Posts tagged law enforcement
GOP gov hopeful Blakeman woos NY labor, blasts Hochul vetoes of union friendly bills
January 7, 2026 // Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman blasted Gov. Kathy Hochul for vetoing a bill that would have required two operators on every MTA train — as he makes an aggressive push to snag some union support from his Democratic rival. Blakeman, who is now serving as Nassau County executive, criticized Hochul for knocking down a union-backed bill that would have required two operators on every Metropolitan Transportation Authority train as well as a series of bills that would’ve sweetened pensions and benefits for law enforcement.
Courts reject states’ efforts to take over union law enforcement
January 6, 2026 // Over the past two decades, unions have spent much of their political capital fighting for changes to the NLRA and other federal workplace laws. They did this in the hopes that tilting the playing field in their favor would boost the labor movement. They have little to show for those efforts. The New York and California laws show a modified version of that strategy: lobbying friendly states to enact policies the unions cannot get passed at the federal level. The courts are now blocking this overreach.
The Federal Workforce Will Be a Little Smaller After the Government Shutdown Ends
October 16, 2025 // While further reductions in the size of the federal workforce are certainly welcome, the layoffs will have to become significantly more aggressive to more than scratch the federal Leviathan. While smaller than its peak at 3.4 million workers in 1990 and then again in 2010, the federal government still employed 2.9 million people, not counting military personnel, as of August 2025. That's almost 3 million people living off the taxes collected by the federal government (or, increasingly, the money it borrows) rather than productively creating goods and services for willing consumers. And those nearly 3 million people aren't all just sitting around. Too many of them get up to mischief by exercising the power of the government to interfere in people's lives and to enforce intrusive rules and laws. Just see my comment above about the public health establishment and the pandemic. Fewer federal employees mean not so many mischief-makers to cause trouble, along with some cost savings.
A crackdown on political violence that quietly worked
October 1, 2025 // First, various arms of the federal government have conflicting interpretations over whether employers have the obligation to protect workers from union-related harassment in the workplace or are prohibited from protecting workers from union-related harassment in the workplace. The Institute for the American Worker (I4AW), a labor-policy think tank aligned with the Taft-Hartley Consensus, calls this paradox the “Battle of the 7s” after the relevant, conflicting portions of law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (CRA) and Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces the CRA, requires employers to prevent workplace harassment, and I4AW reports that its guidance has held that “insults and slurs could trigger liability under Title VII.” Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Biden administration ruled that the NLRA protected certain “blatantly discriminatory or harassing language in the workplace, so long as the comments are made in the context of labor union activity.” In addition to creating an apparently unresolvable legal paradox for an employer, this dichotomy seems to tell Big Labor that its misconduct does not matter to public policy and is a wink-and-nod tolerance of it.
Op-ed: Federal correctional officers’ union targets members of congress for turning their back on law enforcement
June 3, 2025 // The billboards have been placed across the country targeting the following 10 members of Congress: Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.; Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.; Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.; Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio; Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.; Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas.
Trump administration ends union dues collection for most feds without notice
April 10, 2025 // An official at another federal employee union familiar with the matter told Government Executive that local unions at agencies serviced by the Interior Department’s Interior Business Center and the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center, both of which provide payroll services to large swathes of the federal government, took similar action this week, all without notifying the unions or customer agencies. And, in at least one case, the National Finance Center deducted union dues from employees’ paychecks and then failed to pass that money along to the union, requiring them to then refund those dues back to the employees. None of the three payroll providers responded immediately to a request for comment Wednesday. The cancellation comes amid news, first reported in The New York Times, that operatives from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency had gained access to the Interior Department’s Federal Personnel and Payroll System, which underpins the IBC’s work.
‘This is the revenge’: Unions lash out at Trump administration over collective bargaining clampdown
March 31, 2025 // “This is the retaliation. This is the revenge. This is the shut ’em up effort,” said Hoyer, adding the actions are “consistent with the Republican Party’s long-standing hostility for the rights of working men and women to organize.” “Federal law gives federal employees the right to engage in collective bargaining,” said Raskin, adding, “That’s how these unions were formed.”
OPINION: L.A. Teacher’s Fight With Union Appealed To Supreme Court
April 23, 2024 // Laird refused to dismiss his lawsuit, and with good reason. Because his case is about more than the return of his money. In fact, Laird is donating the entire amount he received from UTLA to a nonprofit group that helps disadvantaged students in the Los Angeles area. When judges at both the lower court level and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the union, the Freedom Foundation filed a request with the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. Glenn Laird’s case is about a judicial acknowledgment and vindication of his First Amendment rights by a federal judge. As long as unions can cut checks using their members’ dues dollars to make lawsuits disappear, judges will never have the opportunity to rule on the actual constitutional issues, rendering the First Amendment and Janus decision meaningless. “Hopefully the Supreme Court will find my case worthy of making a ruling,” concluded Laird. “Janus set the stage, but now we need to build on that precedent so unions and lower court judges don’t continue to ignore the Supremes.”
Tens of thousands of workers in Florida have just lost their labor unions. More is coming.
February 22, 2024 // The numbers are not being tracked or published by the state or any labor organization, so WLRN requested the records and created a public database to track the fallout of the law. Most affected employees perform core public sector jobs like teaching in schools, doing clerical work for state and local government, repairing engines and machinery for government agencies, answering 911 calls at call centers and working at city parks.
Former Law Enforcement Union Officials Sentenced To Prison For Defrauding Union’s Annuity Fund
January 19, 2024 // U.S. Attorney Damian William said: “Kenneth Wynder and Andrew Brown raided union-sponsored retirement accounts for years, placing their self interest over the hard-working public servants they represented as the president and financial advisor of the union, respectively. Wynder also evaded taxes on cash, checks, and other income he obtained from the union, including as a product of their theft from the union members’ retirement accounts. Union officials and advisors who violate their duties to the union members they represent will face serious consequences for their abuse of trust.”