Posts tagged inflation
Unionization Wave Hits Nonprofit Sector
December 17, 2025 // ASeveral key economic factors are driving this current union organizing trend, including inflation and job security. In this environment, employees are motivated to seek the protections that higher pay and increased benefits offer. However, about one-third of nonprofit museums and cultural institutions are also struggling to confront the loss of government grants or contracts. More than half of museums reported fewer 2025 visitors than in 2019, according to a Novemberreport by the American Alliance of Museums. In spite of these conflicting economic difficulties, employees are continuing to push back, feeling that they have been taken for granted for many years. Bottom line: unions continue to seek out new groups of workers to organize as their traditional targets, such as manufacturing and production jobs, wane or move overseas. Nonprofit employers would be well advised to stay engaged with their employees, keep an eye on employee morale, and look for ways to reward employees' hard work even when funds are scarce.
Workers at more Chicago cultural venues are unionizing, even during a precarious moment for museums
December 12, 2025 // Still, the process of unionization may not be smooth at every site. At Chicago Botanic Garden, there’s a disagreement between workers and management with what steps should be required to establish a union. Employees who are advocating for better pay, health care and safety on the job and are represented by CMRJB Workers United say they are asking employees to sign union cards. However, Chicago Botanic Garden leadership opposes that approach in favor of a secret ballot election to vote on the union. “To skip that step would really be disenfranchising those eligible employees,” Chicago Botanic Garden President and CEO Jean Franczyk told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The process has multiple steps and options that you can pursue. But the one that we think protects individual eligible workers’ rights is that supervised election.”
24 union members detained during civil disobedience near Las Vegas airport
December 6, 2025 // Union members are demanding a new contract with disadvantaged business enterprises at the airport. The Culinary and Bartenders unions represent nearly 400 hospitality workers employed at 21 outlets inside Harry Reid International Airport. Union members voted unanimously on November 12 to authorize a strike. The union has not set a strike date while negotiations continue.
Podcast: Austen Bannan “Holiday Economy, Battles with Inflation, and Rights of Workers in a New Employee System
December 2, 2025 // Austen Bannon, Employment Fellow with Americans for Prosperity, joins to discuss the changing workforce, evolving work industry, and rights of workers. Discussion of outdated union mandates and regulations, right to work laws, private contractors, and future technology in the workforce.
Mamdani’s Minimum-Wage Hike Will Hurt Young Workers Most
November 14, 2025 // The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a 10 percent rise in the minimum wage reduces teen employment by about 0.7 percent. Using the same metric, raising New York City’s wage floor 82 percent would reduce Gotham’s teen employment by roughly 5 percent to 6 percent, on average. Teenagers who manage to keep their jobs will probably see fewer hours, meaning less job experience, fewer opportunities for mentoring, and slower wage growth in the future. Young people may have shot themselves in the foot, in other words, by supporting Zohran Mamdani. The soon-to-be-mayor’s “$30 by ’30” will make New York costlier, especially for the young, the least able to afford it.
America Doesn’t Have Enough Weapons for a Major Conflict. These Workers Know Why.
October 28, 2025 // Historically, in the fight against their bosses, unions have had only one real weapon to wield: their numbers. The primary goal of a labor strike is to blockade production and inflict pain on the company so that it will negotiate better terms. But in Orlando, it was hard for the union to enlist enough workers for the fight. Florida is a “right to work” state, meaning that union membership is optional. Workers in an organized factory are free to return to their stations and get back to work, leaving everyone else on the picket line to fight for a contract that would eventually apply to everyone.
Trump Is Making Major Concessions To Union Bosses. Is It Worth It?
August 15, 2025 // The Institute for the American Worker noted that union members who had funds embezzled by their leaders in recent years would now have less insight into how their dues were being spent. For example, in 2024, the Secretary-Treasurer of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 2198 pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $63,000; under the proposed rule, the group would no longer have to file an LM-2.
Whatever happened to the effort by workers to unionize KY’s EV battery plant?
July 11, 2025 // The KyPolicy report says pressure from successful UAW bargaining at Louisville’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Ford Assembly Plant, and at Bowling Green’s General Motors Corvette facility has resulted in non-union plants across the state to boost wages. In December, BlueOval said starting wages would increase by between $2.50 and $3.50 per hour to as little as $21 per hour and as much as $32 per hour.
Penn Museum workers demand raises, protest Univ. pay proposals in picket after authorizing strike
July 10, 2025 // “The average annual salary in the bargaining unit is less than $45,000,” Shaw said. “We’re looking for raises that will not only allow workers to keep up with increases in the cost of living, but to do better over time.” Union leaders also handed out flyers that emphasized Penn’s continued “lowball pay proposals” despite the University’s “annual operating budget of $4.7 billion.” “It’s not so much to ask from the University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer and one of the wealthiest in the city,” Shaw said.
Sen. Hawley Introduces Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15
June 10, 2025 // Some business advocacy groups still oppose minimum rate hikes, including Hawley's proposed bill. "This proposal would more than double the minimum wage and slash over 800,000 jobs," Rebekah Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, said in a statement to The Hill. "An overwhelming majority of economists agree that drastic minimum wage hikes cut employment, limit opportunities for workers and shutter businesses."