Posts tagged Congress
Editorial: Against the Hollywood bailout
October 1, 2026 // The greatest job decline after Covid was in 2023, before Hollywood’s chief competitor, the U.K., expanded its film subsidies. That was the year of the industry’s “double strike,” when actors and writers simultaneously walked off studio lots for months. Hundreds of projects were delayed or outright canceled as filming rolled to a halt, costing the entertainment industry billions of dollars. When studios finally signed contracts to end the strikes, they had to accept unions’ core demands, ballooning their compensation in perpetuity. Is it any wonder they have looked to film elsewhere? The proposed federal tax credit would bail out the union workers who bargained for more than they were worth. It would subsidize almost all labor costs — for employees and contractors, both pre-production and post-production — of film crews, animators, special-effects artists, writers, actors, and even producers and directors. There are no limits on eligible compensation, so taxpayers would pick up a good chunk of the salaries of Christopher Nolan and Tom Cruise.
Vinnie Vernuccio: Labor reform finally has congressional momentum
September 30, 2026 // Those reforms will take time to pass, whereas ending racist or sexually harassing language in unionization campaigns should be easy to get across the finish line soon. Clearly, Congress is capable of rallying behind pro-worker labor reforms. The House’s bipartisan passage of the Ending Predator Access to Union Power Act proves it, and hopefully it will clear the Senate soon.
Keeping Workers in the Dark: The Push for Employer Neutrality in Union Campaigns
September 30, 2026 // Whether or not one supports unionization in a particular workplace, elected officials should not pressure one party in a labor dispute to relinquish rights recognized to balance competing interests. The law recognizes rights and responsibilities for employees, unions, and employers alike. Yet calls for neutrality almost always run in one direction: in favor of organized labor. There is rarely a corresponding demand that unions remain neutral. Instead, neutrality initiatives frequently seek to silence only one side of the debate. The answer to competing claims should be more information, not less. Collective bargaining can involve difficult or protracted negotiations and may affect workplace flexibility, labor costs, wages, benefits, and business operations.
Opinion: The Postal Service is Drowning the NLRB
September 30, 2026 // Around 15 percent of all ULP charges brought against employers are brought against the USPS. Around 23 percent of all ULP charges brought against unions are brought against the postal unions. The charges brought against the postal unions are generally individuals alleging that their union violated the duty of fair representation (DFR). Most of these charges appear to be without merit, as less than 15 percent of them result in some kind of remedy, whether a formal remedy from the Board or an adjusted dismissal/withdrawal. This is pretty typical of DFR charges across the country. What usually happens is an individual worker tries to pursue a grievance, the union decides the grievance is no good and opts not to pursue it, and the individual worker files a meritless DFR charge against the union.
Commentary: Far-Left Agendas, Funded by Union Dues: The Truth About Big Labor’s Radical Shift
September 25, 2026 // As CPAW has highlighted before, union members are shifting. More union households voted for Donald Trump and Republican candidates in 2024 than at any point in modern polling history. Rank-and-file workers are increasingly aligning with conservative priorities. But union leadership has refused to follow their members. Instead of representing the people paying the bills, labor executives are doubling down on progressive extremism, aggressively spending members' own money to fight against the very policies their workers support.
Commentary: Federal unions owe workers more transparency. Congress can help.
September 24, 2026 // Congress should also ask why so few have and strengthen union accountability by requiring unions to disclose in their filings the total number of workers they claim to represent versus the number of actual members. They should also be required to report election turnout data at all levels: eligible voters, ballots sent and ballots returned — similar to shareholder-vote disclosures. For example, some unions use “delegate” qualification procedures that can insulate national incumbents from direct member voting. As a matter of fair competition, challengers should have the same access to membership contact lists as incumbents, with sufficient time to mount a campaign, with direct member voting as the preferred standard.
Reed Larson built a movement for the long fight
September 24, 2026 // As union membership continues a decadeslong decline, nearing historic lows, union officials are spending billions on politics every election cycle. Traditionally, Democrats have been the main recipients of union political funding. However, major unions, notably the Teamsters, have begun to turn toward populist Republicans to advance their legislative agenda. Teamsters head Sean O’Brien has taken up with Republicans such as Sen. Josh Hawley (MO), who, along with union-label Democrats, introduced the Teamsters-endorsed FLCA into the Senate.
Workers voted for a voice — not another Washington mandate
September 22, 2026 // But ALG raises a question Congress should take seriously: What happens when controversial noneconomic provisions become part of first-contract negotiations that ultimately end in binding arbitration? Who gets the final say? That question matters because the American labor movement isn’t simply a collection of union executives in Washington. It is millions of truck drivers, electricians, teachers, police officers, factory workers, construction workers and other Americans who get up every morning and earn a paycheck.
Op-ed: Sean O’Brien is just Randi Weingarten in a hard hat
September 20, 2026 // Unions across sectors, including the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, and largely private-sector Communications Workers of America, want contracts to cover sex change procedures and abortions, while other unions demand workers submit to diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. Conservatives should not expect organized labor, whose members are now nearly half directly employed by governments, to be anything other than fully committed to Big Government and other entities that support Everything Leftism. There’s no clean way to divide organized labor against itself, so any conservative who wants to empower union bosses needs to know they are empowering all of them, including the ones they know better than to help.
Op-Ed: Brigette Herbst: Congress should Investigate the National Education Association’s charter
September 15, 2026 // However, over the past several years, the NEA has supported divisive partisan politics and extremist ideologies. By way of example, the NEA Advocacy Fund, a super PAC, and the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education have directed much of their political spending toward Democratic candidates and aligned political organizations. According to filings, the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education has historically contributed more than 90 percent of its candidate-directed funds to Democrats, while independent expenditures by the NEA Advocacy Fund have similarly supported Democratic candidates and causes — a far cry from “promot[ing] the cause of education in the United States.”