Posts tagged California
Illinois’ new rideshare union law could hurt drivers, passengers
September 23, 2026 // The law could lead to job losses for rideshare drivers if they become more expensive to the companies than emerging self-driving technologies. Companies such as Waymo are already replacing human drivers with autonomous vehicles. In February, Waymo started the process of mapping out the city of Chicago for its fleet of driverless vehicles and announced that “we look forward to serving the city in the future.” While autonomous vehicles haven’t rolled out in Illinois yet, Waymo will be ready if lawmakers approve legislation to allow them to operate.
Opinion Dave Regan’s alleged bullying should put an end to ‘billionaire tax’
September 21, 2026 // For years, Regan has bossed his way around California, drawing on his training in New York state and his experience in the Rust Belt. He arrived in California and immediately saw the state’s ballot initiative process as the soft underbelly of democracy. In election after election, he has organized initiatives on his pet priorities. He doesn’t always win them. But he has turned ballot initiatives into weapons to increase the political power of his union — regardless of the consequences.
Commentary: Finally, it’s time for the Trump NLRB to go on offense
September 21, 2026 // The Cemex decision was legally problematic, and the precedent the Biden NLRB has set was challenged in federal courts. But now, Carey has targeted the Cemex decision for reversal, arguing the decision is “contrary to Supreme Court precedent and sound labor policy.” As labor policy expert Vinnie Vernuccio of the Institute for the American Worker explains: Her [Carey’s] brief notes that the Biden-era board ignored “the significant impact its decision had on worker free choice,” which she rightly calls a “backbone” of federal labor law. The General Counsel’s ultimate point could hardly be clearer or more pro-worker: “The right of employees to vote in a secret ballot election, free from coercion and from an informed position, once meant something — it should again.”
Commentary: Are Unions Rising from the Political Grave?
September 21, 2026 // Here again, however, there may be less than meets the eye. Despite its surprising bipartisan support, the FLCA would raise significant constitutional questions if enacted. By relying on a government-mandated arbitration panel to resolve labor disputes, the law effectively empowers the state to impose contractual terms on private parties—a form of what constitutional lawyers call “state action.” As attorneys Alex MacDonald and Vinnie Vernuccio observe: “[S]tate action opens the door to a slew of constitutional requirements and restrictions, notably to protect rights of free speech and association.”
Ignored by Her Union: LA County Homecare Provider Speaks Out
September 21, 2026 // Dallas, TX — In a video released today by the Freedom Foundation, Shequita Chamberlain, an in-home healthcare provider for her mother, exposes how SEIU 2015 has trapped her in union membership despite never joining, and has continually ignored her requests to opt-out. Chamberlain has been trying to leave SEIU 2015 since 2021. She has sent four certified letters, called repeatedly, emailed, and even showed up in-person at SEIU 2015’s headquarters—only to be turned away under supposed COVID protocols.
County fiscal adviser suspends new Sacramento City Unified agreement with teachers
September 20, 2026 // Sacramento County Office of Education-appointed fiscal adviser has temporarily suspended Sacramento City Unified’s approval of a new teachers union agreement, saying the district did not comply with state law in the process. The development follows the school board’s approval Thursday of an agreement that would extend the use of the district’s retiree health fund for one additional year to cover an estimated $23.6 million in retiree health costs during the 2028-29 school year.
California health clinics accuse influential union and its leader of racketeering in civil lawsuit
September 18, 2026 // The California Primary Care Assn. and five clinics filed a civil lawsuit in federal court Friday accusing SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and its president, Dave Regan, of racketeering and using ballot initiatives to “shake down” community health centers. The association alleges that Regan and his union orchestrated a “multi-year campaign of coercion, threats, and economic pressure” to “extort” what the lawsuit describes as “valuable property rights” and “labor-organizing terms” from CPCA and the health centers the association represents in California, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Times.
Proposition 44 pits California clinics against union known for ballot battles
September 17, 2026 // While SEIU-UHW insists it will put resources behind the measure, the union hasn’t invested any major funds in Prop. 44 since May, instead funneling its dollars to support the billionaire tax. Opponents of the measure, meanwhile, had $32 million in cash on hand as of the end of June and have continued to raise money since then. The proposition is one of the least popular of the 14 statewide measures on this year’s ballot, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Tuesday. Just 34% of the 1,745 California adults surveyed said they backed it.
New York’s union bosses just invented a new way to silence their critics
September 17, 2026 // But read past the press release and you find the real target: the state attorney general now has subpoena power and can seek $1,000 per violation against any person or group, in state or out, whose mailers about a worker's right to leave a union get labeled "impersonation." Unions get their own private right to sue on top of that. I've spent three decades in regulated finance, and I know what an uncapped $1,000-per-item liability schedule does to an organization's willingness to speak. It doesn't punish fraud. It punishes volume.
Nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital in Chicago’s south suburbs strike against Prime Healthcare
September 16, 2026 // A Prime Healthcare spokesperson also said the strike and pickets on Tuesday will not disrupt patient care. Nurses at hospitals in Nevada and California were also set to hold sympathy strikes to support the one happening in Olympia Fields. In total, nearly 3,000 hospital workers were on strike or picketing Tuesday.