Posts tagged California
Editorial Board: Unions held Massachusetts schools hostage. Now the bill has come due.
June 3, 2026 // Sometimes even an override isn’t enough. In Brookline, which had a one-day teacher strike in 2022 that ended with a pay raise, voters overwhelmingly approved a tax increase last month that will bring in an extra $23 million, including $18 million for the schools. The vote helped stave off hundreds of teacher layoffs and cuts to the fire department. Even still, the district will still be forced to cut some school jobs. “Not only did these unlawful strikes add to the already historic student learning loss after the pandemic,” said Jim Stergios, the executive director of the Pioneer Institute, “but over the long term jeopardized the jobs of rank-and-file teachers and local municipal budgets.”
Labor Watch: Harvard Grad Students End 40-Day Strike
June 3, 2026 // he Harvard Graduate Students Union announced Monday that its 40-day strike has ended “with the close of the academic year,” though the union has still not reached a bargaining agreement with the university. The strike—the longest in the union’s history—spanned the end-of-semester grading period and university commencement, which wrapped on Friday. Over the last several weeks, the university offered to expand benefits to all graduate student workers, provide dental coverage for Ph.D. students and increase its four-year raise proposal by 1 percent, the union said in a news release. These moves were the “first indication of engagement” from the university on the union’s priorities, the release said.
More than 100 Oklahoma lawmakers oppose SQ 832
June 1, 2026 // Under SQ 832, after the minimum wage is more than doubled, the mandate would continue to grow at a rapid annual pace 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. That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco. As a result, while SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.
CALIFORNIA: IHSS providers tricked into staying, overpaying
June 1, 2026 // Another provider who called for help navigating the union’s intentionally complicated opt-out process reported she was paying $45 a month in dues in addition to $53 a month for the dental insurance for just herself. That’s a whopping $98 dollars to hold onto dental insurance that could be purchased from an independent third party at a fraction of the cost. SEIU Local 2015 and United Domestic Workers (UDW), AFSMCE Local 3930 are the two unions representing more than a half million providers. Collectively, they rake in over $100 million in dues every year — money spent on inflated salaries for its leaders and political activity while providing lackluster representation. Yet the “discounted” dental packages can cost up to a third of a provider’s gross pay if they are only allotted a few hours a month.
SoFi Stadium workers set to vote on strike ahead of World Cup
June 1, 2026 // The union has made demands that include, according to The Athletic: –A guarantee that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will not be allowed on venue grounds during the World Cup, saying their presence could jeopardize employee safety. Government officials have said ICE agents would be on hand with security and not immigation enforcement their primary duty. –Restricted use of subcontractors. –No use of automation or artificial intelligence that could cause the loss of union jobs. –Release of information to the union that would detail things such as work hours or the distribution of tips and service charges.
JD Vance Courts Sean O’Brien and the Teamsters
June 1, 2026 // Mr. O’Brien is desperate for a win in Washington to sell to his 1.3 million members as he runs for re-election. Some Republicans in Congress seem eager to give him one—maybe two—as they seek to burnish their bona fides as defenders of the working class. These Republicans are doing more to help Democrats—the primary beneficiaries of Teamster campaign donations—than workers. The Teamsters’ membership has shrunk by nearly half since the 1970s amid a broader decline in organized labor. Technology has improved productivity. At the same time, jobs have migrated to states with right-to-work laws, which prohibit unions and employers from making union membership a condition of employment. The Teamsters have also lost rank-and-file support. Between 2016 and 2025, members filed 373 petitions to decertify the Teamsters, according to Reason magazine. Some 60% of the decertification elections succeeded. You can’t blame union members for wearying of paying dues that bankroll Democratic candidates and lavish lifestyles of union leaders. In the 2023-24 election cycle, 92% of Teamsters PAC donations to federal candidates went to Democrats, as did 91% of the union’s contributions to party committees.
New Jersey Codifies ABC Test for Independent Contractor Classification
June 1, 2026 // For employers, the practical lesson is familiar: states continue to move toward more aggressive worker-classification enforcement, and California remains the clearest example of that trend. California has led the nation in challenging independent contractor classifications through the ABC framework and related litigation and enforcement activity. New Jersey’s recent legislation reflects that same direction, and New York has also continued moving toward a more worker-protective approach. Other states have likewise adopted ABC-style tests in at least some contexts, making it increasingly risky for businesses to rely on a uniform, multistate independent contractor model without jurisdiction-specific review.
California Public Sector Union Threatens Environmental Lawsuit Over Gavin Newsom’s Return-to-Office Policy
May 31, 2026 // Unionized state workers say agencies need to study the additional emissions that would be caused by requiring employees to come into the office four days a week.
Report: The diminishing power of teacher unions
May 29, 2026 // The result is A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026. Building on our original study, the authors set out to gauge teacher union strength in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Collectively, the 59 measures—which include 29 new measures that were not in the original report—seek to quantify union strength in five key areas: Resources and Membership; Involvement in Politics; Labor and Bargaining Policies; Policy Wins and Losses; and Perceived Influence, which draws from an original survey examining how stakeholders in each of the 50 states and D.C. perceive teacher union strength today. The states with the strongest teacher unions are Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii. The states with the weakest teacher unions are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Mississippi. (See our interactive table on the report website for the overall rankings alongside the rankings for each of the five areas.)
Seattle Hospitalists Vote to Unionize
May 28, 2026 // A group of about 115 hospitalists at five Swedish Medical Group locations across the Seattle area voted to unionize as a wave of physician organizing continues nationwide. The hospitalists voted to join Northwest Medicine United (NWMU), AFT Local 6552, which represents hundreds of physicians and advanced practice providers throughout the Northwest, the union announced. They represent the first group of doctors in the Providence health system to organize in the state of Washington.