Posts tagged pay and benefits
Evergreen school employees strike as districts across the Northwest start heading back to class
August 27, 2025 // The union is asking for paraeducators to be paid for the full time they are at school, even if students need assistance after classes end. They’re also asking for release time to do union work, among other benefits. Union representatives said the district has so far been inflexible with their requests as well as bargaining dates.
House food service workers, Democrats stage boycott in fight to keep union jobs
July 24, 2025 // Congressional Labor Caucus co-chairs Reps. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) joined food service employees in front of the Capitol building after final votes Thursday to protest the new vendors’ delay in recognizing the Unite Here Local 23 bargaining unit’s existing agreement. Union members are asking lawmakers, staff and Capitol visitors to boycott six of the new venues: Starbucks, Pakistani food restaurant CHA Street Food, Jimmy John’s, Common Grounds, Java House and PX Tacos.
Powerful NYC teachers union endorses Zohran Mamdani despite radical take on mayoral control of schools
July 10, 2025 // The United Federation of Teachers’ resolution recommending Mamdani’s endorsement applauded his pledge of “revamping mayoral control [of schools] to give more say to educators and parents.” Mamdani’s education platform “supports an end to mayoral control” in favor of “co-governance.”
Bridgeport loses labor dispute over replacement of alleged ballot stuffer
June 26, 2025 // Geter-Pataky was allegedly caught on camera stuffing hundreds of absentee ballots for Bridgeport’s 2023 Democratic primary race between Mayor Joe Ganim and John Gomes into a ballot drop box, sparking multiple investigations, a court-ordered redo of the Democrat primary, and making Bridgeport the national face of voter fraud. Geter-Pataky, who served as vice chair for Bridgeport’s Democratic party and worked for Ganim’s campaign, also worked in Bridgeport City Hall as an “operations specialist,” which involved answering the phones and fielding questions from city departments and the public, according to the labor board’s decision.
Mental health workers go on hunger strike, demanding better pay and benefits
April 14, 2025 // But a few of the striking workers sat quietly under a tent, conserving their energy and mixing electrolyte drinks — their only planned sustenance for five days. Frustrated and feeling unable to get their voices heard after nearly six months of a strike to demand more pay and benefits, these eight therapists were taking their protest to the next level with a five-day hunger strike.
Federal Workers Get Second Musk Buyout Offer
April 2, 2025 // The initiative bears many of the hallmarks of Musk’s “Fork in the Road” offer in January, which allowed federal workers to leave their jobs in February but continue being paid through September. This time the offers are being made agency-by-agency as part of each department’s mandate to reduce the size of its workforce. Deadlines and rules for eligibility differ by department.
White House requires federal agencies to disclose time spent working for unions instead of taxpayers
March 4, 2025 // A Feb. 27 memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to all federal departments and agencies declared they can only authorize official time in amounts that are “reasonable” and that they must “monitor its use to see that it is used efficiently.” They must also submit annual reports to OPM on the amount authorized. Union members traditionally elect a fellow worker to act as their representative for issues like bargaining contracts or dealing with grievances. This person, usually called a “shop steward,” is expected to perform union activities in addition to their regular job. In some cases, these union officials are paid through membership dues and work exclusively on their members’ behalf. The federal government, however, allows the workers to do union stuff full-time while still technically drawing a salary from their official job. The practice is dubbed “official time.”
Op-ed: As unions fight reform, Trump should assert executive power
February 26, 2025 // Unfortunately, for decades, unions and their collective bargaining agreements have hamstrung presidents and the people they’ve chosen to run federal departments and agencies in all the wrong ways. Under a bill President Carter signed in 1978, the president cannot simply reject a proposed union agreement but must go before the Federal Service Impasses Panel, or arbitrator that can make him accept terms he doesn’t want. Also, union agreements prevent incompetent or unethical employees protected by a union from being fired or even having negative notes placed in their files without notice and an opportunity to bring grievance proceedings, where unions will back even the least deserving member to the hilt.
UAW members authorize strike at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis
February 23, 2025 // UAW members at Rolls-Royce voted by 99.5% to authorize a strike, if necessary, with 86% of the membership participating in the vote. The Indianapolis Rolls-Royce complex employs more than 800 UAW members, and is the primary Rolls-Royce facility making aircraft engines for U.S. government contracts.
Costco Increases Pay to Over $30 an Hour for Most Store Workers
January 30, 2025 // Workers at the bottom of the scale will get raises of 50 cents to $20, according to the memo. The changes apply to employees at non-union locations. Costco, which is based in Issaquah, Washington, declined to comment. The company and the union that represents thousands of its workers are in negotiations over a new collective bargaining contract. The current contract is set to expire on Friday, and Costco Teamsters — which represents less than 10% of the company’s roughly 219,000 employees in the US — has voted to authorize a strike, demanding better pay and benefits.