Posts tagged California

    Kaiser Permanente employees return to work after 5-day strike

    October 21, 2025 // The strike was part of a walkout involving 31,000 members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP). Members include registered nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, rehab therapists, dietitians, speech-language pathologists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives and other specialty health workers. Picketing was held at three facilities in San Diego County: Zion Medical Center in Grantville, San Diego Medical Center in Kearny Mesa and San Marcos Medical Center.

    How are unions pushing back against Trump’s attacks on labor and layoffs?

    October 21, 2025 // Unions are battling the administration in federal courtrooms nationwide, after filing dozens of lawsuits to try to halt attempts to shed hundreds of thousands of government employees, strip collective bargaining rights from over a million workers, and gut some federal agencies. On Wednesday, they made a significant breakthrough: Judge Susan Illston, of the US district court’s northern district of California, granted a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s latest mass layoffs from the government shutdown.

    The next major film studios could be in Nevada if some unions have their way

    October 21, 2025 // “We believe if we can get the public behind us, we’ll be able to get the legislators to understand what a big change this can bring to Southern Nevada,” said Tommy White, business manager-secretary treasurer of Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 872 in Las Vegas. Trade unions formed a political action committee called Nevada Jobs Now, which has raised over $1 million to be used for digital advertisements, mailers and some TV commercials, White said. The production companies behind the project say it would create 19,000 construction jobs.

    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.

    OMB delays firing federal workers to comply with court order

    October 18, 2025 // The unions and other opponents of the reductions say the firings are a significant departure from the norm in a shutdown and are not the type of work agencies can undertake during a shutdown. Previous shutdowns, including during President Donald Trump’s first term, did not result in any reductions in force. In all other shutdowns, federal workers who are classified as “excepted” employees remained on the job while all others were furloughed, and all received back pay after the government reopened.

    The Cannabis Labor Crossroads: Historic Strikes, Labor Peace Agreements (“LPAs”), and What Comes Next

    October 18, 2025 // The strikes at Exclusive Brands in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Green Thumb Industries’ RISE dispensary in York, Pennsylvania, now stand as the longest in the legal cannabis market. While both actions reflect shared themes—demands for better wages, a voice in the workplace, and concerns about bargaining conduct—they are unfolding in starkly different market contexts and with different strategic aims.

    Dollar store workers fight to improve jobs, even without a union

    October 17, 2025 // In 2022, Williams joined an organization that seemed, to him, like his best shot: Step Up Louisiana. Like several successful campaigns before it, Step Up organizes workers to improve their jobs, but stops short of calling for a union under the National Labor Relations Board. The approach, sometimes referred to as “premajority unionism,” is a natural fit for places like the South, with histories of public hostility to unions. Today, suggest experts, it may also be workers’ best bet for building power amid the hostility of the Trump administration.

    The 15 Most Unionized Places in America

    October 16, 2025 // To determine the most unionized locations in the U.S., researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed data from UnionStats.com and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The researchers ranked metropolitan statistical areas according to total union members as a percentage of total employment. In addition to union membership, the researchers also included statistics on union representation, which is the share of workers whose terms of work are collectively negotiated (whether or not they are union members). Only metropolitan statistical areas with available data were included in the analysis.

    Shasta County Board of Supervisors to Appeal Ruling in Free Speech Case Against California Public Employment Relations Board

    October 15, 2025 // The lawsuit, filed on March 17 by the Freedom Foundation on behalf of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and a county employee, challenges California statutes that prevent public employers from informing employees about their First Amendment right to opt out of union membership. Two specific statutes within the California Government Code restrict the board’s ability to communicate freely about union membership options and infringe on employees’ constitutional right to receive truthful information. These statutes can best be characterized as California’s Gag Rule statutes because they force public employers into silence regarding a matter of public concern.

    Los Angeles Times Journalists Authorize a Strike

    October 14, 2025 // Eighty-five percent of members who belong to the newsroom’s union and participated in the vote opted to allow the labor group to call a strike. The union, a Local of the Media Guild of the West, represents more than 200 reporters, editors, photographers, designers and others at L.A.’s hometown paper. Around 98 percent of those participated in the vote.