Posts tagged Politics
United Academic Workers
August 8, 2026 // On campus, the same bloc has changed what a strike is about. In May 2024, UAW Local 4811 called a strike against the University of California over the university’s handling of pro-Palestinian encampments, demanding divestment from weapons manufacturers, amnesty for arrested protesters, and a right for researchers to opt out of military-tied funding. UC warned that the precedent would expose every public employer in California to work stoppages “advancing political and/or social viewpoints.” The UC contract ratified this March carried politics into the agreement itself, featuring a $400,000 legal fund for international workers and a commitment to “non-collaboration with ICE.” The bargaining committee described the deal as having “compelled management to side with workers and not with Trump.”
Illinois Federation of Teachers: 7 things the union doesn’t want teachers to know
August 4, 2026 // IFT represents educators in more than 200 districts across Illinois. But teachers’ zip codes dictate how much support they actually get from the union.
Massachusetts Chooses Literacy Over Union Politics
July 6, 2026 // For years, the measure faced strong opposition from unions, particularly the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), which argued that it would infringe on teacher autonomy. The state’s teachers’ unions are among the most politically powerful in the country. While union membership has declined in many states, available public figures show a stable union presence in Massachusetts. But even that power couldn’t outweigh the pressing need for reading reform. Massachusetts students have traditionally been among the top scorers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, even as national scores have declined. But the state’s lead has been driven by wealthy students, while poorer students have seen major declines, barely edging out their peers in other states. Taking demographics into account, Massachusetts has fallen behind underdogs like Louisiana and Mississippi, whose disadvantaged students have seen comparatively greater improvements. Such results look especially bad for a state that touts its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Commentary: Two huge California unions clash over money, political clout this election season
June 12, 2026 // This year’s race for governor is one arena for that rivalry. Service Employees International Union, the parent of SEIU-UHW, is backing former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the leading Democrat. The CTA has supported billionaire Tom Steyer, who has repeatedly pledged to pursue one of the teachers’ holy grails, removing Prop. 13’s property tax limits on commercial property, which would generate more money for schools. The two unions also are at odds over details in the state budget, such as financing preschool programs. The state Senate’s version of the budget would shift preschool support into the Prop. 98 segment of the budget, thus freeing up money that could go to health care. CTA sees that as a raid on school funds.
‘Blue Power’ and the Rise of Police Union Politics
April 18, 2026 // "Everybody else can indulge in politics—every black group, every political party group, every church group," groused Carl Parsell, then president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, in 1969. "Why are police officers so different?" The question goes to the heart of Stuart Schrader's Blue Power, a new book charting how police unions accreted and cemented power in the decades following Parsell's query. It's a ripe subject for review: Police officers' savvy use of public sector unions and lobbying to largely immunize themselves from oversight is one of the greatest political coups in recent American history. In under four decades, police unions evolved from beer-drinking clubs to organized bargaining units to potent political forces at the local, state, and national levels.
Op-ed: Labor ‘Wins When They Run Union Members For Office’
March 30, 2026 // Today, less than 10% of the Nation’s voters are in a Union - down from more than 30% in the 1960s when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saw the writing on the wall and decried “Right-To-Work” as a false slogan meant to eviscerate Labor Unions. And yet right now, the percentage of candidates we’re trying to send to Congress who also happen to be Union Members is nowhere close to 10%. The CWCP took the trouble to identify all Congressional Candidates between 2010 and 2022 and found that just 5% have been Union Members.
Op-ed: Government unions put politics before workers
January 3, 2026 // Unions can sidestep PAC contribution limits and disclosure rules by setting up 527 organizations or super PACs. They can avoid accountability by transferring funds through multiple intermediaries, thereby obscuring the source and any direct association with the union. The result is a shell game that gives the illusion of independent political action. Despite member-facing claims that dues cannot be used for politics, Department of Labor filings and Federal Election Commission reports tell a different story. Union executives frequently use workers’ dues to further political agendas. Often, the money funds a litany of leftist causes, including abortion, “defund the police” advocacy and opposing school choice and, in cases like Mr. Spiller’s, quixotic Democratic campaigns. (About 99% of union-funded candidates are Democrats.)
Union support for immigration protests proves workers need freedom
December 4, 2025 // Yet while union leaders are fighting the president, union members are divided. More than 40% voted for Mr. Trump in November, and union members are increasingly a key part of Republican and Democratic coalitions. Yet even in cases where workers lean to the right, unions use their dues to fund liberal causes that have little to do with their members’ interests, including nationwide protests. Unions have heavily spent their members’ money to bus workers to protests, buy anti-Trump placards and foment disruption on city streets. Even when unions have organized press conferences to denounce the arrest of the SEIU California president, it cost money they took from their members, many of whom support Mr. Trump and his immigration crackdown
The Absurdity of the Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union
December 3, 2025 // Membership training for the National Education Association (NEA), America’s largest teachers’ union, makes the organization’s priorities unmistakably clear. Defending Education, a watchdog group, recently obtained pre-attendance and participant materials for the NEA’s training session, “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice,” which begins today. The documents, considered alongside other union programming, reveal the NEA’s fixation on identity politics.
Unions spend big on politics — often at the expense of their members
December 2, 2025 // “When I signed my union membership card, I did not check the back saying I wanted to contribute to the union political action committee,” writes Marie Dupont, a teacher and NJEA member, in The Wall Street Journal. “That was a contract stating my dues wouldn’t go to the union political apparatus, but a handful of insiders ignored that choice and broke that trust.” NJEA funneled general funds through Garden State Forward, Working New Jersey, and Protecting Our Democracy — all election-focused organizations that not only backed Spiller but also were headed by the NJEA president. These questionable activities landed NJEA in court with a lawsuit alleging that the union misled its members, including Dupont, who is a lead plaintiff.