Posts tagged government union
Op-Ed: Federal union bosses: To ‘save democracy,’ let us finish destroying it
June 30, 2025 // How are federal union bosses reacting now that a president is finally taking action to put a halt to a system that, as former union attorney Kurt Hanslowe foresaw back in 1967, empowers “entrenched and mutually supportive government officials and collective bargaining representatives” over whom the public has “diminishing control” to make joint decisions about tax rates and other public policies? True to form, union officials are claiming Trump’s efforts to restore representative government are anti-democratic! For example, American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley, whose union filed the pending lawsuit to block E.O.14251, unsurprisingly claims the Trump Administration’s actions “represent a clear threat” to “every American who “values democracy.”
Sen. Mike Lee spearheads efforts to block government workers from union activities while on the clock
April 9, 2025 // “Federal government unions are heavily involved in party politics,” National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix said in a statement. “They stage massive political protests, and contribute large amounts of money and manpower to influence elections. Employees of these unions should not have their salaries paid by American taxpayers.” Lee cited a 2016 report by the Office of Personnel Management that showed federal employees spent 3.6 million hours on union-related businesses, costing taxpayers more than $177 million. That number dropped to 2.6 million hours, costing $134.9 million, during the first Trump administration, according to Lee.
‘Federal employee unions’ likely behind Trump protests: Geraldo
April 8, 2025 // NewsNation correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera and progressive YouTuber Bryan Tyler Cohen join “CUOMO” to discuss Stephen A. Smith’s possible run for the presidency in 2028 and if the “Hands Off” protests will have any tangible impact.
Gov. Walz orders state employees back to office, unions push back
March 28, 2025 // "We are mostly upset because there was no attempt by the governor or his agencies to engage with us at all," said Megan Dayton, president of Minnesota Association of Professional Employees. "There are not dedicated cubicles or offices anymore like there used to be pre-pandemic, so I don't know how they're going to do it." Dayton said her union has not ruled out a lawsuit. In a statement, Bart Andersen, president of AFSCME Council 5, another union, said, in part: "The administration’s decision to impose sweeping workplace policy changes without engaging our union and labor partners first is not just unacceptable – it’s an act of blatant disrespect."
NEW YORK: With A2593, unions are outsourcing their deceit to robots
March 27, 2025 // A2593, recently introduced in the New York State Assembly, would allow unions to make automated “robocalls” to public employees who’ve opted out of union membership. If the proposal sounds absurd, that’s because it’s a blatant attempt to preserve their fading influence by strongarming workers who have unequivocally expressed their wishes already. The bill claims to protect New Yorkers’ privacy; in reality, it would accomplish the polar opposite by granting government unions one of the few legal exceptions to make robocalls in the state.
Trump gives taxpayers union collective bargaining transparency
March 24, 2025 // Taxpayers are spending money negotiating with unions over a supposed right to wear spandex in federal offices. Unions are also negotiating with the federal government over the height of cubicle desk panels—how far they reach the floor. And negotiations even focus on things like carving out smoking zones on federal properties that are supposed to be smoke-free. While government unions can’t legally bargain over wages and benefits set by federal law, they’re left negotiating over these types of picayune demands, making the bargaining process incredibly costly. Taxpayers are getting hit over and over. The public pays for the salaries of the federal negotiators and, in many cases, even for the union officials on the other side of the bargaining table. Taxpayers also pay for travel and other expenses. Negotiating often requires hiring costly outside experts, factfinders, mediators, and arbitrators. Even the pens and paper negotiators use are on the taxpayer’s dime. The bargaining process can take months, if not years, and taxpayers spend more money daily.
The leader of a major government union outlines their strategy to battle Trump federal cuts—And says Elon Musk has ‘no clue’ about workers
March 16, 2025 // We’re filing these lawsuits—that's number one. We are pushing even though we understand that the climate here in Washington, D.C. is not the best. But we’ve still got to continue to go on the offense, as I said earlier. We are supporting the PRO Act, which would give workers the right to have a seat at the table to improve labor labor law in this country. We're doing the same thing with the Public Freedom to Negotiate Act for public service workers.
Op-ed: Government Unions are Losing Money and Members—but Not Power and Influence
March 3, 2025 // Last year, the Harrisburg-based subsidiary of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—better known as Council 13—was in dire straits. Citing “serious financial problems,” AFSCME International took over Council 13 to right the ship on March 1, 2024. The news of the takeover must have blindsided AFSCME 13’s members. Before the announcement, Council 13’s required fiscal year (FY) 2022–23 financial disclosure was already months overdue, leaving members guessing about the true state of their union’s finances.
UTAH, Opinion: Republicans Need to Learn Government Unions Can’t Be Trusted
March 3, 2025 // On Feb. 14, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law I sponsored banning public-sector collective bargaining. This makes Utah the best state in the nation for protecting taxpayers and ensuring that government employees can negotiate their own employment terms. But this victory came only after fruitless attempts to work with government unions—efforts that exposed their pattern of saying one thing while doing another. In early 2024, I introduced a bill that would have required public-sector unions to hold regular recertification elections. As I argued at the time, unions representing teachers, firefighters and police should have to prove continuously that they represent a majority of workers. Taxpayers, too, have a stake: If a union doesn’t speak for most employees, why should the rest of the state be on the hook for its demands?
Opinion: Government Unions Are Hemorrhaging Members. Here’s Why.
February 4, 2025 // The numbers tell a stark story. While overall union membership sits at 9.9%, Big Labor still maintains a stranglehold over public employees, 32.2% of whom are union members. Of the 14.3 million union members nationwide, half work in government jobs, with teachers unions alone accounting for nearly one-quarter of all union members.