Posts tagged collectively bargain
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)
Commentary: Nilesh Umapathy: SB 1296 is about accountability — not anti-unionism
April 9, 2026 // The PERC ruling shows what happens when someone pushes back — the union is forced to open its books and cover the member’s legal costs after it tried to silence them. Critics of SB 1296 will no doubt raise concerns, but most will miss the point. This is not an anti-union coalition. LaBedz herself is not anti-union. She is a member who was punished for exercising her rights. This is a coalition demanding accountability.
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.
US court seem poised to lift block on Trump curbing union bargaining for federal workers
July 19, 2025 // Judges on a U.S. appeals court on Thursday said they likely lacked the power to second-guess President Donald Trump's decision to strip hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to unionize and collectively bargain.
When Union Leaders Cross the Line
June 12, 2025 // SEIU represents hundreds of thousands of essential workers. Their focus should be on improving wages, working conditions, and safety, not interfering in federal law enforcement or fueling divisive political narratives. When union leaders act like activists first and representatives second, it is the workers who lose. This moment is a wake-up call. America needs unions that are fair, transparent, and focused on results, not organizations that tolerate or even celebrate lawbreaking from the top.
FTC Moves to Allow Independent Contractors to Collectively Bargain
January 14, 2025 // The Clayton Act’s labor exemption provides protections for workers seeking to organize and clarifies that such activity does not violate federal antitrust law, which prohibits anticompetitive business practices. Importantly, this exemption only applies to traditional employees. Independent contractors, on the other hand, cannot engage in collective bargaining, as it is currently viewed as a means of colluding over prices. A policy statement allowing independent contractors to collectively bargain with no fear of liability would be a significant change to federal antitrust law.
FTC Moves to Allow Independent Contractors to Collectively Bargain
January 10, 2025 // On January 7, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its tentative agenda for its January 14 open commission meeting. One of the topics for discussion centers around whether the agency should issue a policy statement allowing independent contractors to collectively bargain.
Grindr Implemented Return-to-Office Policy to Retaliate Against Workers for Unionizing, NLRB Says
November 6, 2024 // The labor agency issued a new complaint against Grindr over the policy, which led to about half of the dating platform's employees leaving the company.
Massachusetts Ballot Measure Would Shove Rideshare Workers Into the Arms of Unions
October 12, 2024 // Even as independent contractors, however, unions still threaten drivers’ flexibility. Unions might negotiate standardized rates, mandatory breaks, or limits on working hours, which, while beneficial in some industries, could restrict a driver’s ability to capitalize on peak demand periods or adjust their work hours to fit personal schedule. The risk of such changes only magnifies when one considers that the Ballot Measure only requires a 25% vote from drivers to form a union that would represent them as a whole. This means that the 30% of drivers working full-time, who would benefit most from being treated like employees, might be able to dictate policy for all rideshare drivers.
Robert Boland: The future of college athlete pay hinges on the presidential election
September 25, 2024 // Most athletes would stand to gain much more from the actions of the NLRB, which could permanently classify collegiate athletes as employees of their universities. This would afford them not only the right to wages but also additional employee benefits such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and the right to both unionize and collectively bargain with their schools. The Biden-Harris administration — as well as its NLRB appointees — has been very labor-friendly, and we could expect a Harris-Walz administration to maintain the same approach. However, Republican appointees would be more likely to reject unionization and maintain the NCAA’s status quo — however uncertain — without granting student-athletes employee status or benefits.