Posts tagged labor negotiations
Editorial Board: America’s veterans deserve better care than government unions provide
December 8, 2025 // The smarter approach would be for Congress to affirm Trump’s decision to strip collective bargaining rights while dispensing with his flimsy national security justification. Consider the legacy of pro-union President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who opposed collective bargaining and strikes for federal employees. As Roosevelt and other pro-union leaders understood in the 1930s, collective bargaining is carried out against an employer. The government’s employer is the public. Allowing unelected labor union bosses to negotiate against the public’s elected representatives to determine how the government gets run is undemocratic.
Starbucks Union Says 30 More US Stores Are Joining Week-Old Strike
November 22, 2025 // Starbucks said the strike has caused minimal disruption to its operations, and noted that this year's Red Cup Day was the strongest in the company's history in terms of sales and store traffic. Placer.ai, a location data company, said Starbucks' foot traffic jumped 44.5% last Thursday compared to this year's daily average. Starbucks said only 49 of the 65 stores that the union vowed to strike last week experienced any disruption, and 29 of those have reopened.
Twin Cities Starbucks picketed during strike is vandalized, police say
November 21, 2025 // Non-striking employees at the St. Anthony coffeeshop at 3704 Silver Lake Road arrived 30 minutes before its 7 a.m. scheduled opening to find “a substance consistent with super glue and expanding foam had been applied to the locks” moments earlier, a police statement read. One employee told police about interacting with people in a vehicle nearby and believed to be connected to a group expecting to picket outside Wednesday.
Phoenix to Face AZ Supreme Court Scrutiny over Public Records Refusal
September 14, 2025 // Coming just days before Goldwater lawyers argue another important case before justices—one involving the rights to free speech and privacy—this new case, called Goldwater Institute v. Phoenix, involves the Arizona Public Records Act (the state’s version of the Freedom of Information Act). The Institute sought documents from the city concerning its labor negotiations with public sector unions—negotiations that produce contracts that often include illegal subsidies such as “release time” (which was the subject of still another case we won before the Supreme Court). But the city refused to turn over the documents, claiming the records could be kept from the public under the so-called “best interests of the state” exception—a judge-made rule that enables government entities to withhold information if they think turning over certain information would be bad for the “public interest.” There’s a lot wrong with that. For one thing, the city failed to show that disclosing the documents would actually harm the public. Instead, the city’s witnesses simply claimed that disclosing the documents “may result in” the “politicization” of negotiations between the city and the union.
Gov. Bob Ferguson signs bill giving unemployment to striking WA workers
May 26, 2025 // The governor has signed a new bill into law which creates a path to collecting benefits while on strike. Unemployment benefits wouldn't start as soon as a strike begins, however. The bill takes effect in 2026.- Striking workers will be able to collect unemployment benefits starting next year. This will make Washington the third state in the United States to pass such a bill, joining New York and New Jersey. Governor Bob Ferguson signed a new bill into law, SB 5041, which will make workers eligible for unemployment insurance while on strike.
UAW union members at Cummins in Oshkosh remain ‘worlds apart’ on deal after walking off job
April 14, 2025 // Cummins and UAW Local 291 remain at odds over a new labor contract, with workers on strike for four weeks. The two sides have met only once since the strike began, with little progress made. Key disagreements include mandatory overtime and the use of temporary workers. A rally is planned at the union hall to support the striking workers.
“Membership… at an all-time low”: NEA report credits Freedom Foundation for historic decline in Oregon, and offers an ironic solution
September 10, 2024 // It’s difficult to overstate the irony: To reverse the membership losses resulting from the Freedom Foundation’s educational campaign to teachers, the NEA directed funds to SKEA to implement a reform, transparent collective bargaining, the Freedom Foundation has supported for years — and that government unions themselves have long opposed. There’s an admission in there, isn’t there?
OPINION: FRANK RICCI: Paying People To Strike Makes No Sense
August 14, 2023 // Furthermore, a company’s unemployment experience rating is included as a fiscal cost factored into bids for state, municipal and private construction costs. Unemployment for striking workers will harm company ratings and place upward pressure on the price of goods, as well as our taxes. Rather than using its own funds to assist workers during a strike — a prime justification for its existence — the AFL-CIO is instead encouraging its members to contact their legislators to demand that they pass these bills so that taxpayers and businesses pick up the tab. This legislation places no restriction on union strike funds, so striking workers may collect funds from the unions as well. The result? Workers could be paid more to go and stay on strike than they would have made working — this will incentivize labor unrest.
More than 600 city of Portland workers out on strike
February 2, 2023 // Portlanders will feel an impact from the strike, though it’s not clear yet just how deep or how quickly. Mayor Ted Wheeler has authorized using independent contractors to do some of the work of striking city employees. Local 483 includes people responsible for fixing sewage leaks, cleaning trash at city parks, and clearing streets of ice and snow, among other tasks. At a City Council meeting Wednesday, union representative James O’Laughlen urged commissioners to agree to the union’s proposal.