Posts tagged NLRA
US union elections declined in 2025 after Trump hobbled labor board
February 11, 2026 // The number of workers participating in union elections dropped by 59,000, a 42% decline compared with the year prior, according to the report from the Center for American Progress. The total number of union elections fell from a 10-year high of 2,124 in 2024 to 1,498 in 2025. The success rate in union elections also dropped to 69.8% in 2025, after rising to 72% in 2023.
Washington Democrats propose collective bargaining for farmworkers
January 21, 2026 // Washington Farm Bureau director of government relations Breanne Elsey told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Jan. 19 that farmworkers are excluded from the federal law for good reasons. Untimely labor disputes would bankrupt farms, she said. “Striking during harvest could threaten the small window of time farmers have to produce their income for the entire year,” she said. SB 6617 would apply to housekeepers and employees of some small businesses, as well as farmworkers. Senate Bill 6045 and House Bill 2409 are confined to collective-bargaining rights for just farmworkers. Those bills are scheduled for initial hearings Jan. 20.
Caregivers pay SEIU dues for no real union benefits
January 15, 2026 // The caregivers’ union doesn’t have the power to bargain with the Department of Health and Human Services over wages or working conditions. Stipends for home caregivers are decided legislatively. In sum, the SEIU can collect dues, but it can’t negotiate better pay and working conditions — the very reason unions typically exist. At best, it can “advocate” for higher wages, something that is more akin to lobbying than bargaining. So, what’s the point of this union? The only real answer is that this is just another partisan power grab to fill the coffers of its preferred political party.
Commentary: NLRB General Counsel Denial Highlights Urgent Need for Labor Law Reform
January 13, 2026 // AFFT filed this case to defend a basic principle: workers must be free to decide whether to support or oppose unionization without coercion, intimidation, or political pressure. Those rights should apply equally, regardless of the political influence or ideology of the organization involved. This case is not just about the DNC or the New Georgia Project. It is about a system that grants unchecked discretion to a single political appointee, leaving workers with no meaningful recourse. That is not how a fair labor system should operate.
Pittsburgh-Area ABARTA Coca-Cola Driver Triumphs in Federal Case Challenging Forced Teamsters Union Membership Demands
January 13, 2026 // Federal labor board orders employer to post notice properly informing employees of their rights and will soon prosecute Teamsters Local 585 union
Two Additional Heavy Equipment Operators Targeted By Operating Engineers Union Bosses File Federal Charges
January 12, 2026 // Workers face unlawful IUOE union bosses’ retaliation measures for remaining employed with nonunion contractor
Courts reject states’ efforts to take over union law enforcement
January 6, 2026 // Over the past two decades, unions have spent much of their political capital fighting for changes to the NLRA and other federal workplace laws. They did this in the hopes that tilting the playing field in their favor would boost the labor movement. They have little to show for those efforts. The New York and California laws show a modified version of that strategy: lobbying friendly states to enact policies the unions cannot get passed at the federal level. The courts are now blocking this overreach.
Opinion: Labor relations group: Big labor Virginia state senator spins anti-right-to-work fables
January 6, 2026 // Right-to-Work is overwhelmingly popular with the commonwealth’s citizens, and states with such laws typically enjoy far faster employment growth and substantially higher cost-of-living-adjusted disposable incomes than forced-dues states.
Workers in North Carolina and California Ask Federal Labor Board to Nix Policy Letting Union Bosses Block Elections
January 6, 2026 // The workers, which include miners employed by The Quartz Corp. in Spruce Pine, NC, and Fresno, CA-based construction materials workers for CalPortland, both backed petitions in late 2025 asking the NLRB to administer votes to remove (or “decertify”) unions from their workplaces. Despite both petitions containing enough signatures to trigger union decertification elections, regional NLRB officials blocked both votes pursuant to the NLRB’s current blocking charge policy. This Biden-era policy permits union officials to stymie the union decertification process simply by filing unproven or unrelated “unfair labor practice” charges at the NLRB alleging employer misconduct. Quartz Corp. employee Blake Davis and CalPortland worker Darrell Dunlap have both submitted Requests for Review to the NLRB in Washington, DC.
States’ substitutes for NLRB falter in court
January 5, 2026 // Troy Nunley, the chief judge in the Eastern District of California, ruled that the bulk of the state statute is in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act and therefore is preempted by federal law. “In some respect, the Board’s inability to fully function due to the lack of quorum shows the NLRA is operating as intended,” wrote Nunley, an Obama appointee. “The Court thus cannot conclude the loss of quorum equates to the NLRB ceding its jurisdiction over any particular matter.”