Posts tagged firefighters
Denver Fire Fighters Local 858 Sues State Union to Affirm Disaffiliation, Stop $400K Dues Demand
August 11, 2026 // Denver Fire Fighters Local 858, the union representing more than 1,000 Denver firefighters and EMS personnel, has filed a lawsuit alleging the statewide firefighters’ union refuses to recognize its disaffiliation from the state union and is demanding roughly $400,000 for dues the local union says it doesn’t owe. Local 858 had been affiliated with the state union, Colorado Professional Fire Fighters (CPFF), since the local’s founding in 1946. But in recent years, some Denver firefighters began questioning whether the state union was providing enough value to justify sending it almost $250,000 a year in dues.
VA’s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court
August 5, 2026 // The American Federation of Government Employees on Tuesday filed its second motion asking U.S. District Judge Melissa Dubose to enforce her prior court orders after management said it would terminate the contract upon its scheduled expiration date of Aug. 8. The VA, for its part, argued that it is simply letting the deal expire. Though her injunction preserves the CBA only for “the remainder of the agreed-upon term,” the union said the VA issued a notice following the appeals court’s ruling in May seeking to begin negotiations for a new term. That action triggers a clause within the CBA—common across government—automatically extending the contract until the parties can reach a new deal.
Miami-Dade teachers union says it survives despite missing participation threshold
July 10, 2026 // Miami-Dade’s teachers union says it will survive another year, even after falling just shy of a 50% recertification voter participation threshold among eligible employees set by a recent law. A spokesperson for United Teachers of Dade said Tuesday they were informed by officials with the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) that the threshold did not apply to this election because the process began before July 1, when the law took effect. The union shared a signed form from PERC stating that the union had “prevailed” in the election. Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article316414172.html#storylink=cpy
Op-ed: Kathy Hochul’s Get-Past-November Budget
May 28, 2026 // Now for the category of making the state less affordable: Democrats reversed some of the state’s 2012 pension reforms. Teachers hired since those reforms will now be able to retire at age 58, instead of 63. The budget also slashes employee contributions to their pensions, and allows police and firefighters to count more overtime pay toward their pension calculations. These pension sweeteners are expected to cost the state and local governments $557 million a year. That will invariably mean higher taxes down the road. Democrats are helping Mr. Mamdani pay for them by allowing the city to re-amortize its pension liabilities, which will save $2.3 billion between this and next year while increasing costs in the long run by $5 billion.
NYC hotel maids now make more than rookie cops, firefighters, teachers — as union averts strike following new salary agreement
May 27, 2026 // Hotel maids in NYC already out-earn rookie cops, firefighters and even teachers with master’s degrees — and they just got a raise. The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the union representing 22,000 city hotel workers, ratified the new contract Thursday that will bring housekeepers to $77,113 on July 1 with $110,000 in salary alone in the sixth year. The agreement made last weekend with the hotel owners averted a strike that was already throwing a wrench into the city’s America 250 celebrations and the FIFA World Cup as visitors said they were afraid to make reservations if a strike was at hand.
Spanberger vetoes bills allowing public employees to collectively bargain working conditions, wages
May 18, 2026 // Spanberger first sought amendments to Senate Bill 378 and House Bill 1263, which one of the bill’s carriers, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surrovell, D-Fairfax, characterized as “a total rewrite.” On Thursday, Surovell confirmed the governor told him in a private call she planned to veto the measure. The proposal, backed by the Virginia Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and various labor groups, would expand on a 2020 law that permits local government employees in Virginia to opt-in to collective bargaining if their localities allow it.
DUNKIRK NY: Mayor responds to contract clamor
April 26, 2026 // Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz defended herself against city unions, stating that they are unwilling to negotiate and that city taxpayers can no longer afford their contracts. Wdowiasz said she wanted to “set the record straight” during the phone interview Thursday with the OBSERVER. Union leaders and workers turned out in force on Tuesday during the Common Council meeting. Jake Stern, representing Local 616 and its 24 uniformed firefighters, said during the meeting the union had unanimously voted no confidence in Wdowiasz and city attorney Elliot Raimondo.
Trump strips union rights from 1,400 Fort Drum and Rome defense workers
April 22, 2026 // President Donald Trump’s administration has stripped union rights from more than 1,400 civilians who work at Fort Drum and at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Rome, according to union officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the move to terminate most collective bargaining agreements for civilian employees at the Defense Department, the officials said.
Wisconsin saw steepest decline in union membership over 40-year period, report finds
March 30, 2026 // . “The only thing they could bargain on was their pay, and that was limited by law to never exceed the rate of inflation.” All of that, paired with a new requirement for every union to hold a recertification vote every year, means “many, many public-sector unions simply vanished,” Heywood said.
20K NYC nurses warn they will go on strike in just 10 days amid high stakes dispute
January 5, 2026 // A spokesperson for Mount Sinai gave some clue as to the wage ask for that hospital. “After only a day of working with a mediator at one of our hospitals, NYSNA is yet again threatening to force nurses to walk away from patients’ bedsides – this time while continuing to insist on increasing average nurse pay by $100,000,” the spokesperson said. Any strike would be “irresponsible,” especially because the hospitals would have to spend tens of millions of dollars to bring in outside nurses, said Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association.