Posts tagged First Amendment
Kamala Harris pro-union X post inspires major Labor Day backlash
September 2, 2025 // An X post from former Vice President Kamala Harris on this Labor Day has generated hundreds of mostly critical comments. “When unions are strong, our communities and our country are strong. Every person in our nation has benefited from the labor movement. This Labor Day, we celebrate the workers and unions who have fought for fair wages, safe workplaces, and sick leave for all of us,” posted Harris. One commenter posted in response, “The Dems talking point for today is…UNIONS. Today is literally for the worker but in true form, democrats make it about the evil system.”
USDA plant inspectors challenge exclusion from union rights
August 19, 2025 // Due to the change, the USDA no longer recognizes the National Association of Agriculture Employees and refuses to honor the terms of an existing collective bargaining agreement between the union and the federal government, according to the complaint. These actions exceed the government’s authority and violate the free speech and equal protection rights of APHIS plant inspectors, according to the complaint. The lawsuit has asked a federal judge to declare that the exclusion of APHIS inspectors from union representation was unlawful and to order the USDA to recognize the National Association of Agriculture Employees and abide by the collective bargaining deal
Opinion: We can’t abolish America’s largest teachers union. But Congress can do something else
August 7, 2025 // If this is what happens when NEA completely controls an event and its programming, the union’s tremendous influence over classrooms is a five-alarm fire not just for public education, but the future of our country. Congressional action addressing the pernicious influence of the teachers unions is long overdue. That’s why I (Mr. Fitzgerald) and Sen. Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming have introduced the Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today (STUDENT) Act, which would overhaul the NEA’s federal charter to make the union more accountable and less partisan.
Court allows Trump to end union bargaining for federal workers
August 5, 2025 // Trump's order exempted more than a dozen federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions. They include the Departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.
We’re Suing to Stop Unions from Stealing from Home Caregivers
August 4, 2025 // This isn’t the first time that Michigan caregivers have been targeted by unions seeking to skim dues off their stipends. Democrats put in place the same unjust policy in 2005, and the Service Employees International Union went on to take an estimated $34 million from home caregivers in just six years, before Republicans repealed it. But this time, caregivers like Tammy hopefully won’t have to wait for a change in power. The courts can protect them.
SCOTUS asked to consider case of unions refusing to open mail from disgruntled members
July 14, 2025 // “We’ve seen unions agree to process opt-out requests only during a two-week annual window,” noted Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe. “We’ve seen unions go to court trying to prevent us from informing their members about their constitutional rights – paid for with their own dues money. And when all else fails, we’ve seen them forge signatures on membership and dues-authorization forms.” “In this case, they weren’t even that sophisticated,” he continued. “They simply asserted a right to refuse to open mail from the Freedom Foundation because they knew these packages were likely to contain dozens of opt-out requests.”
Op-ed: It’s Time to End Government Unions’ Post-Janus Coercion
July 8, 2025 // These include, but aren’t limited to: acknowledging the workers’ right to opt out of union membership and dues, but refusing to honor their request to do so except during an arbitrary, union-determined two-week “opt-out window” of which the worker is unaware; inviting union operatives to make high-pressure, often-deceptive recruiting pitches to all newly hired public employees while denying the same privilege to organizations anxious to offer the workers an alternative point of view; refusing to open mail suspected to contain member opt-out requests; passing laws and filing lawsuits intended to prevent disclosure of government employees’ contact information — which is clearly a matter of public record — solely to keep organizations such as the Freedom Foundation from informing workers about their constitutional right to decline union participation; arguing that Janus provides no protections for union members, not even a constitutionally protected right to resign from the union; and, when all else fails, simply forging an employee’s name on a dues-authorization form.
EPA union alleges political retaliation, Chicago workers put on leave after criticizing Trump
July 6, 2025 // Targos described the current climate at the EPA. "The mood is dark," Targos said. "We know that we are fighting back as hard as we can." According to the EPA administrator email obtained Friday by the I-Team, the unpaid suspension of these employees will last at least through July 17. It is not known what additional consequences they could face after that date.
Governments should protect workers, end cozy relationship with political allies
July 1, 2025 // Unions already collect hundreds of dollars — or more — each year from each member. They should be using that money to support members during strikes, not expecting employers to pay workers not to work. The misguided policy will likely raise costs for public and private employers, harm the majority of workers in the state and weaken the state’s unemployment insurance fund. The government should be neutral between employers and labor, not serve as muscle to force employers to finance a de facto strike fund on behalf of political allies. If lawmakers and public employers truly cared about fairness for workers and the disadvantaged who lose jobs, they’d stop helping unions build political war chests and start giving workers full transparency and choice.
Supreme Court likely to decide fate of federal unions
June 30, 2025 // How the Supreme Court will view the matter is anybody’s guess, though the Roberts Court has shown deference to the executive branch and a willingness to revisit precedent involving public sector unions. In its 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling, the court said public sector employees could not be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Federal government collective bargaining is relatively recent, having only been codified in 1978. The Roberts Court may decide collective bargaining is a privilege, not a right, for federal workers.