Posts tagged inflation
More transparency for the largest unions
May 31, 2026 // A new rule from the Labor Department will recalibrate the disclosure reports that labor unions are required to file. It’s a welcome update to ensure that union members know how their money is being spent. What will happen in the 2026 midterms? Sign up for Margin of Victory The reason unions have government-mandated disclosure requirements is that they are government-backed monopolies. Labor relations law gives unions exclusive power as the sole bargaining agent for the entire workplace.
N.Y.C. Hotel Housekeepers Will Earn Over $100,000 Under New Contract
May 19, 2026 // “They’re going to try to offset that by raising rates,” he said. But how successful they would be is unclear, given that New York City already has the highest average room rates of any big city in the United States, at about $335 a night, Mr. Pequeno said. In the past year, New York hotels have also had the nation’s highest occupancy rate, at about 84 percent, he said. The agreement between the hotel workers and the industry comes about six weeks before the expiration of the current 14-year contract. For more than a year, union officials had been preparing for a strike in early July, just before the celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States and the final of FIFA’s World Cup tournament at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
One of Oregon’s Most Powerful Unions Is Rebelling Against Democrats
April 23, 2026 // Although many donors contribute to individual candidates, OEA sends most of its legislative contributions to caucus leaders, who distribute the cash to candidates in tight races. That ensures maximum influence with leaders, who in turn decide which bills get hearings and who gets committee chairmanships. (A 2012 study by the Fordham Institute ranked OEA the second-most powerful teachers union in the country—only the Illinois teachers union ranked higher.) In addition to large and steady contributions, OEA also developed a reputation for punishing Democrats who failed to fall in line, as Sollman is now learning. One infamous example still echoes nearly two decades later.
New York’s doormen are about to go dark — and Park Avenue veteran is ready to abandon his post
April 17, 2026 // On April 20, the contract covering 34,000 residential building workers — doormen, porters, superintendents, handypersons, resident managers — expires. The union, 32BJ SEIU, and the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations have been locked in negotiations that, by Vega’s account, have been less than promising.
LA hotels face financial strain exacerbated by city policy shifts: report
April 13, 2026 // Increasing labor expenses are a major concern for hoteliers nationwide, as total salaries, wages and benefits paid by U.S. hotels are projected to increase approximately 3% year over year in 2026 amid a weakened performance cycle. In Los Angeles, however, local legislation is exacerbating this challenge, hoteliers reported. Last year’s passage of the Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, in particular, has forced local hoteliers “to make serious changes to maintain business operations,” according to the report. For example, 88% of hotel stakeholders said they have reduced staffing or hours in the past year as a result of LA city council policies, per the report.
NYC faces possible strike by 34,000 doormen, building workers
March 28, 2026 // Property owners are alerting occupants of 3,500 co-ops, condos and apartment buildings across the five boroughs that services will decrease if a work suspension begins on April 21. That’s the day after the four-year-old contract expires for nearly 34,000 doormen, porters and maintenance workers. If there’s a strike, residents will need to wear badges to enter buildings, non-emergency renovation work will stop and moving in or out of the buildings will halt,
No Rail Strike This Time
March 23, 2026 // But there are other reasons as well for the clear tracks for this deal. The National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC), which negotiates on behalf of the railroads with the 12 main rail worker unions, said that the latest bargaining round “has seen historic collaboration between freight rail carriers and unions.” “Historic” could be a small stretch, but it does appear that both union negotiators and management went into this round determined to strike a bargain that workers and railroads could live with. In addition to money, both unions and management have touted better benefits and more paid leave.
San Francisco’s Lamplighters Music Theatre cancels spring production, citing rising costs and AB5
February 18, 2026 // At the same time it’s lost revenue, costs have gone up due to AB5, among other factors. That law’s original target was gig-work companies such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart, but those behemoths have so far escaped the law’s costly stipulations because of voter-passed Proposition 22. Meanwhile, tiny performing arts companies that lacked the resources to obtain a carve-out are the ones digging in their pockets for a law that wasn’t even written with them in mind. At Lamplighters, Uzelac said, paying the same artists now costs twice what it did before.
Commentary: In the Glass Hive of Art News: Dark Clouds at the Met, Boston’s MFA
February 5, 2026 // Two weeks ago, unions grabbed the pot of gold at the end of the phony-baloney rainbow when the Metropolitan Museum of Art staff voted 542–172 to join the United Auto Workers. Counterintuitive, I know, but the UAW has a portfolio of bargaining units that includes boutique left-wing, white-collar culture workers such as the curators, conservators, librarians, archivists, designers, marketeers, visitor-services coordinators, and fundraisers at the Met. Along with bread-and-butter issues, these workers can be mobilized to wail over false values like open borders, which suppress working-class wages, the climate change hoax, Black Lives Matter, Celebrate Your Abortion, Me Too, No Kings, From the River to the Sea, any or all while wearing “pussy hats,” which, ladies and real wannabe ladies, don’t flatter. So, a juicy, fresh plum is now added to the UAW stash.
BALTIMORE: Moore administration settles contracts with state unions — except AFSCME
January 6, 2026 // According to a Monday news release from AFSCME, the contract proposal the Moore administration offered did not include wage increases aligned with inflation, nor did it fully correct wage scales for unionized workers that lag behind other state employees. Last month, a Moore administration official told The Daily Record that in his nearly three-year tenure, the average salary for AFSCME-represented workers has increased by 12.47%, while inflation increased by 8%.