Posts tagged contractors
NY drops union deal on latest I-81 contract to better chances with Trump
August 19, 2026 // New York state will not require contractors on a $2.1 billion Interstate 81 contract to hire union workers for the first time on the largest ever transportation project in the state. The DOT has dropped the project labor agreement it used for the first half of the I-81 project as a preemptive measure to get approval from President Donald Trump’s administration, state and federal officials said.
Op-ed: AI isn’t replacing workers. It’s creating bosses.
August 4, 2026 // Palagashvili posits that solo self-employment could be growing due to AI. The paper considers the industries with the highest AI adoption rates and likelihood of AI exposure: professional services, information, education, finance and insurance. It uses construction and wholesale trade as control groups, since those industries have low AI adoption and exposure.
NIPSCO initiates lockout tactic after USW contract negotiations fall through
April 3, 2026 // The Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) has initiated a lockout of the United Steelworkers (USW) after their contract expired, and the two have not been able to come to a collective bargaining agreement.
NIPSCO union employees authorize strike in weekend vote
March 31, 2026 // But when the clock strikes midnight March 31, union negotiators will either get a contract extension, agree to work without a contract while negotiating continues, get locked out by the company or go on strike, he said.
Los Angeles Times Journalists Ratify New Labor Contract, Averting Strike
December 4, 2025 // The deal offers members thousands of dollars in raises. Employees at the Times will receive $3,000 in wage increases in the first year of the contract, $2,750 in the second year and $2,500 in the third year. Those who work at Times Community News will receive $5,000 raises in the first year of the deal and $4,000 in the second and third years. The contract also enshrines Juneteenth as a holiday, codifies protections around employees using their chosen names and pronouns and asserts that the paper must respond when members face online harassment. The deal requires that management disclose any mandatory drug testing in job postings and creates union-covered “per diem” positions (a move intended to limit the use of non-union freelancers and temporary workers).
Op-ed: This Labor Day marks 10 years of chaos for franchisees, contractors
September 1, 2025 // Franchises and contractors live in fear of the next anti-small-business administration, which is all but certain to shift the joint employer standard once again. But Congress can act now. The Save Local Business Act would codify the sensible standard in federal law.
Unions, contractors clash over proposal to require labor equity in Spokane projects
August 24, 2025 // Priority hires must either be a graduate from a state-certified pre-apprenticeship program; a veteran, person of color, woman, those formerly convicted of a crime, formerly homeless or a tribal member; or living in an area of the city with higher rates of poverty and lower rates of higher education and employment. “We do not believe the government should mandate or compel any firm to change its labor policies in order to perform these projects,” said Cheryl Stewart, executive director for the Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors, during a Monday reading of the proposal. “This law is not inclusive, it’s exclusive: over 85% of Washington’s workforce is non-union, and 98% of women- and minority-owned firms are non-union, and these contractors and their employees would be shut out or forced to change their labor policies.”
Hundreds of VOA employees set to be axed amid legal fight with Trump
May 19, 2025 // The VOA workforce includes roughly 1,350 employees. Full-time employees were not affected by the terminations, but there’s an expectation that those positions will be considered later, according to several people familiar with the situation who all spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Lake said 584 total employees were terminated across USAGM, which also includes the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. She didn’t provide a breakdown but said the majority were from VOA.
The strike against Amazon is over but Teamsters warn: ‘Stay tuned’
December 28, 2024 // The workers in Staten Island voted in favor of representation by the Amazon Labor Union in April 2022. However, even though the National Labor Relations Board certified that vote result, Amazon continues to challenge it in court and won’t recognize the win by a union. Amazon also does not believe that a vote by union members to shift from being represented by the ALU to being affiliated with the Teamsters earlier this year was legally binding. And while the Teamsters announced earlier this month that a majority of employees at San Bernardino signed cards saying they want to be in the Teamsters, there has been no formal vote held there.
Harris Pushes Gig Workers, Contractors into Corporate Jobs with New Rule
September 25, 2024 // America already has too few people working. If the employment rate were the same as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, 2.9 million more people would be working today. The last thing Americans need is another regulation that makes it harder to make a living and to afford the rising cost of living. Although the Biden-Harris regulation has only been in effect since March, and it’s too early to fully study its effects, the employment-to-population ratio dropped by 0.3 percentage points between March and July. This decline represents a loss of 700,000 workers.