Posts tagged Pandemic
Opinion: Hochul must shame LIRR unions —by revealing their outrageous strike demands
September 15, 2025 // The agency’s overtime spending regularly stands out by national standards (only periodically rivaled by the MTA’s other big rail outfit, Metro-North, which is stuck operating under the federal law that governs the LIRR). LIRR employees in 2023 made an average of more than $26,000 each in overtime alone.
SAG-AFTRA Confronts a Fran-less Future
August 21, 2025 // But now, with another tough contract negotiation on the horizon, SAG-AFTRA is going to have to push forward without its erstwhile leader from Queens. This time around, Drescher has decided against running for president. In her place, another celebrity, Lord of the Rings and Rudy star Sean Astin, and a rank-and-file performer, New England Local board member Chuck Slavin, are battling it out for the job. The stakes are high, given that the candidates face a darker and more foreboding landscape than the one that even Drescher confronted when she entered office in 2021 during the pandemic.
Commentary: To Harvard and Back with Julie Su
August 18, 2025 // This year, Julie Su, Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of labor, became a resident fellow with Harvard’s Kennedy School, Institute of Politics. The Century Foundation also brought Su on board as a full-time senior fellow. These prestigious institutions seem to have overlooked key events in Su’s long career. Harvard, where Su, a Stanford grad, earned her law degree, hails the Biden nominee as “a nationally recognized workers’ rights and civil rights expert.” As California’s labor commissioner, Su was “widely credited with a renaissance in enforcement and creative approaches to combating wage theft and protecting immigrant workers.” In reality, her experience was a bit more extensive.
Dems have been bleeding working-class support. Now possible 2028 contenders are fighting with unions.
July 24, 2025 // High-profile Democratic governors fighting the Trump administration are also mired in bruising conflicts at home — with allies they’ll likely need to advance their presidential ambitions.
Many radiology program directors see resident unions as ‘problematic’
July 11, 2025 // Of the respondents, 71% indicated they work with trainees who have not yet unionized. Nearly 80% of directors said they felt unions make their job more difficult. More specifically, 71% said unions interfere with their ability to remediate a struggling resident, while another 70% indicated unions change the way directors carry out their roles. Just under 60% expressed concerns with how unions could negatively impact the trainee-faculty relationship, with others cautioning that unions may hinder residents’ willingness to accept constructive feedback. “One respondent specifically stated that unions would ‘increase friction and decrease long-term stability.'
Agencies’ explanations for implementing labor-management EO run a wide gamut
July 8, 2025 // If the main harm the unions are pointing out relates mainly to their own budget problems instead of the rights that they help negotiate for employees, such as working conditions or quick turnarounds for a scheduling perspective or other protections. Their argument seems short sighted and seems to miss the broader point of what the union’s job is.
Unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks UW Health nurses’ unionization, backing Act 10
July 1, 2025 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that UW Health is not legally obligated to recognize its nurses' union or bargain collectively. Act 10, a 2011 law, effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees in Wisconsin, including UW Health nurses. The ruling upholds previous decisions by lower courts and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. UW Health nurses argued the hospital operates like a private entity and should be subject to collective bargaining laws, but the court disagreed.
Amazon asks corporate staff to relocate or quit without severance
June 26, 2025 // The company is encouraging employees to relocate to key hubs, such as Seattle, Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., sometimes requiring them to move across the country. The change comes as the company continues its embrace of artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Andy Jassy even acknowledged that its work with AI will shrink its workforce over time.
Friction builds between Walz, public sector unions on multiple fronts
June 6, 2025 // Possible layoffs, a return-to-office directive and tense contract negotiations are straining Gov. Tim Walz’s relationship with public sector labor unions that represent thousands of state workers. There has been a notable shift in tone given that Walz has delivered many wins to unions since first being elected governor in 2018. The DFLer signed several worker protection measures into law, like paid sick leave. He signed laws enhancing collective bargaining rights and wage theft protections.
Queens immigration nonprofit lays off staff, angering new union
June 1, 2025 // On March 27, Mendoza and other employees on the New York branch of the nonprofit received an email that there would be layoffs and cuts to working hours. Last week, following two months of deliberations, the nonprofit said they would be moving forward with the layoffs, effective at the end of May. The unionized workers, who belong to a local chapter of the United Auto Workers, are fighting the layoffs, believing they are a direct result of their unionizing efforts and subsequent contract.