Posts tagged layoffs
LA Times union to hold first-ever strike authorization vote as contract talks near 3rd year
August 18, 2025 // Last month, the L.A. Times Guild slammed management after the paper sent buyout offers to a small group of staffers, a move the union said “egregiously” violates employee contracts. And this all follows a brutal year for the storied paper, which has been beset by a series of layoffs and buyouts amid incremental ideological shifts mandated by billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong.
California’s richest agricultural family is shuttering a farm the UFW sought to unionize
August 14, 2025 // The nursery has been operating at a significant loss for several years, Oster said, but he did not say for exactly how long or just how much it has lost. It was not immediately clear whether UC Daviswould recognize the farmworkers union once it takes control of the nursery. In a statement, UC Davis spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said the university is grateful for the gift, which includes the Wasco facility combined with a $5-million startup donation.
Op-ed: Is anyone in charge of Los Angeles?
August 12, 2025 // LWithin days, the LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress — whose $3 million budget comes primarily from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Association — filed paperwork to put a citizen’s-veto referendum before voters in 2026. (Plummer is among the small businesspeople listed as the measure’s official proponents.) It would take 92,000 signatures to reach the ballot, but just filing the referendum had an immediate impact: delaying implementation of the law’s first planned pay increase on July 1, to $22.50 per hour. Frustrated by the possibility that years of lobbying could be wiped away with a corporate-backed campaign, organized labor launched a counteroffensive. In June, Unite Here Local 11 — which represents 32,000 workers across Southern California hotels, airports and sports arenas — filed a package of four ballot initiatives.
More Than 150,000 Federal Workers Accepted Trump’s Resignation Incentives
August 6, 2025 // A new government estimate, along with a study by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, provides a long-awaited window into the scale of the departures.
Raven Software Workers Unanimously Vote to Ratify First Contract
August 5, 2025 // The Raven Software workers made headlines in January 2022 when they announced that they were attempting to form a union with the backing of the Communications Workers of America. Though CWA had previously won a union at the indie studio Vodeo Games (now defunct), the Raven Software effort marked the first time that the recent video-game organizing movement tested a AAA company. Though Activision Blizzard declined to voluntarily recognize the group, union organizers ultimately prevailed in a National Labor Relations Board election later that year.
Supporters of Trump’s agency cuts still favor nonpartisan federal workforce, survey shows
July 24, 2025 // In a recent survey, the Partnership for Public Service found that among individuals who approve of the Trump administration’s cuts to federal agencies, there is little support for a politicized federal workforce. The survey results showed that 83% of supporters of the Trump administration’s cuts agreed that having an expert and non-political federal workforce was “critical” to the country’s wellbeing.
Unions don’t deliver for workers
July 11, 2025 // Take the recent UPS layoffs. In August 2023, the Teamsters Union touted its new UPS contract as a historic victory, claiming historic wage increases and increased benefits. Fast forward to January 2024, when UPS announced it was eliminating 12,000 jobs. Just a year later, it said it was cutting its delivery business with Amazon in half by the second half of 2026 and was aiming to shutter 10% of its buildings. Why the cuts? Because the union’s monopoly bargaining power allows it to demand wages that make it tough for companies to stay competitive. When costs climb, even giants like UPS have little choice but to cut jobs or invest less in the future. The UPS saga is a shining example of what the Mercatus report highlights: union power can backfire, leaving workers worse off in the long term.
Amazon asks corporate staff to relocate or quit without severance
June 26, 2025 // The company is encouraging employees to relocate to key hubs, such as Seattle, Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., sometimes requiring them to move across the country. The change comes as the company continues its embrace of artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Andy Jassy even acknowledged that its work with AI will shrink its workforce over time.
S.F. union members arrested after halting City Hall meeting with rowdy protest
June 19, 2025 // About 100 demonstrators chanted loudly, forcing the Board of Supervisors to go on recess about 30 minutes into its 2 p.m. regular meeting. Protesters continued for nearly two hours before police warned them to leave and then started detaining some demonstrators. The board resumed its meeting around 4 p.m. Organized labor groups decried Lurie’s plan to eliminate around 100 filled jobs as well as hundreds of vacant positions — while retaining roughly 33,000 employees. They also object to his plans to slash $185 million in nonprofit and contract funding and impose other austerity measures to close a roughly $800 million deficit. Unions are demanding that the mayor slash more “wasteful” private contracts and reduce what they say is “top-heavy” management while retaining those 100 filled jobs.
Political fights put spotlight on leader of Washington’s largest public employee union
June 13, 2025 // And he didn’t hold back with rhetorical slights against the new governor, calling Ferguson a “pseudo Democrat” at rallies and “Ratfink Robbie Ferguson” on Facebook. The swipes further brightened the exposure of the union’s demands. Yestramski said in a recent interview in the union’s Olympia headquarters that he prefers “adult conversations” to resolve differences, though he realizes what occurred in the legislative session “may have painted a slightly different impression.” But the gravity of the situation demanded a strong retort, he said.