Posts tagged layoff
The Faster Labor Contracts Act disempowers workers
June 1, 2026 // The bill’s most obvious defect is its egregious misnaming. Whatever is produced by statutorily compelled arbitration cannot be correctly characterized as a contract at all. A contract results from parties negotiating, compromising, and voluntarily agreeing to terms each can accept. That process is precisely what gives contracts legitimacy and durability. The Faster Labor Contracts Act abandons that principle. Under its framework, if the parties fail to reach agreement within the prescribed period, federal arbitrators impose terms neither side may actually want. This is not a contract; it is coercive government regulation.
Unions, workers push back against looming job cuts in San Francisco
April 21, 2026 // Union members insisted the layoffs and other cuts aren't necessary. They said Lurie could dip into the city's reserves instead. They also encouraged voters to pass Proposition D this November. If passed, it would raise taxes on the city's highest corporate executive earners, meaning more revenue and less need for cuts. While 127 layoff notices have already been issued by the Lurie administration, there could be more on the way. Lurie's budget team directed departments to send the proposals for 500 layoffs.
Opinion Editorial Board: There is no right to strike against public schools
April 14, 2026 // Government also can’t go out of business. Demands, no matter how exorbitant, can always be paid through higher taxes, which is what’s certain to now happen in Los Angeles. A 2021 paper found that school districts under pressure from collective bargaining raise spending with no improvements in student outcomes. It’s not as though LAUSD is a cheapskate district. The average teacher earns six figures, and the district covers 100 percent of teachers’ health insurance premiums. Teachers’ starting pay for the district is higher than teachers’ median pay for the country as a whole. Average spending per student has risen from $17,798 in 2020-2021 to $29,616 in 2024-2025.
Opinion: Workers say ‘I like unions, I just don’t like my union’ — here’s what they’re discovering
February 28, 2026 // "I like unions. I just don’t like my union." Time and time again, I hear this sentiment from employees nationwide. Most will express frustration with their union officials, who’ve disappointed or even mistreated them and other members. Some tell me how they tried and failed to improve their own union from within. They imagine there’s a better union out there — one where union officials actively improve the workplace and help employees achieve some measure of personal freedom.
Thousands of LAUSD workers could get layoff notices. What to know
February 17, 2026 // LAUSD employs more than 83,000 people, including teachers, administrators, certificated support personnel and substitutes, according to June 2025 data. The prospect of layoffs isn't the only moving part in the overall picture: Labor unions have been in negotiations with the district related to wage increases to class sizes, and members of the United Teachers Los Angeles authorized the union to strike in late January.
Workers at Some of the World’s Largest Museums Are Demanding Fairer Pay
December 2, 2025 // The potential new union chapter at the Met is with the Technical, Office, and Professional Union, Local 2110, part of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union. The museum does have union chapters for projectionists and audio/visual technicians with Local 306 IATSE, and for about 700 security guards with Local 1503, part of DC 37, and there has previously been an attempt to establish a wall-to-wall union bringing all staff together in one chapter.
Editorial: Unions share blame for layoff fallout
November 1, 2025 // "To date, the Stamford law firm of Silver Golub & Teitell has been paid $50.8 million for representing the unions and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, according to the state comptroller's office," Mr. Hughes wrote. "The settlement set attorney fees at 17.5% of the total damages each class member receives," extrapolating "to roughly $290 million in compensatory and economic damages." Union attorney Jonathan M. Levine figured the actual payouts amounted to between $190 million and $215 million.
US agencies shrink layoff plans after mass staff exodus
July 16, 2025 // This is the latest example of the Trump administration walking back announcements to cut federal workers, after more aggressively pursuing staff reductions earlier this year. The Department of Veterans Affairs said in July that it would reduce staff by about 30,000 people rather than 80,000. Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump launched a campaign to overhaul the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce, led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. By late April, about 100 days into the effort, the government overhaul had resulted in the firing, resignations and early retirements of 260,000 civil servants, according to a Reuters tally.
Following layoff announcements, Sharp medical office workers unionize
July 7, 2025 // The election took place by mail from June 9 to 30 to join the union, which represents 120,000 healthcare workers across California. The medical office workers at all six offices known as SharpCare in Coronado, Chula Vista, La Mesa, San Diego, Santee and Spring Valley join 6,000 Sharp workers across the region — including more than 650 earlier this year.
Trump’s mass layoff threat drives US government workers to resign
May 21, 2025 // Mass resignations driven by fear of firings Trump and Musk aim to cut federal workforce by 12% Unions angry over perceived harassment, forced resignations Tens of thousands of U.S. government workers have chosen to resign rather than endure what many view as a torturous wait for the Trump administration to carry out its threats to fire them, say unions, governance experts and the employees themselves. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on taking office to dramatically slash the size and cost of government. Four months later, mass layoffs at the largest agencies have yet to materialize and courts have slowed the process.