Posts tagged Oklahoma
It Was the First Unionized Apple Store in the U.S. Apple Just Closed It.
June 23, 2026 // The closure was announced in April, and Apple also shuttered two nonunionized stores on Saturday. The union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, noted in filings to the National Labor Relations Board that employees in the nonunion stores had been given the option to take similar positions at nearby stores. But Apple required the Towson workers to apply for jobs the way typical applicants would, without an easy transfer to another location.
Voters reject effort to hike Oklahoma’s minimum wage
June 18, 2026 // Oklahoma's minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. It is also the national minimum wage. "The State Chamber applauds Oklahoma voters for rejecting SQ 832," said Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber. "Tonight, voters chose to protect Oklahoma's economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability."
SQ 832 gets final push from socialists before election
June 17, 2026 // State Question 832 would more than double Oklahoma’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2029 and then continue increasing it every year based on increases in the cost-of-living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco, where it far exceeds Oklahoma norms, particularly in rural communities.
More than 100 Oklahoma lawmakers oppose SQ 832
June 1, 2026 // Under SQ 832, after the minimum wage is more than doubled, the mandate would continue to grow at a rapid annual pace based on increases in the cost of living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco. As a result, while SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.
Report: The diminishing power of teacher unions
May 29, 2026 // The result is A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026. Building on our original study, the authors set out to gauge teacher union strength in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Collectively, the 59 measures—which include 29 new measures that were not in the original report—seek to quantify union strength in five key areas: Resources and Membership; Involvement in Politics; Labor and Bargaining Policies; Policy Wins and Losses; and Perceived Influence, which draws from an original survey examining how stakeholders in each of the 50 states and D.C. perceive teacher union strength today. The states with the strongest teacher unions are Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii. The states with the weakest teacher unions are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Mississippi. (See our interactive table on the report website for the overall rankings alongside the rankings for each of the five areas.)
Unions and billionaires pour cash into SQ 832—and call it ‘compassion’
May 12, 2026 // The National Education Association (NEA), which regularly supports all sorts of left-wing causes, has donated half a million dollars to support SQ 832. This is the same organization that advocated for taxpayer funding of abortion, advised teachers to hide information from parents regarding their students’ sexuality, opposed efforts to protect girls’ sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms from use by the opposite sex, and proposed removing police officers from schools in the name of racial justice. Other financial supporters include the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).
California’s wage experiment offers warning as Oklahoma weighs SQ 832
April 23, 2026 // These outcomes are consistent with broader trends in California, where years of increasing minimum wages have coincided with declining youth employment and rising prices. Similar patterns have emerged in states like Oregon and Washington. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has taken a different path, one that has allowed wages to grow while keeping costs relatively stable, helping position the state in the top 10 in the nation for attracting younger workers. California’s experience should give all Oklahomans pause. What may be a well-intentioned policy doesn’t produce the outcomes anyone wants—fewer hours, fewer opportunities, and higher prices for the very people it is supposed to help.
Oklahoma state Rep. Forrest Bennett to resign as he takes AFL-CIO position
November 18, 2025 // Oklahoma State Representative Forrest Bennett announced he plans to resign from the Oklahoma legislature after being elected president of the Oklahoma State AFL-CIO on Friday.
Declining union membership could be making working-class Americans less happy and more susceptible to drug overdoses
November 6, 2025 // We are continuing to research the connections between union membership and public health. The next question we are working on is whether a decline in union membership can have a multigenerational impact, going beyond the workers employed today and affecting the lives of their children and grandchildren.
DOL Awards $86M for Skilled Trades Training
October 29, 2025 // Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, these grants will provide outcome-based reimbursements to employers for providing training in high-demand and emerging industries that align with President Trump’s Executive Order 14278, Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future, and Executive Order 14629, Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. These priorities are also in line with the goals published in America’s Talent Strategy and America’s AI Action Plan. “President Trump has directed the Labor Department to Make America Skilled Again by providing states with the resources they need to expand on-the-job training opportunities,” said Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.