Posts tagged health care
Dale Buss: UAW’s Deere gamble sends a warning to Detroit automakers
October 28, 2026 // What Fain didn’t tell the employees was that Deere’s offer was better than just about anything Fain got anywhere else. Earlier this year, Fain hailed the UAW’s first contract with Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga as a historic victory. Yet that agreement provides general wage increases of just 3% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 before a final 6% increase in 2030. Deere was offering its workers 4% raises in both 2026 and 2027, on top of a $3,000 bonus and the continuation of their existing pension, health-care and cost-of-living protections. Which raises the question: was Fain’s real motive in rejecting Deere’s generous offer Deere employees or his larger 2028 general strike plans? The existing Deere contract expires on October 31, 2027. The UAW’s contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis expire just six months later, on April 30, 2028.
Winchester Mystery House tour guides launch one-day unfair labor practice strike
October 27, 2026 // The guides, who organized with Teamsters Local 856 in 2025, lead thousands of visitors through the mansion's halls annually. The strike comes after management bypassed the bargaining table to approach guides directly to sign waivers regarding the usage of their image and likeness for marketing promotion materials, rather than negotiating the issue collectively, according to union officials.
Thousands more Chicago hotel workers could strike at any moment
October 13, 2026 // Union members say they want better health care benefits, pensions, protection for immigrant workers, wages that keep up with inflation and safer workloads. A 2025 survey by the UNITE HERE Local 1 union found 32% of its members lacked money to cover their rent or mortgage and around 29% lacked money to cover utility bills in the last 12 months.
Op-ed: Hospital Strikes Should Be Illegal
October 7, 2026 // Hospital workers should not be legally permitted to withhold their critical labor from the patients who need them just because their union has a disagreement with management. If railroad workers can’t do it and public employees can’t do it, hospital workers should not be able to do it either. Congress should amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit strikes by hospital employees.
Teamsters in Akron, Toledo and Twinsburg join Anderson strike against Coca-Cola
September 25, 2026 // Tuesday, the union announced teamsters in Akron, Toledo and Twinsburg, Ohio are joining the strike, which effectively shuts down Coca-Cola’s Ohio operations, the union said.
Opinion Dave Regan’s alleged bullying should put an end to ‘billionaire tax’
September 21, 2026 // For years, Regan has bossed his way around California, drawing on his training in New York state and his experience in the Rust Belt. He arrived in California and immediately saw the state’s ballot initiative process as the soft underbelly of democracy. In election after election, he has organized initiatives on his pet priorities. He doesn’t always win them. But he has turned ballot initiatives into weapons to increase the political power of his union — regardless of the consequences.
California’s most powerful union boss threatened women, tried to ‘extort’ billionaire tax support: probe
September 15, 2026 // SEIU United Health Workers West President Dave Regan is under investigation for allegedly trying to strong-arm an endorsement from the SEIU’s state council. He is also accused of threatening and intimidating women employed by the council, as well as physically assaulting former SEIU executive Courtni Pugh, who’s now a political consultant leading the effort to stop the billionaire tax. The assault allegedly occurred in 2009.
Thousands of Chicago hotel workers threaten to strike
September 9, 2026 // The union represents 15,000 workers at more than 40 Chicago hotels, meaning a widespread strike could disrupt hotel operations during a key time for tourism and conventions. Catch up quick: By Aug. 31, contracts covering about 7,000 workers at Chicago hotels had officially expired, according to Unite Here Local 1.
At the Races: Labor Day reds and blues
September 4, 2026 // The union is launching its largest effort ever to mobilize for the midterms: Through door-knocking, get-out-the vote initiatives and regular conversations with co-workers and family members, the AFL-CIO aims to turn out 16 million voters, 2 million more than it says it brought out in 2022. The group has endorsed candidates for House, Senate and governor’s races across the spectrum, from democratic socialists and moderate Democrats to independents and one Republican seeking federal office: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
Sentencing for convicted ex-Boilermakers union leaders continued until December
September 2, 2026 // Court filings show the defendants requested that the sentencing date be pushed back, and Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree granted the requests on Friday. That action also could affect the sentencing dates for several other former union employees who have pleaded guilty in the federal corruption and embezzlement case. A jury on June 5 convicted Jones, his wife and a retired union executive of racketeering conspiracy, embezzlement and other felonies, concluding a monthlong trial over the alleged theft of millions from the Kansas City-based International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.