Posts tagged California
Report: The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
September 10, 2026 // Union executives are prioritizing recruitment. The fastest-growing category of public sector labor legislation expands collective bargaining into new workplaces. On the strength of these new laws, union executives are slowly replacing their membership losses since 2018. From 2018 to 2025, the country’s four largest government unions report a net decline in membership of 87,919, or 1.3 percent. However, they also report a collective gain of 232,502 members, or 3.5 percent since 2024. This report awards full letter-grade increases to Idaho (now A) and Louisiana (now B) due to their adoption of pro-worker labor reforms this past legislative session. However, the drops in grades—Nebraska (D), Nevada (D), and Rhode Island (F)—are the result of these states prioritizing union executives over workers and enacting laws helping unions recruit, politick, organize, and strike. Thirteen states now have an “A” or “A+” grade—up from twelve in the previous edition of this report—while six states earned an “F”—up from five over the same time period. Overall, the research finds 25 states fall below a “C.”
CTA-backed group vies to force election to unionize Clovis educators
September 9, 2026 // The Association of Clovis Educators (ACE), which is backed by the California Teachers Association, last week filed an intervention petition with the state labor board in hopes of forcing an election among Clovis Unified School District educators. The unaffiliated Independent Clovis Unified Educators, or ICUE, filed its petition in July to become the exclusive representative for full-time teachers in the district, which is California’s largest without a teachers union. ACE has challenged ICUE’s petition, calling into question who, among educators, might be represented and eligible to vote, according to The Fresno Bee, which first reported the development.
Labor Day: Americans Flee Forced-Unionism States and Move to Right-to-Work States
September 6, 2026 // Among the top ten growth states in the U-Haul index, nine have a Right-to-Work law that protects workers from being forced to pay dues to union bosses as a condition of employment. -Among the bottom ten states in the U-Haul index, NONE has a Right-to-Work law. All are forced unionism states. -Of the 25 top ranked cities in the U-Haul Growth Index, 24 are located in Right-to-Work states.
NBA Docks Clippers’ Draft Picks, Suspends Ballmer in Cap Caper
September 3, 2026 // Article XIII of the CBA prohibits salary-cap circumvention, meaning arrangements by teams to compensate players outside their employment contracts. If teams find ways to compensate players outside the cap, they have engaged in cheating—not only because they have violated rules they agreed to follow, but also because such conduct undermines fair play and gives those teams an unfair advantage over their competitors. This isn’t the first time the NBA has imposed a five-draft-pick penalty for salary-cap circumvention. In 1999, then-NBA commissioner David Stern ordered the forfeiture of five first-round picks from the Minnesota Timberwolves and imposed a $3.5 million fine for a salary-cap scheme (the NBA later restored two of the forfeited picks, so the ultimate penalty was loss of first-round picks in 2001, 2002 and 2004).
Opinion Shameful: Republicans help SEIU defy Gavin Newsom’s return to work order
September 1, 2026 // Enter Assembly Bill 1729. Authored by Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee and coauthored by Republican Assemblyman Josh Hoover, the bill throws a statutory obstacle in Newsom’s way. Existing law already requires agencies to maintain telework plans where teleworking is “both practical and beneficial.”
Uber drivers say Waymo robotaxis are driving down their pay
August 31, 2026 // The Atlanta Rideshare Drivers Union is claiming that drivers have reported lower pay, longer waits between rides, and fewer fares since Waymo began offering its service in the city last June, Axios reports. As such, the union is calling on city and state leaders to curb Waymo’s expansion — and to consider some measures to easen its disruptive effects on their livelihoods.
Opinion: California’s unions have built a $1B taxpayer-funded machine
August 31, 2026 // One group, more than any other, has cashed in on this arrangement: California’s public-sector unions. For them, higher taxes are good business. More taxes means more state workers, which means more union members, more dues, and more power for union bosses. The union bosses, in turn, keep the dollars flowing, agitating for more tax hikes, more spending, and more state workers. How powerful are California’s public-sector unions? In the calendar or fiscal year ending in 2024, 10 of the largest California-based unions with public-sector members collectively raked in more than $1 billion in dues and fees.
CA state worker union accuses agencies of not providing employee contact information
August 29, 2026 // In the most recent Public Employment Relations Board charge filed last week by SEIU Local 1000 against the California State Lottery, the union accuses the department of not providing the phone numbers and emails of employees. The union, in the PERB filing, said the information is helpful when recruiting new members and performing outreach, potentially affecting the union’s long-term strength.
Commentary:Teamsters built union on innovation but now they’re suing to stop it
August 29, 2026 // Founded between 1901 and 1903, the original Teamsters organization protected the interests of horse-drawn carriage drivers. Early in their history, members faced a new technology that threatened to make their horse-centric skills obsolete: the automobile. Despite the challenges presented by motorized transport, the early Teamsters did not fight the innovation. Instead, they organized around its adoption, expanding their membership categories to include car drivers, retraining horse-team drivers, and helping write the new rules of the road for the automotive future. They changed their name in 1909, adding “Chauffeurs, Stablemen and Helpers” to signify the adaptation to the societal changes driven by technological progress. The Teamsters own founding story provides a strong case study in organized labor adoption and shaping a technological transition rather than resisting it.
Commentary: And Now, Chicago
August 28, 2026 // These “core services” bills are yet another variation on trying to achieve the goals that unionists detailed in 2018, when they called for “admittedly radically different” policies to try and shift entire industries into unionizable employee status. You don’t have to be a genius to anticipate that more “core services” bills are about to pop up in more cities soon.