Posts tagged Mark Pocan
Pro-labor Republicans push Trump to rescind order busting most federal unions
April 3, 2025 // “This executive order, which ruthlessly strips collective bargaining agreements for over 1 million federal workers, is the most recent attack your administration has levied against our merit-based civil service in the effort to cut the workforce and replace them with political cronies,” they wrote. “While the CSRA does give the president the authority to limit collective bargaining agreements due to national security concerns, the executive order’s direction to terminate mass swaths of federal employee collective bargaining agreements is clearly intended to broadly dismantle the CSRA, which is specifically designed to grant federal employees the right to collective bargaining as a means to resolve workplace issues while maintaining the smooth functioning of government operations.”
Labor’s GOP flirtation heightens Democrats’ 2024 election nerves
June 20, 2024 // In February, the Teamsters made its first major donation to the RNC since 2004 after its president, Sean O'Brien, met with former President Trump the previous month. O'Brien has since requested speaking slots at both the Republican and Democratic conventions. Another sign of a potential shift: The United Auto Workers — a powerful force in battleground Michigan — waited until January to endorse Biden amid tensions over electric vehicles. The Biden administration has enacted policies strengthening unions, with the president also taking the unprecedented step of visiting a UAW picket line last September before winning the group's endorsement.
Senate Democrats offer resolution to let staff organize
June 26, 2023 // Sen. Sherrod Brown and 19 of his Senate colleagues introduced a resolution Thursday that would extend legal protections to staffers who unionize. The group of pro-labor Democrats, plus Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, comes a year after the House adopted a resolution allowing its employees to organize. “Every worker should have a right to organize and have a voice in their workplace — and that is why I have spent my career fighting for the dignity of work,” Brown said in a statement. “With this resolution, we can finally secure the fundamental legal right of U.S. Senate staff to join together as union members to advocate for themselves and have a voice on the job.”
Labor unions expand into legislator offices
January 23, 2023 // “Unionizing staffers in legislative offices makes no sense because it creates more problems than it solves,” says Brigette Herbst, senior organizing director for AFFT and a former state legislative staffer, “How does unionization work with the long and unpredictable hours during a legislative session? How will elected officials handle untrustworthy staffers? Union organizers haven’t answered these important questions.” Labor unions have also turned their focus to legislative staffers at the state level.