Posts tagged New Jersey
Reed & Perrine Lawn Products Workers Escape Union After Fighting Frivolous Union Delay Tactics
April 22, 2026 // After a year-and-a-half delay caused by frivolous union legal tactics, employees at Reed & Perrine Lawn Products (a division of The Andersons, Nasdaq: ANDE) have finally succeeded in removing United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 152 union officials from power at their workplace. Reed & Perrine employee Christine Bradach kicked off the effort among her coworkers to remove the UFCW union in November 2024 when she filed a decertification petition at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bradach received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in filing her petition.
Freelance Busting: The ABC Test Defense
April 22, 2026 // And perhaps most important, according to all of the oral testimony and thousands of written public comments submitted to New Jersey’s Labor Department, there are zero people being unknowingly classified as independent contractors. You can download and read here the eight (yes, only eight out of about 9,500) public comments that individuals supporting the proposed rule change filed. Not a single one of them says the person was unknowingly working as an independent contractor.
WATCH/EXCLUSIVE: Teacher alleges union retaliation in labor dispute
April 21, 2026 // Angela Arancio, a teacher at Middlesex Public School District and an 11-year member of the Middlesex Education Association, said union leadership failed to address issues she raised about inadequate class preparation time and teacher workload in a collective bargaining agreement. According to Arancio, the union took no action after she voiced concerns about the agreement between the union and the district.
Opinion: This is how NJ’s policies hurt our construction workforce
April 20, 2026 // The latest data from the Union Membership and Coverage Database tells a striking story: just 10.7% of New Jersey’s private construction workforce is unionized. That’s a dramatic decline from 15.6% in 2024, 12.2% in 2023, 20.7% in 2022, 26.9% in 2021 and 21.5% in 2020. In fact, in just a few years, union representation in private construction has been cut by more than half. That means nearly nine out of 10 construction workers in New Jersey are now non-union. And nearly 98% of minority-owned construction firms are non-union. Yet state policymakers continue to expand policies that favor union-only labor on public projects — creating a growing disconnect between who actually builds in New Jersey and who is allowed to compete for taxpayer-funded work.
John Coyne: The teachers challenging their unions’ political agenda in court
April 8, 2026 // Wolf won that gubernatorial election and later appointed PSEA President Jerry Oleksiak as his labor secretary. Oleksiak himself embodied another way teachers’ unions advanced their agenda in schools — through “ghost teachers.” Typically in urban school districts, teachers’ unions arranged for certain teachers to leave the classroom and work full-time for the union. The problem? These ghost teachers stayed on district payroll, receiving a taxpayer-backed teachers’ salary, pension, and health benefits. Oleksiak, a former special education teacher, was a ghost teacher for ten years leading up to his appointment by Wolf.
Commentary: Four Lies And A Truth
April 1, 2026 // The New Jersey AFL-CIO dropped some real whoppers in an email to state legislators about independent-contractor policy.
About 200 South Jersey healthcare workers vote to unionize
March 20, 2026 // Health Professionals and Allied Employees, the state’s top healthcare labor union, said about 160 workers at Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice will unionize after a 95-27 vote. The group — which includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and others — said they sought unionization due to unrealistic workloads. In a separate election, registered nurse case managers at Inspira Health voted 22-2 to unionize. The RN case managers, who help set up post-hospital care for patients, are based in Inspira’s medical centers in Vineland, Elmer, and Bridgeton.
Commentary: The Federal Government Just Moved to Restore the Owner-Operator Model – Here Is What Actually Changed, What Did Not, and What You Still Need to Watch
March 16, 2026 // Three times in five years. That is how many times the federal standard governing whether an owner-operator is legally classified as an independent contractor or an employee has fundamentally shifted under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 2021 Trump rule. The 2024 Biden rule. And now, on February 27, 2026, the Department of Labor’s formal proposal to rescind the 2024 rule and return to something close to the 2021 framework. Each time this pendulum swings, the trucking industry produces a wave of celebration or alarm depending on which direction it moved. The industry’s reaction to this latest move has been heavily celebratory — and not without reason. But if you are running a small fleet or operating as an owner-operator, the celebration needs to come with a clear-eyed understanding of what this rule change actually does, what it does not do, and where the real risk to your business model still sits.
NJBIZ Exclusive: NJ voters support gig workers as independent contractors
March 12, 2026 // 75% of New Jersey voters back rideshare, delivery drivers keeping independent contractor status 72% support portable benefits, allowing workers to earn health, dental, vision, retirement benefits while staying independent Support spans Democrats (76%), Independents (71%), Republicans (69%); 84% of app-based workers in favor Poll shows broad understanding of gig economy; preference for flexible, hybrid work models
Commentary: $45 Million, No Answers: NJEA Leadership Still Owes Teachers the Truth
March 11, 2026 // How would you feel if you joined a union and paid $1,400 in dues each and every year, and the union’s president decided to run for governor and used $47 million of your and your fellow teachers’ dues without asking you? And then came in fifth place in the primary? Well, that’s what the NJEA’s president, Sean Spiller, did. How would you feel if $10 million of the $47 million was sent to a little-known firm, AP Consulting, for canvassing operations? No one spends that kind of money on canvassing in a primary. It raises legitimate questions about who authorized those payments, what services were provided, and why such an extraordinary sum was routed through a firm with limited publicly known political field experience.