Posts tagged intimidation
Workers Voted on Decertifying Unions 1,600 Times in the Past Decade. Teamsters Are the Most Common Target.
May 5, 2026 // Dozens of union decertification elections are held in workplaces across America every year, according to data collected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Teamsters are often the target. Of the 1,620 decertification elections that the NLRB tracked between 2016 and 2025, more than 23 percent sought to end Teamsters representation. The 373 decertification petitions targeting the Teamsters during that period were more than twice the number filed against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which had the second most.
The Writers Guild West’s Struggle With Its Staff Union Gets Even Uglier
May 1, 2026 // Union president Michele Mulroney, executive director Ellen Stutzman, vice president Travis Donnelly and secretary-treasurer Peter Murrieta detailed the “final offer” they gave to the staff union ahead of negotiations that night. The same email went into detail on how WGSU strikers have “acted in an aggressive manner completely out of line with how writers have always operated during WGA strikes.” The leaders alleged that WGSU members had called writers “scabs” as they sought to enter the building where they were negotiating their 2026 film and TV deal and followed writers leaving the building or waited for them at parking lots, “at times shouting epithets and abuse.”
Apple to shutter its first unionized US store in Maryland
April 12, 2026 // The iPhone maker described the decision as "difficult", citing the departure of several retailers and worsening conditions at the Towson Town Center mall as key reasons for the closure. Apple said Towson employees will be eligible to apply for open roles at the company. In 2022, more than 100 Apple workers in Towson voted to join the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, marking a milestone for unionization at major U.S. corporations such as Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Starbucks (SBUX.O), opens new tab.
State Sen. Janeen Sollman Says Two Prominent Unions Resorted to ‘Bullying and Intimidation’
April 7, 2026 // Those unions hope to unseat Sollman in May after clashing with her over expanding the urban growth boundary in Hillsboro, education funding, and her vote against Senate Bill 916, the controversial bill that now allows striking workers to collect unemployment pay.
Boilermakers members call for federal probe into KC-based union’s elections
February 24, 2026 // Filed by two members of Kansas City’s Local 83, the complaint was sent to the Office of Labor-Management Standards, an agency within the Labor Department. It alleges that the union’s election system locks rank-and-file members out of the process and ensures that those in power will remain in their positions. The action comes as a trial is approaching in a federal corruption case in which several former union executives — among them ousted International President Newton Jones — are charged with allegedly scheming to steal $20 million in union funds. The union’s executive council voted to remove Jones in 2023, accusing him of misusing union funds for personal gain, including funneling large sums of money to his Ukrainian wife for work she never performed.
College Park MOM’s Organic Employees Slam Union Officials with Charges for Election Interference
January 28, 2026 // Although MOM’s employees voted nearly 5-to-1 to block the UFCW union from having forced-dues power, this was insufficient for Ricse’s effort to prevail because federal law provides that a majority of an entire work unit must vote to deauthorize a union. In contrast, only a majority of those participating in a vote are needed to bring a union into a workplace. Ricse’s objections, filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), detail the same conduct that MOM’s employee J-quan Tingling is charging UFCW union officials with in unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB.
Op-ed: Public employee unions facing final showdown
January 5, 2026 // Some have even been caught locking employees in rooms until they sign membership cards, as plaintiffs in one California lawsuit allege. When you’re spending 86 percent of your dues revenue on political causes that only a fraction of your members support, transparency becomes a threat. The $47.5 million workers are keeping this year represents more than a financial loss for unions. It means a loss of power to expand the size government, raise taxes, resist accountability and fund progressive causes and politicians
Utah’s oldest gay bar plans to reopen soon, after recognizing employees’ union
November 29, 2025 // Owner Mary Peterson announced in a release Tuesday that she had decided to voluntarily recognize her employees’ union, SunTrapp Workers United (SWU). Peterson closed The SunTrapp’s doors on Oct. 31. At the time, she said financial strain from picketing and striking workers had grown too heavy, and she could no longer afford to keep the place open.
Congress Can Empower Workers Through Choice—Not Coercion
November 24, 2025 // A case in point is the legislative package that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced on Nov. 10, joined by others including Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C). They’d protect workers’ paychecks by requiring unions to get approval before spending dues money on politics. They’d also protect workers’ privacy by letting them choose what contact information unions get during the organizing process. And they’d protect workplace democracy by requiring that at least two-thirds of workers participate in union elections — preventing a minority of people from determining the fate of every employee. Another praiseworthy reform is the Employee Rights Act, which Scott introduced in the shutdown’s early days after Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.) previously introduced it in the House. Among its many good ideas, the Employee Rights Act guarantees the secret ballot and protects workers from intimidation and harassment. It also gives unionized workers in the 26 right-to-work states the freedom to negotiate their own contract with their employer, so they can better address their individual needs. And the Employee Rights Act guarantees that self-employed workers have maximum flexibility to design their jobs to fit their lives.
Workers need the new Employee Rights Act
November 10, 2025 // The Employee Rights Act is fully aligned with Mr. Trump’s pro-worker vision. It builds on the working-class tax cuts and affordable health care reforms he has already signed. The best way to continue that progress is by fully protecting workers’ right to climb the ladder of opportunity because when they do, the rest of America rises too.