Posts tagged collective bargaining
Vernuccio Op-ed: Trump Reveals True Cost of Federal Collective Bargaining
February 23, 2026 // Bottom line: Taxpayers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year, not on core government functions, but simply dealing with federal labor unions. What, exactly, are they bargaining over? For the most part, federal unions can’t bargain over wages or benefits. Instead, as my organization has found, taxpayers are funding negotiations that neither benefit federal workers nor have anything to do with serving the public. Case in point: One federal union bargained with the government over whether employees could wear spandex to work. The union argued that wearing spandex was a fundamental right. Taxpayers covered the cost of such absurd discussions.
Op-ed: The $921M Special Interest Machine That Controls California
February 21, 2026 // The California Policy Center’s analysis lays it bare: California’s public sector unions collected $921 million in 2018 alone. That’s not campaign contributions—that’s annual revenue. The prize they’re protecting? According to Govern For California, state and local governments spend $240 billion per year on public employee compensation and benefits.
You paid $181 million for union bosses to negotiate against you in 2024, but the Trump administration is doing something about it
February 19, 2026 // Even the “usual” topics of labor-relations negotiations are not part of federal bargaining. As Molly Conway, who served as Chief of Staff to the Department of Labor in the first Trump administration, wrote in a primer for the Institute for the American Worker: Management rights and any matters “specifically provided for by Federal statute” are not bargainable. This includes pay, health insurance, retirement, and certain workplace insurance (e.g., workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance), among others. [citations omitted]
OPM directs agencies to move forward with ending collective bargaining
February 16, 2026 // An additional “frequently asked questions” document that OPM updated Thursday details various changes agencies should make to comply with Trump’s orders revoking collective bargaining. The guidance, for one, tells agencies to revise federal employees’ personnel files to reflect that they are no longer in a bargaining unit. It also directs agencies to cancel ongoing arbitration proceedings and unfair labor practice (ULP) charges in cases where collective bargaining is being rescinded. OPM said agencies are also allowed to “disregard” union grievances for bargaining units or federal employees that the president has deemed no longer eligible for collective bargaining. Additionally, OPM said agencies should “withdraw” from ongoing union negotiations in cases where collective bargaining is being canceled. Impacted agencies should reclaim office space and resources that were being used for official time, OPM added.
Va. leaders sound alarm on collective bargaining bill: ‘It will bankrupt local government’
February 13, 2026 // “This new bill wants to mandate collective bargaining and mandate what's called binding arbitration, which forces districts to pay a salary based on some unelected person who's an arbitrator who tells us what we have to do,” said School Board Chairman Babur Lateef. “And we don't agree with that. We don't believe that should be done for any school division in the state or any locality. We believe local governments should have the right to choose whether they want to collectively bargain or not, and it shouldn't be mandated. The current bill, as it stands, doesn't fund the mandate, so the state wants to mandate it, but they don't want to pay for it. If this bill passes, it will be the single largest tax increase in Virginia history, because all of the responsibility for these payments and salaries will be on the localities, local taxpayers, property taxes, and everyone in communities, and it will bankrupt local governments and bankrupt school divisions.”
MEGHAN PORTFOLIO And FRANK RICCI: Teachers Union Uses ‘Crises’ To Reshape School Governance
February 12, 2026 // We wrote an MOU in a day, which in our district is definitely a record.” Under normal circumstances, agreements of this magnitude take weeks or months to negotiate and approve. That MOU now locks the district into a new operating framework. Unlike formal contracts, MOUs typically require only a single management signature and a single union signature. State labor laws and collective bargaining agreements often reduce school board authority to one individual, allowing grievance settlements or stipulated agreements to be implemented without the board’s deliberation, vote, or public input.
US union elections declined in 2025 after Trump hobbled labor board
February 11, 2026 // The number of workers participating in union elections dropped by 59,000, a 42% decline compared with the year prior, according to the report from the Center for American Progress. The total number of union elections fell from a 10-year high of 2,124 in 2024 to 1,498 in 2025. The success rate in union elections also dropped to 69.8% in 2025, after rising to 72% in 2023.
Breaking: Government Report Reveals Over $180 Million Spent on Taxpayer-funded Collective Bargaining Costs
February 10, 2026 // The report details the scope and cost of taxpayer-funded collective bargaining activities across the federal government for Fiscal Year 2024. Federal agencies reported approximately $181.6 million in collective bargaining-related expenses paid by American taxpayers. Such spending included time devoted to negotiations, grievances, and arbitration, and related costs such as travel and office space- detailed expenses previously unknown to the public. I4AW’s Vinnie Vernuccio released the following statement: “I applaud OPM for shining a light on the cost of collective bargaining. Now we can begin to closely examine these expenses and allow the public to determine whether or not these costs are a justified use of taxpayer money.”
Hampton Roads mayors want Virginia localities to keep control over collective bargaining
February 4, 2026 // Bills moving through committees in the General Assembly, however, would remove that power from localities. If signed into law, Virginia would create a state-level public employee relations board to oversee the process and arbitrate disputes. The bills could shrink Virginia’s public-sector pay gap, which is among the largest in the U.S., according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute; public employees in Virginia make more than 25% less than private-sector workers with similar schooling and backgrounds. The EPI’s report, published in January, found closing the pay gap could also lead to better public services, less turnover and improved racial and gender pay gaps.
Labor standoff at LA’s Loyola Marymount University a battle over Catholic teaching
February 1, 2026 // On the pages LMU published profiling the dispute, the institution defends its action by stating “invocation of the religious exemption is lawful, grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and consistent with Supreme Court and NLRB precedent. This right cannot be waived and may be exercised at any point.” “The Board reached this decision to protect LMU’s Catholic mission, its students, and its long-term sustainability,” Griff McNerney, LMU’s senior director of media and public relations, told OSV News in an e-mailed statement. “After months of discernment, trustees concluded that direct partnership with faculty — without SEIU’s involvement — would enable faster, more mission-aligned progress toward shared goals.” McNerney noted, “From December 2024 to Summer 2025, LMU reviewed 39 proposals and made counterproposals, none of which were accepted by the union.”