Posts tagged legislation
WATCH: Union urges lawmakers to curb influencers amid daycare fraud coverage
September 28, 2026 // Political & Legislative Director at SEIU 925 Erin Haick sent a Tuesday email to lawmakers obtained by unDivided podcaster Brandi Kruse, raising concerns about the video, and suggesting lawmakers should do what they can to make sure reporters can’t go out “harassing” daycare providers.
Victory for Louisiana workers and First Amendment rights
September 1, 2026 // In 2018, the Supreme Court settled a fundamental question of constitutional law in Janus v. AFSCME. The Court held, with clarity and conviction, that public employees cannot be compelled to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. This ruling was a massive victory for the First Amendment, affirming that no public servant should be forced to subsidize a private organization’s political agenda against their own will.
Mamdani Clashes With Teachers Union, Citing Fiscal Constraints
August 30, 2026 // Michael Mulgrew, the president of the 200,000-member teachers union, threatened an “all-out war” if Mamdani tried to stop the legislation in a New York Times interview earlier this summer. “It’s always surprising when you see a big rift between the teachers unions and Democratic politicians, especially a pretty far-left Democratic politician,” said Michael Petrilli, president of Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education reform think tank. “Conventional wisdom would say that Democratic politicians try not to get sideways with important parts of their constituency and the teachers unions are such an important base.” The fight has also exposed the realities Mamdani faces now that he is in office to follow through on campaign promises when faced with fiscal constraints.
Don’t Panic: A Skeptic’s Guide to the AI Jobs Doomsday
July 16, 2026 // Overall, US unemployment was 5.9 percent in mid-1979 and 5.3 percent by mid-1989.[25] During this same period the working-age population swelled by 21.5 million, or about 13 percent.[26] So, while some manufacturing jobs were lost, overall unemployment actually declined slightly over that period despite an increase in job seekers. New jobs in new fields were created by automation. Somebody had to operate the machines, build and maintain them, and transport them to foreign countries. This is the nature of automation: It focuses on eliminating the more tedious tasks, freeing up time, labor, and resources for other pursuits.
Op-ed: Union transparency rules are only as strong as their enforcement
July 12, 2026 // Only after Ormond and Bilodeau sued their unions to compel them to follow the law did the agency finally start doing some of that “paperwork.” Last month, the department sent public-sector unions in the state a notice reminding them to follow the law, and it created an apparently new online portal for them to file the required financial reports. The department’s official guidance also said that unions must provide employees with hard copies of the reports and hold a meeting to discuss them.
The House Just Passed a ‘Pro-Worker’ Bill That Takes Power Away From Workers
June 11, 2026 // "Supporters of this bill assure businesses and workers that it is about worker empowerment and efficiency," Walberg said. "I may be misremembering the definition of empowerment, but I can guarantee it does not mean taking away a worker's right to vote on his or her own contract and giving that power to a Washington bureaucrat with no stake in the outcome."
Bill on public-sector union lists clears Iowa House
April 29, 2026 // Senate File 472, passed 56-34, deals with situations that supporters of the measure say would allow unions to avoid recertification elections required under the state’s 2017 collective bargaining law. Under the current law, government employers are required to submit a list of their employees to the Employment Appeal Board (EAB) before recertification votes, where workers in a bargaining unit are asked if they want to continue to be represented by their union before the next contract period. If an employer does not submit a list of their workers to the EAB, the recertification process will not occur and contracts will be negotiated with current union representation.
How a $15 minimum wage will regionally affect a diverse and unequal Virginia
April 28, 2026 // The age-old economic debate over minimum wage has been a sticking point between Republicans and Democrats in the Old Dominion, as Youngkin called the $15 minimum wage proposal a "one-size-fits-all mandate" that "ignores the vast economic and geographic differences," in his veto memo last year. "Implementing an arbitrary $15-per-hour wage mandate may not impact Northern Virginia, where economic conditions lead to historically higher wages, but this approach is detrimental for small businesses across the rest of Virginia, especially in Southwest and Southside," Youngkin wrote.
Labor Department’s reworked joint employer rule restores common sense
April 23, 2026 // The Labor Department came out with a draft rework of its joint employer rule. CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins points to some good fixes but underscores the need for Congress to reform the law instead of leaving decisions to regulators:
Op-ed: A bipartisan bill that would hurt employers and unions
April 12, 2026 // The bill would mandate that workers sometimes be subjected to labor contracts that they never vote for. The idea is to reduce the amount of time it takes between a union being recognized as the collective bargaining agent in a workplace and the enactment of an agreement. The National Labor Relations Act requires recognized unions and employers to negotiate in good faith, but it does not say how long that negotiating may last. In some cases, it can last years.