Posts tagged Donald Trump
Teamsters still bankrolling Democrats, including Jay Jones, despite openly flirting with Trump and GOP
April 9, 2026 // “As for whether the Teamsters is compatible with the GOP, the union officialdom isn’t,” Mike Watson, an organized labor expert and director of research at the Capital Research Center, told the Washington Examiner. “The members are more open to the GOP for social-issues reasons, but the staffer class and officers are largely committed Everything Leftists.” “Everything Leftism” is a turn of phrase used to describe the tendency of some liberal staffers and activists to adopt causes seemingly unrelated to their primary area of focus;
Opinion: Unions are on a comeback. Americans are paying the price.
April 2, 2026 // So far, the union comeback has mostly been confined to courthouses and state legislatures. Membership hardly budged last year, rising from 9.9 percent of U.S. workers in 2024 to 10 percent in 2025. Yet if more states continue to mandate collective bargaining for public-sector workers — or decide to repeal right-to-work statutes for the private sector — rates can be expected to rise in those jurisdictions. If workers at a unionized shop are forced to pay dues regardless of their membership status, more will opt in as the financial incentive to remain unorganized slips away.
General Strike to Take Place Nationwide on April 5: Here’s What Is Impacted
April 2, 2026 // The General Strike 2026 movement describes itself as a decentralized, grassroots campaign made up of unions, organizations, and individual participants rather than a single centralized leadership structure. Organizers emphasize that the campaign doesn’t require registration and doesn’t collect personal data or information from participants. The website also states that the group will not publish a list of collaborating organizations—positioning the strike as participant‑driven and flexible in how people choose to engage. Updates and organizing materials are shared primarily through social media channels, blog posts, and downloadable flyers that supporters are encouraged to distribute at protests, marches, or community events.
Op-ed: New Options for Your 401(k)
April 1, 2026 // The law doesn’t allow ulterior motives to infect plan investments. The duty to invest for the sole financial benefit of plan participants doesn’t allow fiduciaries to pursue political agendas or engage in self-dealing. The Labor Department will be ready to enforce the law if plan fiduciaries act with a disloyal motive or threaten the retirement security of American workers. The department isn’t promoting any particular investment option. We aren’t picking winners and losers. We are leveling the playing field so that plan fiduciaries can exercise their judgment—selecting plan investments without fear of undue liability. We are applying the principle-based rules that the law requires.
VA re-terminates AFGE contract for 300K employees, despite court order to restore it
March 30, 2026 // The Office of Personnel Management initially told agencies to hold off on terminating labor contracts with unions while legal challenges were still pending. But OPM reversed course last month, when it advised agencies to proceed with either amending or fully canceling their collective bargaining agreements. In granting her preliminary injunction, DuBose wrote that she did not determine whether the Trump administration exceeded its legal authority when it issued its executive orders rolling back collective bargaining rights. The legality of the executive order is still under review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
FLRA to boost political involvement in federal union representation cases
March 30, 2026 // The Federal Labor Relations Authority issued a pair of interim final rules on Tuesday, revising its internal operations for how it processes the labor-management cases. Once the rules take effect next month, the FLRA’s three-member board of political appointees will become involved in initial decisions on amending bargaining units, overseeing union elections and certifying new union chapters. That initial process is currently designated to regional directors — career federal employees — from FLRA’s Office of General Counsel.
No Rail Strike This Time
March 23, 2026 // But there are other reasons as well for the clear tracks for this deal. The National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC), which negotiates on behalf of the railroads with the 12 main rail worker unions, said that the latest bargaining round “has seen historic collaboration between freight rail carriers and unions.” “Historic” could be a small stretch, but it does appear that both union negotiators and management went into this round determined to strike a bargain that workers and railroads could live with. In addition to money, both unions and management have touted better benefits and more paid leave.
Vinnie Vernuccio: Trump’s new union transparency tool is a game changer for workers
March 21, 2026 // Less than $600. That’s how much taxpayer money the Trump administration just spent to give American workers more of the transparency they deserve. On March 17, the Department of Labor rolled out an improved system — www.unionreports.gov — that lets workers quickly see how labor unions are spending their members’ dues. This information is essential to helping workers decide if unionization is right for them. The new transparency system is surely one of the most efficient and effective uses of taxpayer dollars in American history.
Largest rail union backs $85 billion Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger
March 19, 2026 // The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD) sent a letter to lawmakers backing the deal. Union leaders said they evaluate railroad mergers based on how they impact workers’ jobs and long-term stability. “SMART-TD evaluates every merger based on how it will affect our members’ jobs, livelihoods, and long-term stability,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson wrote. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced the proposed merger last July. Supporters argue that the deal would create a freight rail network spanning from the East Coast to the West Coast, modernize freight transportation, and improve the country’s supply chain.
US Department of Labor launches data visualization tool for union reporting forms, providing valuable insight on union spending
March 19, 2026 // The data visualization tool release follows the department’s launch of a modern open data portal at data.dol.gov that is providing more transparency and efficiency for users to access data related to the American workforce. Both updates help bring the department into alignment with the Federal Data Strategy established during President Trump’s first administration.