Posts tagged California
Impasse over NLRB nominee may be just what unions want
October 14, 2025 // The state laws would undermine the role of the NLRB, which was created to enforce the National Labor Relations Act and help ensure “labor peace” – i.e., more amicable relations between unions and management by creating a consistent set of rules for both sides. States could potentially give unions tremendous leverage in conflicts with management by changing the rules currently set down by the NLRB. Just having conflicting rules from region to region, for example, over which workers are eligible to organize, would create major logistical problems for interstate businesses. California’s law was heavily promoted by the Teamsters, who still represent many long-haul truckers.
Newt’s World Episode 899: Employee Rights Act
October 13, 2025 // Newt talks with Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker about the Employee Rights Act of 2025, a legislative proposal aimed at enhancing and safeguarding the rights of American workers while promoting fairness and accountability in the workplace. Introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Rick Allen, the bill represents a Republican vision for the workforce, focusing on empowering workers, improving unions, and fostering innovation and growth. Vernuccio highlights the outdated nature of current labor laws,
California Dramatically Expands State Labor Board’s Powers to Cover Employees Under NLRB’s Exclusive Jurisdiction, Following New York’s Lead
October 13, 2025 // California’s legislation comes on the heels of and follows the same logic behind New York’s recently enacted “NLRB Trigger Bill” that similarly empowers the Empire State’s PERB to step into the shoes of the Board, which we covered here. The NLRB has lacked a quorum for months and as a result remains unable to process appeals from decisions by Board administrative law judges or regional directors in unfair labor practice or representation cases. However, AB 288 will likely face similar legal challenges to New York’s “NLRB Trigger Bill,” which the Board has sued over, as we covered here. Specifically, AB 288 may be preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”), which covers most private-sector employees, under longstanding Supreme Court precedent.
Union Hypocrisy Alert: SEIU-UHW Says “Do as We Say, Not as We Do”
October 13, 2025 // One union spokeswoman defended the measure by saying it would ensure that funding goes to “the core mission”of the organization rather than to overhead. That’s a standard that SEIU-UHW is nowhere close to following itself. The core mission of a labor union is representing its members. Fortunately for the public, labor unions file publicly-available documents detailing exactly how much they spend on “representational activities” every year. In 2024, SEIU-UHW spent just over a third of its revenue on “representational activities” – the union’s “core mission.”
VIDEO: California Caregiver Exposes SEIU 2015 for Coercion and Silencing Members
October 13, 2025 // In a video released today by the Freedom Foundation, Chaquan May, a California mother and in-home healthcare provider for her medically fragile daughter, exposes how SEIU 2015 has ignored, coerced, and trapped her in union membership against her will. May recounts how, despite multiple attempts to opt out over the past two years, the union continues to withhold dues and refuses to acknowledge her requests.
Testimony: Rachel Greszler: Labor Law Reform Part 1: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals
October 10, 2025 // SummaryToday’s challenges—from the rise of artificial intelligence to the expansion of independent work and the growing demand for flexibility, autonomy, and new skills—necessitate modernized labor laws that are pro-worker and pro-employer, regardless of the type of workplace. Heavy-handed government interventions and attempts to bring back the 1950s’ ways of work are not the answers. American labor laws should preserve the freedom, dignity, and opportunity that make American work exceptional.
Commentary: AB 1340 Is a Death-Knell to Rideshare Independence for California Drivers
October 9, 2025 // Long odds predict that, just as with the fallout from AB5, rideshare drivers will ultimately not like the end result. Just as California’s AB5 has infected the nation, with AB5-like restrictive measures being considered in Minnesota and New Jersey, this new California law is a bellwether to the erosion of the rideshare model in other states.
Right to Work Foundation Urges Ninth Circuit to Reject CA Law Granting Union Bosses Massive Power Over Cannabis Industry Workers
October 9, 2025 // The Foundation’s amicus brief argues in particular that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempts California’s “labor peace agreement” statutes. The NLRA is the federal law that governs most private sector labor relations. The four conditions mandated for cannabis companies under California law, “an agreement with a…union, a ban on disrupting union organizing, a ban on union members picketing, boycotting, or striking, and a clause granting union organizers access to employees at work” all concern activity that the U.S. Congress intended the NLRA to deal with – not state law.
Tens of thousands of healthcare workers are set to stroke against Kaiser Permanente next week. If the strike happens, it would be the largest ever against Kaiser.
October 7, 2025 // Fox 5 reports thousands of frontline registered nurses and healthcare workers would strike for five days at more than two dozen hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii.
Newsom signs bill giving 800,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in California the right to unionize
October 7, 2025 // California is the second state where Uber and Lyft drivers can unionize as independent contractors. Massachusetts voters passed a ballot referendum in November allowing unionization, while drivers in Illinois and Minnesota are pushing for similar rights.