Posts tagged Congress
Opinion: Mitch Carmichael: The 120-day clock that could rewrite your job
October 19, 2026 // The FLCA would set a timetable for negotiating a first contract after a union is newly certified or recognized. The parties would meet and begin bargaining within 10 days after the employer receives a written request. If they have no agreement after 90 days of bargaining, either party could request federal mediation. If mediation fails after another 30 days, the dispute will go to a three-person, federal-government arbitration panel. The panel’s decision would bind both sides for two years unless they agree in writing to amend it. That means a government panel, potentially unfamiliar with a particular West Virginia workplace, could decide matters as consequential as schedules, time off, health benefits and work rules. Unions and employers would have opportunities to present their positions, but neither would have the final say over terms imposed through arbitration. Nor would workers have an opportunity to ratify the final contract
Yale Political Union votes to ban public-sector unions after debate with Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe
October 15, 2026 // Members of the Yale Political Union voted 35-25, to pass the resolution “Ban Public-Sector Unions” after Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe argued the affirmative on Sept. 29. Founded in 1934, the Yale Political Union is one of the country’s best-known student debate societies. After Withe’s opening speech, students questioned him and debated the resolution before the house voted. Withe opened by quoting President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wrote in 1937 that collective bargaining “cannot be transplanted into the public service.” The quote, Withe noted, came not from Ronald Reagan, Ron DeSantis or Scott Walker, but from FDR.
Workers File Brief in Appeals Court Challenge to Biden-Era Labor Board Decision Preventing Halt of Union Dues Deductions
October 15, 2026 // ith free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, two employees have filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case (Kroger Texas L.P. v. NLRB) challenging a Biden-era National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling blocking employers from ceasing union dues deductions after a contract expires. The two workers, Brittani Butler and Cypress Meadowlark, are already challenging a separate but related NLRB precedent that restricts employees from stopping dues deductions when no union contract is in effect. Both had attempted to stop union dues deductions only to have those requests ignored by union officials, despite neither being subject to a union monopoly bargaining agreement.
Congress Just Learned an Important Lesson About Collective Bargaining
October 14, 2026 // Eight congressional employees negotiating with a strongly pro-union member of Congress took four years to get their agreement right. FLCA essentially gives private-sector workers and employers roughly four months before the process can move toward having outsiders determine the terms for them. And those agreements can be vastly more complicated than a congressional office contract.
Social Security ends flexible work schedules, teeing up clash with union
October 13, 2026 // The Trump administration eliminated collective bargaining at more than 20 agencies last year through a pair of executive orders, on the grounds that these changes were necessary for national security reasons. SSA, however, wasn’t impacted by the executive orders and still recognizes AFGE. Its contract with the union is effective until Oct. 25, 2029.
Editorial Board: Congress wants faster union contracts — except for its own staff
October 8, 2026 // Nicole Waring, the shop steward in Khanna’s office, explained why it took so long. “There’s a lot of back and forth. It takes time to review each passback of the contract [and] redline everything,” she told Politico. “The biggest thing was we wanted to make sure that this contract would be governable, and rather than just make things convenient and take shortcuts, make sure that it was going to be something that we knew would stand the test of time.” Other staff explained that going slowly was important because union contracts are binding and directly affect workers’ lives. They noted the unique workplace circumstances of a congressional office. Here’s the thing: Every workplace is unique. Every union contract directly affects workers’ lives. And that’s why the government should never force a contract on people without their consent.
It took 4 years, but a Capitol Hill office finally has a union contract
October 7, 2026 // Khanna’s chief of staff, Marie Baldassarre, said in an interview the process for her office took years because “we realized like this is going to actually impact people’s lives, and it’s a binding contract, and so we have to get it right.” “It’s just never been done before, and none of us were experts,” she added. Staffers on Capitol Hill often face a grueling office cultures that can hamstring efforts to advance worker protections. Staffers for pro-labor Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), for example, voted to unionize in 2023 but then faced internal retaliation, according to the Nevada Independent.
Op-ed: Hospital Strikes Should Be Illegal
October 7, 2026 // Hospital workers should not be legally permitted to withhold their critical labor from the patients who need them just because their union has a disagreement with management. If railroad workers can’t do it and public employees can’t do it, hospital workers should not be able to do it either. Congress should amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit strikes by hospital employees.
Op-ed: The 120-day clock that could rewrite your job
October 6, 2026 // Workers and employers must remain free and able to bargain for the terms each desire. No free country should dictate to a worker or an employer the terms of a private labor contract The Faster Labor Contracts Act would set a timetable for negotiating a first contract after a union is newly certified or recognized. The parties would meet and begin bargaining within 10 days after the employer receives a written request. If they have no agreement after 90 days of bargaining, either party could request federal mediation.
Why Do TSA Employees Spend so Much Time on Union Business?
October 6, 2026 // That is why Americans should pay attention to a newly filed Transportation Security Administration record detailing the operational burden of the agency’s 2024 collective bargaining agreement. The federal government is now appealing a court injunction keeping that agreement in force. Americans for Fair Treatment, of which I am CEO, has been fighting this battle for years. Congress never expressly granted collective bargaining rights to TSA screeners. The current union system began with a 2011 decision by Obama-era TSA Administrator John Pistole.