Posts tagged private-sector employees
WA farmworker union bill doesn’t make it through Legislature
February 22, 2026 // Tuesday, Feb. 17, was the cutoff for bills to be voted out of the chamber — the Senate or House of Representatives — where they originated. The bill introduced by state Sen. Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle, would have given farmworkers a legal framework to engage in collective bargaining with their employers. The bill made it through the first round of Senate committees but not to a floor vote that would have advanced it.
13 Republicans Vote to Nullify Donald Trump’s Executive Order
December 11, 2025 // Democratic Representative Jared Golden, who led the bill, forced a vote on it by using a mechanism known as a discharge petition. The Congressional procedure means lawmakers can force a vote on a piece of legislation against the wishes of the leadership on the condition that it has majority support in the House.
MICHIGAN: SEIU gains power over 32,000 workers with 4,200 votes
October 30, 2025 // This is the second time in recent decades that the SEIU has installed its dues skim, which takes money from people who receive state stipends to care for someone else, usually a family member. It did so after receiving a majority vote from a tiny fraction of those it purports to represent before state officials. There are 32,000 home health care providers in the Michigan. Only 5,527 valid ballots were cast on the matter of unionization, with 4,205 votes in favor. Another 1,502 providers voted against the effort, according to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.
LMU faculty union calls strike vote after university says it has ‘religious exemption’ from organized labor
September 29, 2025 // Untenured faculty at Loyola Marymount University launched an unfair labor practice strike authorization vote this week following the school’s announcement that it will no longer recognize or bargain with the faculty union for a first contract. The union had been negotiating for a contract with LMU’s administration for about 10 months. Then, in mid-September, campus leaders announced that LMU is invoking a religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Board’s jurisdiction. The board oversees unionization efforts and protects the rights of private sector employees
Op-ed: Organized Labor Pushes Blue States to Protect Private University Student Workers
September 2, 2025 // Without a quorum at the NLRB, state legislation that codifies collective bargaining for private-sector employees may be key to preserving workers’ rights.
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
May 30, 2025 // Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state’s. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.