Posts tagged coercion
Op-ed: Other states should copy NC’s model labor policy
October 21, 2026 // In both the public and private sectors, North Carolina protects employees’ right to choose. It gives private employees a right to opt out of union dues. And it protects public employees from having a union contract foisted on them. In effect, it respects choice by preventing coercion. But elsewhere, public policy is moving in a different direction — a direction that sacrifices choice in favor of more union membership. The prime example is a recent proposal by academics at Harvard University, which would create a statewide system of “sectoral bargaining.” Sectoral bargaining is the opposite of choice: It funnels every employee in an industry into a single union, whether an employee voted for the union or not. The proposal’s premise is that unions are automatically good for workers, so workers should automatically be put into unions. Choice is beside the point.
Banner Health challenges union vote, alleges election was tainted by coercion
September 14, 2026 // Banner Health is asking federal labor officials to invalidate a recent union election involving physicians, nurse practitioners and other medical staff, alleging the union unlawfully interfered with the vote. According to a motion filed Thursday by Banner Medical Group Inc., the union allegedly promised free legal counsel to employees if they signed union authorization cards. Banner argues the alleged conduct created an atmosphere of coercion and interfered with employees' free choice.
Dr. Oz points to powerful California unions as ‘biggest beneficiaries’ in Medicaid fraud scheme
August 10, 2026 // The CMS Administrator claims that there is no incentive to crackdown on fraud because unions are able to increase their bottom-line if more people are able to bill Medicaid. “These incentives create a vicious cycle: Lax program integrity standards mean more demand for caregivers, more caregivers mean more union dues, and more union dues mean more donations for the elected officials who are supposed to be guarding the cash register,” he added. While joining a union is supposed to be completely optional, Oz accused some of California’s most influential labor organizations of forcing healthcare workers to join instead of offering a choice.
Board Overturns ALJ Determination That Starbucks Threatened Worker
August 6, 2026 // The Board majority reversed an administrative law judge and dismissed a complaint alleging that Starbucks unlawfully threatened employees over their ability to pick up shifts at other stores based on union status. Starbucks employees are typically scheduled for fewer than 40 hours a week at their assigned “home store” and routinely “borrow” shifts at other locations to make up hours. In January 2022 the company rolled out an online tool called Shift Marketplace to facilitate this borrowing, and none of the training materials or guides limited borrowing based on whether an employee’s home store was unionized.
National Right to Work Foundation Files Brief in Support of Grad Students’ Legal Challenge to Being Forced to Fund Radical Campus Union
July 19, 2026 // Amicus brief at Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals argues NLRB coercion over bargaining means mandatory union dues requirement violates First Amendment
Calif. In-Home Workers Accuse Unions of Coerced Dues, Shakedowns
July 15, 2026 // May, 39, received training to become a home worker through Medicare’s In-Home Support Services, or IHSS, to care for her then-infant. In the summer of 2023, as a mandatory part of her training, she attended an IHSS orientation. May was expecting to learn about the program’s rules, payroll procedures, and her legal responsibilities for compliance. Instead, she says that 75% of the orientation was devoted to pressuring her to join the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. At the end of the presentation, May said a representative from the Service Employees International Union local 2015 locked the doors of the orientation room and told attendees that “no one is leaving until everyone signs” a union membership card.
Nurses file unfair labor charges against Teamsters Local 332 amid ongoing strike
April 22, 2026 // According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), some nurses have filed unfair labor charges against their union, Teamsters Local 332. Charges were filed on March 31, April 10, and April 14. They claim the Union violated the National Labor Relations Act, and they claim a violation of employee rights specific to a picketing or strike action as well as allegations of related harassment and coercion.
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,
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.
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.