Posts tagged private sector
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.
A ‘War’ on the Civil Service or Controlling a Powerful Union Political Machine?
May 17, 2025 // Fed unions remain unable to strike — enforced by President Reagan’s firing striking air-traffic controllers — so unions became powerful in more subtle ways. A study by the Institute for the American Worker documents how Federal government unionization works today. “Generally, federal employees are not permitted to strike, and their unions are limited in what conditions of employment they may bargain over.” Management rights and other matters “specifically provided” for by federal statute are still not bargainable. “This includes pay, health insurance, retirement, and certain workplace insurance (e.g., workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance), among other benefits.” The study continues,
President Trump is making government accountable again
May 8, 2025 // But the American people would benefit most of all. They need a government that’s more efficient, effective and most of all, accountable — a government that advances the agenda that voters backed at the ballot box. Trump’s reform would help make that vision a reality, making it easier for him and future presidents of both parties to enact their priorities and deliver for voters.
California lost 11,600 net jobs in March, nearly half of new jobs from welfare
May 7, 2025 // California lost a net 11,600 jobs in March as private sector job losses exceeded taxpayer-funded job gains, the plurality of which came from a single welfare program in which Californians are paid minimum wage to care for family members. The California Center for Jobs and the Economy’s analysis for state and employment for March 2025 found the state lost a net 26,800 private sector jobs, while government and taxpayer-funded employment grew by 15,200 jobs.
Podcast Newt Gingrich, Vinnie Vernuccio; Episode 837: Protecting the American Worker
May 5, 2025 // Newt’s guest is Vincent Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker. They discuss the significant labor policy developments and legislative efforts aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in both public and private sectors. Their conversation covers the introduction of the Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act, which seeks to amend the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to ensure greater transparency in financial transactions between unions and labor consultants. Vernuccio also explains the implications of President Trump's executive action, Schedule F, which aims to make certain federal employees at-will to enhance accountability. They also discuss the challenges posed by public sector unions and the potential impact of Senator Josh Hawley's Faster Labor Contracts Act, which could impose arbitration on private sector union negotiations. Vernuccio emphasizes the need for modernizing union models to align with today's workforce demands for flexibility and merit-based advancement.
CA Public Employees and Unions Whining about Returning to the Office 5 Years Later
April 29, 2025 // Gavin Newsom created this mess. He sent state employees home when he locked the state down March 2020 ostensibly over a flu. And he let state employees work from home for 5 years. Many have done well, and are accountable employees, But many more are not, and need supervision and accountability. President Trump’s back-to-the-office order and hiring freeze has elicited a lot of kvetching in D.C., but is designed to suss out the deadwood in the federal government – something Governor Newsom should also be doing, figuratively and literally.
Employee of LAX Foodservice Provider Slams Unite Here Local 11 With Federal Charges Detailing Intimidation, Harassment
April 28, 2025 // Kenia Solano, maintains that union officials and agents have targeted her with harassment, intimidation, and even physical confrontation over her opposition to the union’s control. Solano filed her charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 21 with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys. “Unite Here has been a terrible presence in our workplace. Our contracts are bad and union representatives treat me and anyone who disagrees even a little bit with the union like we are evil,” commented Solano. “The law is supposed to protect my right to disagree with the union and tell my coworkers that we are better off without it, but union bosses have not respected those rights at all and just keep harassing me.”
LETTER: Congress must reject proposed job-killing labor legislation
April 20, 2025 // However, a new threat to Kansas business owners has emerged in the form of a legislative framework that the Institute for the American Worker has dubbed the “PRO Act Lite,” modeled after the failed policies of Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressive lawmakers. While it may come with a new label, the substance remains the same. This proposal would drive up labor costs, stifle economic opportunity, and make it significantly harder for employers to create jobs.
Oregon and Washington workers may soon be able to claim unemployment benefits when they go on strike
April 7, 2025 // Oregon’s measure would make it the first state to provide pay for picketing public employees — who aren’t allowed to strike in most states, let alone receive benefits for it. Washington’s would pay striking private sector workers for up to 12 weeks, starting after at least two weeks on the line.
The push to unionize doctors at Mass General Brigham
April 1, 2025 // “We are not claiming poverty or trying to bemoan our financial status as people who are suffering in the current economy,” he said. “We’re very aware of our position in kind of the socioeconomic hierarchy. That being said, it is really within everyone's interest to have a primary care workforce that has the most talented, engaged, excited, and productive doctors that we can.”