Posts tagged Covid
Federal probe demands Chicago Teachers Union explain missing financial audits since 2020
November 24, 2025 // The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is under investigation by the House Education and Workforce Committee for allegedly failing to show how it has spent union members’ money over the past five years, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. The committee sent a letter to CTU President Stacy Davis Gates stating that evidence suggests the union failed to provide members with complete financial audits since 2020. "When unions flout these obligations, they betray the trust of the very people they are meant to serve … Every dollar paid by workers should serve their interests, not those of a select few operating in the shadows," the letter said.
Opinion Parents and students come second in Randi Weingarten’s teachers union
November 17, 2025 // Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, once an organizer for the AFT’s Los Angeles affiliate and currently a gubernatorial candidate in California, has in recent years called the union “the largest obstacle to creating quality schools.” Under Weingarten’s presidency, the American Federation of Teachers has reduced the intellectual level of its publications. It has aided a slide away from accountability based on measurable student performance. It was also responsible for massive learning loss during the covid lockdown and is working to limit school options desired by parents. On the other hand, the union now enjoys greater political clout than ever.
COLUMBUS: Several suburban libraries began unionizing after COVID. Are they better off 4 years later?
September 17, 2025 // According to the State Employment Relations Board’s 2025 Annual Report, there have been 203 unfair labor practice charges filed statewide. "Out of those 203 charges, the board found probable cause in eight matters," said Mona Reed, the board's executive director.
California Tries Another Tack to Crush Ridesharing
August 4, 2025 // The latest legislative effort is Assembly Bill 1340, which passed the full Assembly in June and was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee in early July. It would allow drivers to unionize and “promote collective bargaining rights for transportation network drivers and state intent that the state action antitrust exemption apply to … drivers and their representatives.” Democrats couldn’t kill the industry quickly, so they’ll try to destroy it slowly via collective bargaining.
Federal and State Leaders Take Aim at Empowering America’s Flexible Workforce
July 16, 2025 // However, while federal leaders build support for national reforms to help workers all across America, states are not sitting idle. They know that not only do self-employed workers support greater access to portable benefits, but their residents in general think this warrants policy reforms as well. Instead, many are forging ahead with legal pathways for flexible, portable benefits, maximizing what they can do at the state level in ways that will be further enhanced by federal reforms when they occur. Many states introduced legislation this year to legalize voluntary benefits, but several pioneering states now have laws enacted.
Los Angeles tourism industry and labor unions brawl ahead of 2028 Olympics
July 1, 2025 // After the city council passed a $30 minimum wage law in late May for workers in the airline, hotel and hospitality industries, a group of business interests — signed by players in the local hospitality industry and funded by major airlines and industry groups like Delta, United and the American Hotel & Lodging Association — launched a referendum effort to challenge the new law. “We’re giving everything we have to make this business work, to claw out of the hole that was created by COVID,” said Greg Plummer, a referendum proponent who runs a 250-employee concession company at LAX. “Our airports are still down substantially in traffic. Tourism is completely down, and the fires didn’t help … it gets to a point where it’s going to crumble a lot of small businesses.”
AP Exclusive: US meatpacking workers win back pensions in new union contract with JBS
May 27, 2025 // The United Food and Commercial Workers union said Thursday that 26,000 meatpacking workers at 14 JBS facilities would be eligible for the pension plan. The new contract, which was ratified by workers this week, also adds paid sick leave, wage increases and new plant safety measures.
NYC firefighter unions back Andrew Cuomo for mayor, solidifying labor support
May 13, 2025 // He has secured the lion’s share of endorsements from labor unions compared to his rivals including: the Teamsters, health care workers 1199SEIU, 32BJ SEIU, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and most of the construction trade unions. UFA, which represents 20,000 firefighters, endorsed Andrew Yang in the 2021 primary while current Mayor Eric Adams. had been previously received support from the UFOA — which has 7,500 members including lieutenants, captains, battalion chiefs, deputy chiefs, supervising fire marshals and medical officers.
CA Public Employees and Unions Whining about Returning to the Office 5 Years Later
April 29, 2025 // Gavin Newsom created this mess. He sent state employees home when he locked the state down March 2020 ostensibly over a flu. And he let state employees work from home for 5 years. Many have done well, and are accountable employees, But many more are not, and need supervision and accountability. President Trump’s back-to-the-office order and hiring freeze has elicited a lot of kvetching in D.C., but is designed to suss out the deadwood in the federal government – something Governor Newsom should also be doing, figuratively and literally.
Opinion: Unions’ victories shake Utah politics
April 25, 2025 // Legislators will not go quietly into the night, allowing an activist judge to dismantle Utah’s school choice program. Expect legislation to shore up the program, and judges to once again be recipients of legislative ire. Pignanelli: Unless resolved soon, the role of public employee associations will be a feature in political party conventions and swing legislative districts. The Supreme Court’s ultimate ruling on the scholarship program could foster another constitutional ballot proposition.