Posts tagged North Carolina
Chicago teachers want no school on May Day, testing the city’s mayor and school leaders
April 12, 2026 // “What our students need, and what history teaches us is the only thing that works, is educators, labor unions, and community groups standing together to defend each other and our democracy and demand that the government put our families over their fortunes,” the CTU said in a statement. This week, Macquline King, the newly-named district CEO, said she had no plans to cancel class.
Over 100 Windstream North Carolina Employees Vote to Free Themselves of Unwanted CWA Union
March 18, 2026 // Employees of telecommunications provider Windstream North Carolina LLC have successfully voted Communications Workers of America (CWA) union officials out of power at their workplaces across North Carolina. Windstream worker Grant Diorio kicked off his coworkers’ effort to oust the union by filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January, impacting his work unit of roughly 120 Windstream employees. Diorio filed the petition with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Debate grows as states consider teacher strike bans
March 9, 2026 // Many states are considering new policies affecting teachers’ ability to strike or participate in protests, and education officials and labor advocates continue to debate the legality of teacher strikes. The strikes are banned or heavily restricted in roughly 38 states and Washington, D.C.
Unions oppose a Trump labor nominee over lack of experience, hostility toward bargaining
February 18, 2026 // Last September, Trump nominated Charlton Allen to serve as general counsel for the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Per Allen’s website, he is a conservative lawyer, political consultant and occasional pundit, who served for seven years as a North Carolina industrial commissioner. The FLRA general counsel is responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged unfair labor practices and other disputes between federal agencies and their labor unions. In the year since President Trump returned to office, a backlog of 300 cases has developed, which cannot proceed to the FLRA for consideration without a Senate-confirmed general counsel.
Opinion: Teachers Unions Get Desperate
February 17, 2026 // Antichoice plaintiffs “usually file lawsuits right before families sign up for the program just to be particularly cruel. They know they’ll lose nearly every case, but delaying or enjoining the programs in any way is the last-ditch effort to slow maximum uptake for families,” says Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children. Many suits are striking out. Idaho’s high court just ruled 5-0 in favor of the state choice program. Top courts in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia have upheld choice programs. The U.S. Supreme Court has continued to issue beneficial rulings. Yet the legal threat is real, and unions, often accompanied by local school districts, continue to throw millions at litigation and disruption, forcing states to spend huge amounts to defend against them. Then the unions and the districts claim schools are underfunded.
‘Right to work’ unlikely to change much in Va. this year, union and business leaders agree
January 20, 2026 // Speaking at a Jan. 14 forum sponsored by Advance Arlington, Slaiman said a contentious fight over Virginia’s unionization framework would get in the way of more pressing priorities in a year when Democrats have control of the governorship and both houses of the General Assembly. “We’re not going to disrupt this [legislative] session. We’ve got too much of an agenda,” said Slaiman, whose union local represents 15,000 workers. Addressing right-to-work’s future “will come later,” he said.
Commentary: Right-to-Work States Dominate U-Haul Growth Index
January 12, 2026 // Among the top ten growth states in the U-Haul index, nine have a Right-to-Work law that protects workers from being forced to pay dues to union bosses as a condition of employment. -Among the bottom ten states in the U-Haul index, NONE has a Right-to-Work law. All are forced unionism states. -Of the 25 top ranked cities in the U-Haul Growth Index, 24 are located in Right-to-Work states. The 10 best ranked states in the U-Haul Growth Index are Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Alabama and Georgia. All are Right-to-Work except Washington.
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.
Hollywood Guilds Make Historic Push to Unionize YouTube Content Studio Theorist Media (Exclusive)
November 17, 2025 // A new organizing drive from the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Writers Guild of America West strives to make inroads in the exploding creator economy. The labor groups are attempting to unionize Theorist Media, the digital media production company behind popular YouTube channels like The Game Theorists, The Food Theorists, The Film Theorists and others, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Starbucks workers union planning pickets, rallies through Nov. 2. See in which states
October 27, 2025 // Starbucks, for its part, says it is willing to bargain with the union, which the company says represents about 9,500 of its "partners," or employees. "Workers United only represents around 4% of our partners but chose to walk away from the bargaining table. If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk," corporate spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners," Anderson said. "We’re investing over $500 million to put more partners in stores during busy times. The facts show people like working at Starbucks. Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1 million job applications a year.”