Posts tagged federal labor law
SSM Health appealing certification of union vote at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison
August 6, 2026 // National Labor Relations Board staff certified the union election late last month after nurses voted 511-63 to unionize with the Service Employees International Union of Wisconsin. SSM Health filed objections to the election with the NLRB, but the labor board overruled the objections in their “entirety” because SSM provided “insufficient” proof.
Ride-Booking Unions Raise Specter of Same for Other Gig Workers
August 6, 2026 // Wilson called the effort in Massachusetts “a windfall for the union.” The union holds an exclusive franchise over every ride-booking driver in the state, and the law orders companies to deduct dues and hand them over, he said. “Dues are technically voluntary. But we know how ‘voluntary’ runs in right-to-work states, where unions still lean on the holdouts anyway: public free-rider lists, name-and-shame, peer pressure, the works. Expect the same here.”
Union and Troubled Home Care Company Maintained Close Partnership, Records Show
July 21, 2026 // Home health aides the company employs have decried missed paychecks, glitchy software, and hours-long waits on the phone, among other issues. Last month, PPL agreed to a $162 million settlement to resolve claims of wage theft, and the US Department of Justice sued the company, alleging Medicaid fraud. The powerful health care union 1199SEIU is currently seeking to unionize PPL’s roughly 200,000 workers, who care for disabled and elderly New Yorkers. But 1199 has also been working closely with the PPL for years, according to internal records obtained by New York Focus.
Independent Women’s Voice Supports the Confirmation of Keith Sonderling as Secretary of Labor
July 12, 2026 // Critically, Sonderling understands that our dynamic economy is ever-evolving to create opportunities for Americans to work on their own terms. A third of the U.S. workforce has freelanced in the last year, with a significant proportion being women. Independent contracting allows women to support themselves while balancing important priorities such as caregiving for loved ones and managing their health issues. He will ensure that federal policy respects freedom, flexibility, and economic opportunity for American workers.
Faster is Not Always Better: House Passes Bill Seeking Radical Change in First Contract Bargaining
June 17, 2026 // The bill also raises questions about the lawfulness of strikes and lockouts during these first contract negotiations. Typically, where parties agree to interest arbitration (or where it exists in the public sector) it is premised on a mutual commitment of labor peace, i.e., the union will not go on strike, and the employer will not lock employees out while negotiations are ongoing and the arbitration is pending. However, in the private sector and in the absence of such a mutual commitment, both such economic weapons may be used offensively in furtherance of a party’s bargaining demand. The FLCA does not explain if or how a party may exercise such an economic weapon in furtherance of their bargaining position if the dispute will be submitted to an FMCS panel for binding interest arbitration. Equally troubling is the FLCA’s potential impact on unilateral implementation. Unilateral implementation upon reaching a good-faith bargaining impasse has long been a vital bargaining tool for employers. The possibility of implementing terms when negotiations stall has been an effective tool to encourage the parties to continue making movement towards the other. Eliminating this option will alter bargaining leverage and strategies particularly in successor contracts where the FLCA’s temporal framework does not apply.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act violates the principles of voluntary agreement
June 8, 2026 // Most troublingly, the bill would do real harm to the very workers its supporters claim to help. Workers are often told that unionizing will give them a greater voice in the workplace. They are promised a seat at the table and a meaningful role in shaping the terms and conditions of their employment. But under the Faster Labor Contracts Act, workers would lose one of the most important forms of workplace democracy — the right to vote on the contract that governs their jobs. That loss of voice has far-reaching implications: In an industry that supports 55 million working Americans, it affects not only retail workers but also the employers that depend on a stable and collaborative workforce. If bargaining reaches the FLCA’s deadline, workers would be shut out of the process entirely. They would have no right to ratify the agreement, no right to reject it, no right to demand changes, and no meaningful ability to influence the final outcome.
Commentary: Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Harm: The Real Cost of Union Monopoly Power
May 22, 2026 // The Mercatus paper's survey findings cut against the union narrative in ways that should matter to anyone who follows labor policy. When asked directly, workers say they prefer unions that cooperate with management over unions that are more powerful but adversarial. They prefer having multiple options for representation rather than one organization with legal monopoly control over their workplace. And union progressive political activity and strikes, the two things union leadership most reliably prioritizes, are the only factors that consistently make workers less favorable toward organized labor.
Nashville council members, baristas press Starbucks on union contract
May 22, 2026 // "Starbucks is actively engaging with the union in good faith and put forward comprehensive proposals that build on Starbucks’ already competitive pay and industry-leading benefits, which includes baristas earning more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits, a new performance incentive of up to $1,200 per year and expanded tipping opportunities," Anderson said. The company has said it intends to bring 2,000 jobs to its Nashville office, set to take up an entire six-story building at Peabody Union just south of Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville, in the next five years. Outside the courthouse, the group spoke of a growing union movement among local employees and urged the company to make good on its hiring promise. Just last week, workers at a Starbucks location in North Nashville voted to unionize.
Editorial Board: The federal government’s most efficient use of $600 ever?
May 15, 2026 // As part of the Trump administration’s effort to modernize government websites, OLMS has added a new “Visualization” column. All the reports are available the same as before, but now some also have a more user-friendly version. The data are searchable and sortable, and users can view multiyear comparisons, with charts, at a glance. This fix has made it much easier to see, for example, that the Amalgamated Transit Union has 18 vice presidents, and they all make more than $215,000 a year.
Brown’s graduate union wants to make history. Labor experts say the journey may be strenuous.
April 23, 2026 // The union has not yet brought the case to the state labor board. But in an interview with The Herald, Michael Ziegler GS, the president of GLO’s parent group RIFT-AFT Local 6516, said the union was prepared to do so if they feel it is needed. Fellows must be considered employees by law in order to unionize, Herbert explained. “The fundamental question is whether or not the employer pays specifically for work being performed and has control over that work.”