Posts tagged mediation
San Francisco Teachers Take Key Step Toward Strike
December 1, 2025 // SFUSD is currently in the second of a two-year budgeting process to curb a massive ongoing deficit. Last year, it slashed $114 million in annual expenses through hundreds of early retirement buyouts, the implementation of a strict staffing model in schools and administrative position reductions. This year, it will need to make another $48 million in cuts, which Superintendent Maria Su has indicated could be even more challenging.
CALIFORNIA: WCCUSD teachers’ strike not inevitable, union says, but sides remain far apart on salary and benefits
November 23, 2025 // The district has said it doesn’t have sufficient funding, citing a budget deficit that has put it at risk of state takeover. The district plans to withdraw $13 million from reserve funds to cover the projected deficit for this school year. The union’s demands include a 10% increase in salary over two years, full medical benefits coverage, and reductions in class sizes. The district initially offered no increase in salary or in the percentage of benefits it pays, but then offered a 2% salary increase and a bump in its health coverage from 80% to 85%, which the union rejected.
UC reaches contract agreement with 21,000 employees, averting a strike
November 10, 2025 // The union was set to strike Nov. 17 and 18 and be joined by more than 60,000 supporters from two additional UC unions, AFSCME 3299 and the California Nurses Assn. The unions said it would have been the largest labor strike in UC history. AFSCME 3299 represents patient care technical workers, custodians, food service employees, security guards, secretaries and other workers at UC hospitals and campuses. UC and UPTE said details of the tentative contract, which union members must ratify, would be released next week. Prior to the agreement, UPTE workers were seeking investments from UC into retention, pay and ensuring safe working conditions to help address a staffing crisis that the union said "threatens patient care, student services, and the research mission at the heart of the UC system."
MINNESOTA: 1,400 U of M workers prepared to strike as students move in
August 18, 2025 // If an agreement is not reached by Tuesday at midnight, a spokesperson for Teamsters Local 320 said workers could go on strike on Wednesday in Duluth and then on Monday in the Twin Cities, just in time for new students to move in on campus.
A ‘War’ on the Civil Service or Controlling a Powerful Union Political Machine?
May 17, 2025 // Fed unions remain unable to strike — enforced by President Reagan’s firing striking air-traffic controllers — so unions became powerful in more subtle ways. A study by the Institute for the American Worker documents how Federal government unionization works today. “Generally, federal employees are not permitted to strike, and their unions are limited in what conditions of employment they may bargain over.” Management rights and other matters “specifically provided” for by federal statute are still not bargainable. “This includes pay, health insurance, retirement, and certain workplace insurance (e.g., workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance), among other benefits.” The study continues,
Federal mediation board calls NJ Transit, engineers’ union to D.C. to try to avert strike
May 13, 2025 // Absent a contract, Congress could intervene in different forms, such as forcing a deal or preventing a work stoppage. If a strike occurs, NJ Transit plans to spend $4 million a day for supplementary bus service and beef up its current routes, but that would help only about 20% of rail riders. Freight railroads and Metro-North riders who use west-of-Hudson service through NJ Transit territory would also be affected.
Podcast Newt Gingrich, Vinnie Vernuccio; Episode 837: Protecting the American Worker
May 5, 2025 // Newt’s guest is Vincent Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker. They discuss the significant labor policy developments and legislative efforts aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in both public and private sectors. Their conversation covers the introduction of the Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act, which seeks to amend the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to ensure greater transparency in financial transactions between unions and labor consultants. Vernuccio also explains the implications of President Trump's executive action, Schedule F, which aims to make certain federal employees at-will to enhance accountability. They also discuss the challenges posed by public sector unions and the potential impact of Senator Josh Hawley's Faster Labor Contracts Act, which could impose arbitration on private sector union negotiations. Vernuccio emphasizes the need for modernizing union models to align with today's workforce demands for flexibility and merit-based advancement.
Federal labor mediation agency cuts staff down to ‘skeleton crew’
March 26, 2025 // The Trump administration is cutting almost the entire workforce at a small, independent agency that handles collective bargaining disputes in the private sector and across the federal workforce. The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service is terminating most of its employees and services by the end of the day Wednesday, according to four employees who spoke to Federal News Network.
Inside The Now-Shuttered Federal Agency Where Employees Lived ‘Like Reigning Kings’
March 20, 2025 // The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) occupied a nine-story office tower on D.C.’s K Street for only 60 employees, many of whom actually worked from home, prior to the pandemic. Its managers had luxury suites with full bathrooms; one manager would often be “in the shower” when she was needed, while another used her bathroom as a cigarette lounge. FMCS recorded its director as being on a years-long business trip to D.C. so he could have all of his meals and living expenses covered by taxpayers, simply for showing up to the office. FMCS is a 230-employee agency that exists to serve as a voluntary mediator between unions and businesses. As an “independent agency,” its director nominally reports to the president, but the agency is so small that in effect, there is no oversight at all
Trump Targets Spending on Labor Union Talks in Latest DOGE Move
March 18, 2025 // President Donald Trump’s administration is mandating federal agencies report how much they spent negotiating labor union contracts for the past year, a sign that collective bargaining agreements could be the next target in a government cost-cutting push. An Office of Personnel Management memo sent Monday directs federal agency heads to report the amount spent on the collective bargaining agreement process, including how much they paid their employees involved in the negotiations, fees for engaging in mediation or arbitration and the fair-market-value of the office space used for the talks.