Posts tagged California
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.
Unionized nursing homes in deep-blue state trail the pack as analysis reveals ratings gap
May 28, 2026 // California nursing homes with unionized staff received lower average federal quality ratings than facilities without confirmed union presence, according to a new report. "Union presence in a CMS-certified registered home appears to lower its CMS rating by almost 10 percent," a new report published by the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a right-of-center organization critical of organized labor, reviewed by Fox News Digital found. The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, scores nursing homes on a five-star scale based on how well they perform on health inspections, the number of staff present relative to patients, how much care patients are provided and the overall quality of care residents receive.
Clinicians push to unionize amid staffing, burnout concerns
May 25, 2026 // Among the most recent efforts in May are the more than 73% of the 870 nurses at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., who signed cards supporting unionization. The group filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on May 1 and is awaiting an election date. Nurses involved in the effort said they want a stronger voice in decisions affecting staffing, retention and working conditions.
After AI layoffs, Newsom orders state government to find ways to ease the pain
May 23, 2026 // In February, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, members of the California Labor Federation and labor leaders in Democratic primary states pledged to pull support for a Newsom 2028 presidential campaign if he didn’t take steps to protect workers from artificial intelligence. Newsom’s veto of the predecessor of the No Robo Bosses Act was named as a reason for that pledge. In a statement shared with CalMatters, California Labor Federation president Lorena Gonzalez said the executive order is welcome but not enough
New York City Unions Keep Winning Six-Figure Salaries
May 21, 2026 // Business owners say the wage increases will raise prices for consumers, with higher hotel bills and healthcare costs. In its negotiations, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority argued that the wage increases that Long Island Rail Road unions were asking for would lead to higher fares or increased borrowing. Labor economists and union supporters said union victories in New York City could be hard to replicate elsewhere, but across the country unions have been flexing a bit more muscle in recent years. And other workers, struggling to keep up with rising costs, could take notice.
Unions moan as California state workers ordered back into the office 4 days week
May 21, 2026 // Last year, Newsom faced push back from unions over Executive Order N-22-25 and it’s happening again. Unions like SEIU Local 1000 — which represents nearly 100,000 state workers, and CAPS UAW, representing 6,000 scientific workers for the state — have blasted the governor over the move. In a press release from SEIU Local 1000 — it wrote that “as the State refuses to bargain in good faith over changes to teleworking conditions, SEIU Local 1000 filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).” “SEIU Local 1000 remains committed to fighting for Telework that Works through bargaining, legislation, and statewide member organizing efforts.”