Posts tagged Bernie Sanders
‘Power in the hands of people’: union leaders push to revive ailing US labor movement
April 15, 2026 // Leaders of some of the largest unions in the US have unveiled a drive to jumpstart the country’s ailing labor movement and combat growing wealth inequality under Donald Trump. To make it easier for workers to join a union, and strengthen the hand of new unions negotiating with powerful businesses, a string of prominent organizers joined together to launch Union Now, a non-profit designed to increase labor union density.
Unleash Prosperity Hotline: Unions Are SOOO Yesterday
April 14, 2026 // We all want higher wages for workers, but we wince when the Bernie Sanders Dems and the NatCons say the way to reach that goal is to expand union power. That can’t work today because, as Rachel Greszler of Advancing American Freedom notes in her latest policy brief, only one in 16 private workers is in a union. And that percentage keeps drifting down.
Opinion Aaron Withe: Why unions love the ‘Billionaire Tax’
March 12, 2026 // It has attracted a coalition of supporters — chief among them government employee unions. That might seem like an odd pairing, but the logic becomes clear once you trace where the money is supposed to go. Sanders’ legislation would redirect the projected revenue — $4.4 trillion over a decade — into an array of new federal spending programs, including direct cash payments, a federal salary floor for public school teachers and expanded Medicare benefits. Not coincidentally, pouring money into such programs means more federal employees, more union-eligible positions and more dues flowing into union bank accounts.
Michigan Democratic Senate hopefuls tout their union bona fides
February 12, 2026 // Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County public health official, each said they would champion workers rights and manufacturing if elected to the Senate in what’s expected to be one of the most closely watched races this year. Support from autoworkers could be crucial in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Senate Democrats need to net four seats to win control of the chamber, and defending Peters’ seat is key to that effort.
After Nearly Three Months, NYC Starbucks Workers Quietly End Strike
February 9, 2026 // Starbucks workers at 10 unionized New York City stores quietly returned to work on Thursday, ending their nearly three-month strike after failing to force management back to the bargaining table for a first contract. Workers in more than 85 cities nationwide have walked off the job since Nov. 13 in what the union called a “Red Cup Rebellion,” to protest the company’s alleged refusal to finalize a collective bargaining agreement with their union, Starbucks Workers United.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders rally with nurses on ninth day of strike
January 21, 2026 // The democratic socialists, speaking to a boisterous crowd of nurses in front of Mount Sinai West on the Upper West Side, called on hospital executives to return to the negotiating table to resolve the contract impasse that prompted some 15,000 nurses to walk off the job last week.
Starbucks to pay $38.9 million settlement after it violated New York’s labor laws
December 2, 2025 // According to the settlement made public on Monday, Starbucks will pay $35.5 million to the 15,000 current and former employees who worked at the company's stores between July 2021 and July 2024. The settlement will give each of these workers $50 each week to resolve the alleged violations of the city's Fair Workweek ordinance. “With this landmark settlement, we’ll put tens of millions of dollars back into the pockets of hard-working New Yorkers and reinforce every New Yorker’s right to a reliable schedule, full hours, and basic dignity,” Adams said in a statement. Additionally, Starbucks will shell out $3.4 million in civil penalties and fees, and the settlement guarantees employees laid off during recent store closings will get a chance to get reinstated at other company locations, according to the announcement.
Op-ed: Democrats Caved in the Shutdown Fight. Unions Let Them.
November 13, 2025 // The main rationale provided by AFGE president Everett Kelley was that his members were suffering economically from the shutdown. There’s no doubt that this hurt is very real, and I do not doubt the sincerity of Kelley’s commitment to his membership. But AFGE’s leadership could have decided to pressure Republicans rather than Democrats to end the shutdown. That was a political choice. Rank-and-file AFGE members this morning released an open letter calling on their national leadership to oppose the deal. As one rank-and-file AFGE member wrote to me last night, “Many of us are furious at AFGE leadership
How Josh Hawley Is Empowering Unions in New York and California
October 19, 2025 // A week later, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to confirm two of Trump's NLRB nominees. Mayer's nomination was tabled. Without that seat filled, the NLRB still lacks a quorum—and, as a result, the labor boards in New York and California have power. Of course, blocking Mayer's appointment to the board is within Hawley's authority as a senator and a member of that key committee. Still, exercising that authority has opened Hawley to criticism. "Hawley is definitely trying to help unions," Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, told Reason via email.
UAW President Shawn Fain: “We Need More Than A Party – We Need A Movement”
October 14, 2025 // Fain, Speaking At A Center For Working-Class Politics & Jacobin Event, ‘Emphasized The Need For A Political Program That Addresses Workers’ Most Basic’ Issues - And ‘How A Broad Strike In 2028 Could Put Them Front & Center’