Posts tagged federal funding
Connecticut: Striking Worker Bill: Lawmaker Acknowledges Government Role in Labor Disputes
March 30, 2026 // Strikes inherently involve economic tradeoffs. Workers take on financial risk by withholding labor, while employers absorb operational and financial disruptions. That dynamic creates pressure on both sides to reach an agreement. By allowing unemployment benefits during a strike, the bill alters that balance by reducing financial pressure on one side of the negotiation. Sen. Sampson pressed the point directly during the hearing. “How is a worker who voluntarily withholds labor from their employer unemployed through no fault of his or her own?” he asked.
PCC, classified employees union reach tentative deal that could end strike for 700 workers
March 26, 2026 // Portland Community College and its Federation of Classified Employees union have reached a tentative agreement that could end a strike involving about 700 classified employees and move the college closer to resuming normal operations. The tentative agreement, posted at 6:18 p.m. March 25, includes a 0% cost-of-living adjustment for this year and a 5% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026-27. Classified employees also would receive a $1,350 lump-sum payment upon ratification on the next payroll cycle and would be able to cash out up to 40 vacation hours.
Feds warn Oregon, other states, on paying unemployment benefits to striking workers
January 15, 2026 // “An individual who is on strike must engage in activities that demonstrate to the state (unemployment insurance) agency that he or she is able and available for work and actively seeking work under state law,” Michelle Beebe, head of the U.S. Employment and Training Administration, wrote in a note to Oregon and other state agencies last week.
LMU faculty union calls strike vote after university says it has ‘religious exemption’ from organized labor
September 29, 2025 // Untenured faculty at Loyola Marymount University launched an unfair labor practice strike authorization vote this week following the school’s announcement that it will no longer recognize or bargain with the faculty union for a first contract. The union had been negotiating for a contract with LMU’s administration for about 10 months. Then, in mid-September, campus leaders announced that LMU is invoking a religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Board’s jurisdiction. The board oversees unionization efforts and protects the rights of private sector employees
California unions are pouring more money than ever into CalPERS elections. Here’s why
September 23, 2025 // The money is coming from a mix of mostly private sector construction and trade unions that have been urging the $584 billion pension fund to favor union shops in its real estate and construction investments.
In landslide victory, 7,200 UC professionals join United Auto Workers in unionization effort
September 8, 2025 // In a win for labor, 7,200 researchers and public service professionals, or RPSPs, across the University of California system announced Tuesday the formation of a new union after a vote in late August. The vote passed with 83% of the 3,692 ballots cast voting “yes.” The thousands of previously nonunionized employees now represented by RPSP-UAW, will join over 50,000 UC workers organized with the United Auto Workers, or UAW.
UAW Local 4811 pushes for immigrant protections, pay equity in UC negotiations
August 25, 2025 // About 33,000 of the over 57,000 employees under UAW Local 4811, including academic student employees and graduate student researchers, are being represented in the ongoing negotiations. UAW Local 4811 is also representing nearly 5,000 student services and advising professionals in the determination of another bargaining unit contract – the first contract for the new group, which was recognized by the University in April. There are five bargaining units under UAW Local 4811 – academic student employees, graduate student researchers, student services and advising professionals, postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers – three of which are being represented in the current negotiations. Once a new contract is determined, ASEs and GSRs will merge to simplify bargaining and implementation, according to a press release from the UC Office of the President.
Dozens of UC Workers, Labor Leaders Arrested While Protesting Understaffing, Unfair Wages
May 20, 2025 // Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Labor Federation, and Teresa Romero, the national president of United Farm Workers, joined about 20 union-backed UC workers who were zip-tied and removed from the William J. Rutter Center at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus just after 9:30 a.m.
NJ Transit CEO rails against union as strike looms
May 8, 2025 // The NJ Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen could strike as early as May 16 if the two sides do not reach an accord. They’ve remained at odds over the level of wage hikes, with engineers seeking increases that would bring their average salary to $190,000, while the agency has pushed for a contract that would bring that wage up to $172,000. “If there’s any citizen, private or government, in this environment who’d get a $25,000 pay raise and say, ‘No, no, that’s not good enough,’ does that sound like a group of people who are grounded in reality, or more importantly, on what is actually happening in the world we live in?” Kolluri told the Assembly’s budget committee. In written responses to questions asked through the Office of Legislative Services, NJ Transit warned it could face cost increases as a result of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, though it said it lacks the information needed to gauge the impact tariffs would have.
LAPD makes several arrests during LA County union worker demonstration in downtown Los Angeles
May 1, 2025 // The union points to unfair labor practices and is calling on the county to increase wages and fill vacancies. County officials have disputed the union's claims, saying that they're currently facing "unprecedented stresses on our budget," that includes a tentative $4 billion settlement of childhood assault claims, $2 billion in projected impact from the Palisades and Eaton fire damage and recovery and "potentially catastrophic loss of hundreds of millions or more in federal funding."