Posts tagged coercion
Op-ed: Stanford’s Graduate Student Union Tries to Stifle Dissent
September 4, 2025 // At the University of Chicago, graduate students in a similar position have taken their union to federal court, arguing that forced support of the union violates their constitutional rights. In Graduate Students for Academic Freedom v. Graduate Students United, the plaintiffs—including Jewish students—say they are being compelled to fund a union that promotes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, a stance they view as antisemitic. The graduate unions at both Stanford and Chicago are registered as local chapters of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, a national union that funds progressive activism.
Opinion: It’s time to put American workers ahead of big labor
September 3, 2025 // in 2024 alone, the Department of Labor documented 177 enforcement actions against unions for fraud, embezzlement, wire fraud, and falsified records. Congressional investigations have targeted a dozen unions for similar abuses, highlighting a pattern of self-dealing that diverts funds from pensions, training programs, and strike support. When union officials embezzle or racketeer, it’s the everyday worker who pays the price through diminished benefits and tarnished reputations. Perhaps most troubling is the growing chasm between union leaders’ policy stances and the actual views of their members. Union bosses, often ensconced in Washington or state capitals, pour millions into liberal causes and Democratic campaigns, even as their grassroots base leans increasingly conservative or independent. In the 2024 election, while top labor officials doubled down on Democratic endorsements and criticized Republican outreach, many union households shifted toward Donald Trump.
Podcast: Championing Worker Freedom Across The States: Alan Jernigan and Vincent Vernuccio on ALEC TV
August 23, 2025 // As debates over worker rights ripple across the country, one message continues to echo from state to state: workers deserve the freedom to choose the work arrangements that fit their lives best. But how should lawmakers turn that principle into policy?
Educator urges Illinois teachers to reject union pressure, politics and coercion
August 7, 2025 // Sarah Fletcher, a former charter school educator and now the Head of School at White Horse Academy, a private school, said her own teaching career trajectory was shaped by a desire to avoid union involvement altogether. “When we moved here to Illinois from Arizona, I had very little interest in teaching at the public school,” Fletcher said. “Part of that was because I didn’t want to be pressured into or have to be mandated to pay dues. The IEA and IFT, which are part of larger organizations like the NEA, use the majority of their funds not to represent teachers, but for political advocacy.”
The Buckeye Institute Charges OCSEA with Coercion in Unfair Labor Practice Case
June 17, 2025 // “Few would contest that workers are both legally and morally entitled to make a free, uncoerced, and informed choice as to whether to join a union,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “But coercion is just what the union employed when it had Mr. Smith sign and turn in a union membership agreement before providing any information about the union, and then refused to return the agreement at the end of the orientation.” As outlined in the statement of facts, at Mr. Smith’s first-day orientation, Tim Federkiel, president of AFSCME/OCSEA Chapter 2200, had new employees sign and turn in union membership agreements before providing any information about the union. Throughout his presentation, Mr. Federkiel made political statements, and when Mr. Smith asked for the union application back and told Mr. Federkiel he did not want to join the union, Mr. Federkiel “replied aggressively, ‘No,’ it was too late, he had it now.” Indeed, Mr. Smith has not received a copy of the application despite his repeated requests.
Amazon labor organizers challenge union election loss, alleging employer coercion
May 14, 2025 // The union campaign at Garner’s RDU1 warehouse lost by a wide margin earlier this year. Organizers say they faced retaliation and a massive “union-busting” effort.
CA requires public school unionization lessons, bans mandatory anti-union work meetings
January 2, 2025 // Two new laws — AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, and now SB 399, signed into law by Newsom this year, are set to help maintain or even increase union membership in the state. AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, requires California high school juniors and seniors to be taught about their workplace rights, the achievements of organized labor, and students’ right to join a union. Education site Chalkboard News used public records requests to discover what exactly this new law is having teachers cover.
OPINION: Republicans Don’t Need to Embrace Union Leaders to Win Union Workers
July 1, 2024 // Republicans should appeal directly to union members with commonsense policies. Working-class Americans are among the hardest hit by Bidenomics and its painful inflation. Republicans should reach them with policies that will reduce the cost of living and increase job opportunities. The GOP should simultaneously and forcefully oppose the union-backed demands with a message of spending restraint. Additionally, the GOP should extend the 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2025 — spurring a new era of job creation and wage growth.
Biden Pushes Early Renomination of Failed NLRB Chair in Effort to Deny Possible Trump Administration Control over Labor Board
June 12, 2024 // The NLRB is composed of five members, usually three of whom are from the president’s political party and two from the opposing party. The Board uses both adjudication and rulemaking to put forward its interpretations of the NLRA, but it needs a quorum of three members to act. Currently, there are four Board members (see Board composition here). Three of the members are Democrats, while one is a Republican. The other Republican seat has been vacant since December of 2022, because President Biden chose not to nominate anyone to that vacancy for a year and a half. While agency vacancies and delays on nominations are nothing new in Washington, this one is notable and shows an unusual partisanship and dishonesty.
GEORGIA: Bill would require companies receiving incentives to use secret union ballots
February 16, 2024 // "Senate Bill 362 is designed to stop organized labor from pressuring its way into small businesses and other workplaces," NFIB State Director Hunter Loggins said in a statement. "Union leaders want the power to force workers to say in front of their co-workers and union organizers whether they support the idea of joining the union. Union leaders know full well how intimidating and coercive that would be.