Posts tagged Pennsylvania
Report: The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
September 10, 2026 // Union executives are prioritizing recruitment. The fastest-growing category of public sector labor legislation expands collective bargaining into new workplaces. On the strength of these new laws, union executives are slowly replacing their membership losses since 2018. From 2018 to 2025, the country’s four largest government unions report a net decline in membership of 87,919, or 1.3 percent. However, they also report a collective gain of 232,502 members, or 3.5 percent since 2024. This report awards full letter-grade increases to Idaho (now A) and Louisiana (now B) due to their adoption of pro-worker labor reforms this past legislative session. However, the drops in grades—Nebraska (D), Nevada (D), and Rhode Island (F)—are the result of these states prioritizing union executives over workers and enacting laws helping unions recruit, politick, organize, and strike. Thirteen states now have an “A” or “A+” grade—up from twelve in the previous edition of this report—while six states earned an “F”—up from five over the same time period. Overall, the research finds 25 states fall below a “C.”
Local Teamsters and the union’s Massachusetts-based chief at odds in crucial N.H. Senate race
September 9, 2026 // Brown began by talking about his own longtime membership in performing arts and media union SAG-AFTRA, which he leaned on to burnish his worker credentials when running against Warren. “There’s still people who are contributing dues, which I did for decades,” said Brown. “Chris Pappas has never done that. … What has he done for the unions? Like, what has he actually sponsored and passed that helps unions?” O’Brien noted Pappas’s co-sponsorship of the Faster Labor Contracts Act, a key legislative priority of labor unions. Brown and O’Brien both agreed it was “easy” for Pappas to do so, but when O’Brien asked him whether he would support the legislation, the Republican didn’t give a definitive answer, saying he would “learn more about that particular issue.”
Labor Day: Americans Flee Forced-Unionism States and Move to Right-to-Work States
September 6, 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.
Op-Eds Union bosses almost blew the $2.5 billion Nippon deal. Don’t let them sabotage the next contract
August 13, 2026 // In 2025, USW held two significant strikes. One that put nearly 2,000 represented employees out of work for eight months, and another that forced 650 people out of work for five months. The strike likely cost these workers tens of millions collectively in lost wages. It also reported 615 employees earning more than $75,000, with an average total compensation of $107,476. The union paid its own staff more than 10 times what it paid in strike benefits. The terms were strong, as Nippon’s offer included $2.7 billion in capital investment earmarked specifically for USW facilities.
Penn takes graduate worker union to court over eligibility dispute
August 12, 2026 // In March 2024, the NLRB ruled that educational fellowship recipients should be excluded from voting in the unionization election. GET-UP won an appeal the following month which allowed educational fellowship recipients to vote but left their status in the union’s bargaining unit up for future consideration. After the tentative agreement was reached, a Penn spokesperson wrote that the bargaining unit’s scope “was one of the many issues the University and GETUP-UAW resolved through negotiations.” GET-UP members told the DP at the time that the issue remained disputed and that they would continue pushing for the inclusion of “all workers” in the union.
Dissident Philly Port Worker Successfully Defeats ILA Union Attempt to Exclude Him from Federal Case Defending Win at NLRB
July 27, 2026 // The United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a motion to intervene by Stanford Fowler, a longshore worker at the Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington, in a suit between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Local 1694. The successful motion, filed with assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, comes over the objection of union lawyers, who attempted to keep Fowler out of a federal case that arose from his legal victory against that union at the NLRB.
Workers at Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh to unionize after years of pushback from management
July 22, 2026 // Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh provides pet adoption and veterinary services, with locations in Homewood and North Side and a wildlife center in Verona. United Steelworkers, based in Pittsburgh, has grown to represent workers beyond heavy industry, including education, service and health care.
PECO worker strike ends: IBEW Local 614 wins pensions, retirement medical, wage hikes
July 7, 2026 // The new contract guarantees cash balance pension plans, full retirement medical coverage, and significant wage increases for all IBEW Local 614 members, according to the press release. The agreement also allows members to see any doctor for medical certifications, requires 24-hour notice for mandatory overtime in the call center, and doubles upgrade pay for members doing work outside their usual job duties.
Op-ed: Why teachers unions fear, and fib about, new federal program
July 7, 2026 // Perhaps the unions are right to be scared. Anything that introduces competition into the educational landscape threatens their monopoly. When you read between the lines of Weingartner and Pringle’s letter, you can almost hear the death rattle. But in the end, this isn’t about the unions. This is about kids who deserve a high-quality education regardless of their household income or zip code. And anybody who gets between them and their parents would be wise to choose their words more carefully.
PECO workers strike as power outages hit Pennsylvania
July 7, 2026 // Severe storms have caused widespread power outages in Pennsylvania, while over a thousand PECO workers remain on strike for a third day, with negotiations ongoing.