Posts tagged big labor
Big Labor’s Rise to Power, or Big Labor Never Lets a Tragedy Go to Waste
May 21, 2026 // It contrasts Samuel Gompers’ early emphasis on voluntarism (“No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion”) with later leaders, such as Owen Bieber, who embraced “the persuasion of power.” Compulsory unionism—forced membership or dues as a condition of keeping or having a job—began in the private sector in 1935, and with the federal government’s help, it spread like a “cancer” to government workers, and it has eroded worker rights, public services, and democratic processes while enriching labor union treasuries and many union officers.
‘We can shut down the city’: Lurie’s budget cuts spark a showdown with labor
May 19, 2026 // Mayor Daniel Lurie may be setting the stage for a once-in-a-generation showdown with San Francisco’s public-sector labor unions. Faced with a $643 million deficit and the threat of hundreds of millions more in federal cuts, Lurie is slashing city jobs and squeezing public services — moves that are fueling anger among the unions he’ll soon face across the bargaining table.
The Union You’ve Never Heard Of Is Following A Blueprint You Should Know
May 18, 2026 // In 2021, IATSE members authorized a strike by 98.7%. What followed was four years of increasingly coordinated action across entertainment unions. WGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and the Teamsters built a solidarity coalition that showed up at each other’s picket lines in 2023, during a 148-day WGA strike and a 118-day counterpart for SAG-AFTRA. During contract negotiations, this coalition has been using pattern bargaining, and “wins” by one union become the baseline for those that follow. Each contract raises the floor for the next negotiation, and whether that method is sustainable for the industry isn’t relevant here. What matters is that other unions are watching, and they love to copycat each other.
OPINION: Union Politics Is Poisoning Washington’s Business Climate
April 23, 2026 // Between 2021 and 2026, Washington fell from #16 to #45 in the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index, a dramatic drop that signals a rapidly deteriorating business climate. Meanwhile, the cost of living has surged. The Washington Roundtable now ranks the state among the five most expensive in the country. This did not happen by accident. It is the direct outcome of a policy agenda backed by union money and enacted by elected officials who benefit from it: higher minimum wages, expansive paid-leave mandates, new healthcare requirements, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
Opinion– Editorial Board: Why the Republican-union alliance never works
April 22, 2026 // "The new acting secretary, Keith Sonderling, is a more conventional Republican choice for the job. Respected by conservatives, he would sail through the Senate confirmation process if nominated. He has already been competently running the department as deputy secretary, as it has advanced deregulation and protected independent contractor status for 11.9 million workers"
Editorial Board: In defense of the secret ballot
March 15, 2026 // In the case decided by the 6th Circuit, Brown-Forman challenged the basis for the NLRB’s Cemex ruling and won. The supposedly unfair labor practice committed at its Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery was giving workers a $4-per-hour raise, expanding merit-based salary increases, offering more vacation time and providing free bottles of bourbon. The employees voted 45-14 against unionizing, but the NLRB ordered the company to bargain with that union anyway. The advantage of secret-ballot elections is that workers are free of coercion by unions or employers when deciding whether they wish to unionize. It also ensures that their decisions are anonymous, so they won’t fear retaliation or harassment by aggressive union organizers or the people who pay their salaries. A secret ballot is far more likely to reflect their true views.
Commentary: Trump’s labor agencies get to work for independent workers
March 12, 2026 // Calming fears that appointing a pro-union Labor Secretary meant the Trump administration would side with Big Labor rather than American workers and businesses, the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board are taking steps to protect independent workers and business relationships outside Big Labor’s orbit.
Opinion: A win for 11.9 million workers
March 1, 2026 // Advocates for classifying more self-employed workers as employees are generally speaking on behalf of people who don’t want their help. Of the estimated 11.9 million Americans for whom independent contract work is their sole or main job, 80 percent prefer it to traditional employment, according to a 2023 survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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 // 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]
Watson Commentary: Making the AFL-CIO great again: labor policy in 2026
January 20, 2026 // The biggest labor issue of all might be the changing composition of what remains of the union movement. Goodbye, manual-labor men; hello purple-haired they/them grad students.