with Black parents. The core issue is that responses to the Overton Insights question conflate support for teachers with support for union political action. If voters were asked directly about unions’ political behavior, the 55% who currently support teachers’ unions would likely respond differently. In this case, support reflects a misunderstanding, not a true endorsement.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act violates the principles of voluntary agreement
June 8, 2026 // Ed Egee for National Retail Federation
Most troublingly, the bill would do real harm to the very workers its supporters claim to help. Workers are often told that unionizing will give them a greater voice in the workplace. They are promised a seat at the table and a meaningful role in shaping the terms and conditions of their employment. But under the Faster Labor Contracts Act, workers would lose one of the most important forms of workplace democracy — the right to vote on the contract that governs their jobs. That loss of voice has far-reaching implications: In an industry that supports 55 million working Americans, it affects not only retail workers but also the employers that depend on a stable and collaborative workforce. If bargaining reaches the FLCA’s deadline, workers would be shut out of the process entirely. They would have no right to ratify the agreement, no right to reject it, no right to demand changes, and no meaningful ability to influence the final outcome.
Trump strips civil service protections from thousands of workers
June 8, 2026 // Kevin Bogardus for E & E News
The reclassification is part of a wider campaign by Trump to downsize the civil service and realign it toward his policy goals. The administration has developed rules to have federal employees sign nondisclosure agreements, extend suitability standards, end certain layoff protections, cap performance ratings and weaken safeguards for probationary workers. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told reporters the administration needs people in policy-making positions willing to carry out the president’s directives. It doesn’t matter what political views those federal employees may have, he said. “But if you allow those views to basically interfere with your willingness to actually carry out lawful orders and policy directives of the administration, then this provides a mechanism, obviously, for people in those agencies to be able to be removed effectively at will,” Kupor said.
Local county faces scrutiny over costly outside lawyers for union negotiations
June 8, 2026 // James Pilcher for WKRC
In a statement, county spokeswoman Bridget Doherty said it is common practice for government agencies to use outside labor lawyers and consultants and that it is cost-effective. Doherty also said the county’s relationships with its unions are strong, except with the IUOE, which represents about five percent of the workforce but filed all 13 labor grievances against the county over the last three years.
Schnellecke Logistics workers vote 2-1 to unionize with UAW at VW Chattanooga plant
June 7, 2026 // author for WTVC
Workers at Schnellecke Logistics voted by a 2-1 margin in a National Labor Relations Board election to form a union with the United Auto Workers, marking a major organizing win at the company that handles materials for Volkswagen’s Chattanooga assembly operation.
USC faculty groups vote to unionize and university vows to challenge it
June 7, 2026 // Jaweed Kaleem for Los Angeles Times
Not all eligible USC faculty have been supportive. The effort drew opposition from full-time non-tenure faculty at the Gould School of Law, who said in spring that they were “unanimously opposed to the effort to include us.” The group cited American Bar Assn. accreditation standards that it said already provided workers with protections “reasonably similar to tenure” and encouraged law faculty to remain out of university unions. Some professors in pharmacy, engineering and education schools also publicly opposed unionizing.
Hershey union workers reject tentative agreement
June 6, 2026 // Tom Lehman for WGAL
Hershey Resorts & Entertainment said in their statement that, "We have not been informed by union leadership of any plans to initiate a work stoppage, and our operations continue normally." Chocolate Workers Local 464 did not respond to requests for comment. Business owners in downtown Hershey, speaking off-camera, said they rely heavily on revenue from both tourists and park workers, expressing concerns about the broader effects of a strike beyond park operations.
Trump formalizes move of career federal workers into ‘at will’ roles
June 6, 2026 // Rebecca Beitsch for The Hill
An executive order signed by Trump on Wednesday seeks to move those workers into the new class, saying they would be “exempted from the adverse action procedures that make removals for poor performance or misconduct so difficult.” “Consequently, employees with significant policy-making responsibilities can stay in their jobs for years even if they perform poorly, engage in misconduct, or are unwilling to advance Presidential policy across administrations, making their agencies less capable of delivering for the American people,” the White House wrote in a fact sheet describing those now in the schedule as having “at-will positions.”
Over 80 University of Maryland workers laid off amid budget concerns
June 6, 2026 // Winston Rogers for WJLA
The school was one of two in Prince George's County that warned of job cuts after reporting financial struggles following Maryland's approved education budget for FY 2027, which began on June 1 and included an additional roughly $370 million in funding for schools statewide. For UMD specifically, leaders projected a revenue decrease of $15 million, with energy costs increasing by $18 million tallied onto more than $104 million in cumulative reductions to its state-funded base budget, according to a statement.