Posts tagged Donald Trump
US HHS reverses job cuts at safety research agency
January 14, 2026 // The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reversing staffing cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reinstating employees at the agency that provides research and services for coal miners, firefighters and others, according to an agency spokesperson. The status of NIOSH workers had been in flux since mass job cuts last year, with some workers brought out of administrative leave earlier this month only to be notified days later that they were permanently terminated.
Unions representing 40k academic, research UC employees announce strike vote
January 13, 2026 // Unions representing about 40,000 academic and research employees across the UC announced Monday that they plan to hold an authorization vote Feb. 5 to 13 for an unfair labor practice strike. United Auto Workers Local 4811, Research and Public Service Professionals-UAW and Student Services and Academic Professionals-UAW announced the vote in a joint Instagram post. A website for the three unions said demands for their workers include job security, opportunities for career advancement and protections for international workers.
Commentary: Right-to-Work States Dominate U-Haul Growth Index
January 12, 2026 // Among the top ten growth states in the U-Haul index, nine have a Right-to-Work law that protects workers from being forced to pay dues to union bosses as a condition of employment. -Among the bottom ten states in the U-Haul index, NONE has a Right-to-Work law. All are forced unionism states. -Of the 25 top ranked cities in the U-Haul Growth Index, 24 are located in Right-to-Work states. The 10 best ranked states in the U-Haul Growth Index are Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Alabama and Georgia. All are Right-to-Work except Washington.
Op-ed: President Trump’s investing order puts workers first
January 12, 2026 // Trump’s executive order will help right this wrong by refocusing the advice that proxy advisors give to plan managers. So would Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) Restoring Integrity in Fiduciary Act, which would require retirement plan managers to focus solely on financial factors when making decisions on behalf of investors.
Op-ed: Senators should ignore this anti-Trump bill
January 11, 2026 // Taxpayers spent over $200 million in 2024 alone on official time, despite the fact that unions are overtly political organizations that almost exclusively support the Democratic party and its priorities. By taking on union bosses’ time-wasting “bargaining” activities, Trump’s executive orders are helping the government operate more efficiently.
Courts reject states’ efforts to take over union law enforcement
January 6, 2026 // Over the past two decades, unions have spent much of their political capital fighting for changes to the NLRA and other federal workplace laws. They did this in the hopes that tilting the playing field in their favor would boost the labor movement. They have little to show for those efforts. The New York and California laws show a modified version of that strategy: lobbying friendly states to enact policies the unions cannot get passed at the federal level. The courts are now blocking this overreach.
States’ substitutes for NLRB falter in court
January 5, 2026 // Troy Nunley, the chief judge in the Eastern District of California, ruled that the bulk of the state statute is in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act and therefore is preempted by federal law. “In some respect, the Board’s inability to fully function due to the lack of quorum shows the NLRA is operating as intended,” wrote Nunley, an Obama appointee. “The Court thus cannot conclude the loss of quorum equates to the NLRB ceding its jurisdiction over any particular matter.”
Op-ed: Government unions put politics before workers
January 3, 2026 // Unions can sidestep PAC contribution limits and disclosure rules by setting up 527 organizations or super PACs. They can avoid accountability by transferring funds through multiple intermediaries, thereby obscuring the source and any direct association with the union. The result is a shell game that gives the illusion of independent political action. Despite member-facing claims that dues cannot be used for politics, Department of Labor filings and Federal Election Commission reports tell a different story. Union executives frequently use workers’ dues to further political agendas. Often, the money funds a litany of leftist causes, including abortion, “defund the police” advocacy and opposing school choice and, in cases like Mr. Spiller’s, quixotic Democratic campaigns. (About 99% of union-funded candidates are Democrats.)
Trump Hasn’t Undone Workers’ Union Rights Op-ed: Maxford Nelsen
January 2, 2026 // The presidents of both the AFL-CIO and American Federation of Government Employees both praised the House vote as necessary to “restore” federal workers’ “union rights.” But nothing in Mr. Trump’s order limits federal employees’ right to form or join a union. It simply eliminates the legal obligation of certain federal agencies to negotiate their “personnel policies, practices and matters . . . affecting working conditions” with unelected special interests. The distinction matters, as unions admit in other contexts. South Carolina, in which state and local governments can’t engage in collective bargaining, still has a teachers union that is quick to remind teachers that they can join and fork over dues money.
A new California law gives the state more power over workplaces. Trump is suing to block it
January 1, 2026 // With the NLRB unable to fulfill its duties, states are trying to fill the gap in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which Congress passed in 1935. But labor experts contacted by CalMatters do not have high hopes for the California law, which is similar to a law passed in New York this year. They said courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that states cannot decide matters pertaining to federal labor law because of preemption, the doctrine that a higher authority of law overrides a lower authority.