Posts tagged laborers
‘Fracture’ in Chicago’s labor world complicates Mayor Brandon Johnson’s third budget fight
November 25, 2025 // That’s the signature hue of the Service Employees International Union, whose local affiliates were Johnson’s second-biggest labor backer in his 2023 election. Instead, the self-styled “most pro-worker mayor” in Chicago’s history has only seen one union vociferously cheer his $16.6 billion proposal, despite his hard line against layoffs: the red-shirted Chicago Teachers Union. It’s a sign of the times after a “fissure” between the once-close SEIU and CTU has grown into a full-blown “fracture,” said Ald. Desmon Yancy, a freshman progressive who previously served in SEIU leadership.
Union panel rules Baltimore IG interfered in election, orders new vote
October 29, 2025 // A union election will be overturned and rerun as a result of social media posts from Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming that interfered with the process, a judicial panel for the union ruled this week. The 10-member panel, which oversees the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees on an international basis, found that Cumming’s tweets, some of which were sent just days before the Aug. 23 officer election for Local 44, constituted “an act of interference” and an endorsement, regardless of the intent behind them.
Commentary: Union power in Illinois: Shrinking membership and surging political clout
October 18, 2024 // On their face, the slow decline of the unionization rate in the Illinois workforce and the obstacles to public sector unionization created by the Janus decision could raise questions about the long-term viability of the labor movement in Illinois. But a closer look shows labor unions in Illinois are politically stronger than ever.
Why the Biden administration’s new Davis-Bacon prevailing wage proposed rule is so troubling for Americans.
June 2, 2022 // Today’s Davis-Bacon requirements are already problematic — driving up overall federal infrastructure costs as high as 10 percent and wages over 20 percent — on top of shifting more work to union over non-union workers despite the fact that over 86 percent of construction workers are not members of a union.
Carpenters Trade Union Bets Big On America’s Transition To Renewable Energy
May 24, 2022 // At least two major offshore wind developers, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and Ørsted, have signed agreements to use union labor for their planned projects. And Atlantic Power Transmission LLC, a Blackstone company vying to build the transmission lines that connect offshore wind farms to the grid, has partnered with EASRCC and other unions and committed to investing $50 million for workforce development in New Jersey.
City employees march against low staffing
March 25, 2022 //
QUEENS MAN BUSTED FOR BOGUS UNION MEMBERSHIP CASH CON
March 16, 2022 // District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant in this case is accused of taking advantage of his position as a union member and knowledge of Local 79 to line his pockets. More than a dozen individuals – laborers who sought to earn better pay for their hard work – were allegedly conned by this defendant into giving him cash for entry into the Mason Tenders union. I want to thank the union’s leadership for bringing this case to our attention. The defendant is now charged with serious crimes for taking advantage of others to feed his own greed.”