Posts tagged Protest
Union workers protest at Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center
August 19, 2025 // Terminating contracts for VA unions – which have repeatedly opposed significant, bipartisan VA reforms and rewarded bad employees for misconduct – is a huge win for Veterans. Because of this decision, VA staff will spend more time with Veterans, VA facilities can focus on treating Veterans instead of catering to union bosses, and VA can manage its staff according to Veterans’ needs, not union demands. As a result of this move, nearly 1,900 union representatives, who had been collecting government salaries to do union work, have returned to full-time VA work on behalf of Veterans.
Labor unions representing laid off NIOSH, CDC workers to protest in DC next week
May 20, 2025 // The unions are demanding four things, per the release: Full reinstatement of all laid-off employees Restoration of funding to all affected programs An end to “retaliatory and offsetting” layoffs Direct engagement with union leadership before any future restructuring at the federal level
For California’s largest public union, telework poses challenge — and opportunity
April 15, 2025 // SEIU Local 1000’s leaders in recent years have struggled to stem a decline in the percentage of members who pay dues. The group represents roughly 95,000 state workers, which includes accountants, nurses and custodians. Fewer dues-paying members in their ranks means less sway at the bargaining table and with state leaders.
Boston public school teachers reach tentative contract agreement with city
March 20, 2025 // Teachers have been required to be certified in general education, special education and English as a second language. Some were often simultaneously teaching all three types of students in the same classroom. The union president says that this agreement will now increase classroom staffing levels. The next step is that the union members will vote if they want to ratify this new agreement, or they can go back to more bargaining sessions
Unions take their protest of federal layoffs to the US Capitol
March 7, 2025 // They were there to demonstrate against reductions to the federal workforce. Signs included messages such as, “Save the Civil Service, Save the Country” and, “Support the Federal Workforce.” “The skies are crying because what’s happening to our workforce and what’s happening to the missions of our agencies,” said Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. The protest was organized by a coalition of unions, including NTEU, and those who spoke criticized President Donald Trump’s administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce.
No, Virginia, there was no Amazon worker strike
February 13, 2025 // The “protesters” that did appear were likely Teamsters who worked for employers other than Amazon. These bogus holiday season announcements are a long-standing trick by unions. They bank on news outlets being short-staffed and on the lookout for quick, easy stories. Unions attempting, for example, to organize Walmart for several years running in the 00s would announce that major walkouts were planned for the post-Thanksgiving “black Friday” sales. On the actual day, reporters who bothered to follow up would be pointed to protests at a few select locations that had few, if any, actual Walmart employees.
USPS employees rally in Midtown demanding better wages and working conditions
December 2, 2024 // USPS city carrier technician Mike Willits joined his peers in this rally in front of the post office on Speedway and Campbell. Willits and other postal workers said they don't approve of the tentative labor agreement as it stands. They argue the terms don't reflect a significant increase in pay, better working conditions, and more favorable hours. “We do the same route everyday and see the same customers and build relationships,” Willits said.
REI Opens New Store in Ithaca Amid Union Busting Allegations
July 2, 2024 // The rally will feature speeches from New York State Senator Lea Webb, Assembly Member Anna Kelles, Ithaca Common Council Members Kayla Matos and Phoebe Brown, and unionized REI workers. The event aims to draw attention to the difficulties REI workers have faced in negotiating their first contracts. Since 2022, ten REI stores have voted to unionize, including locations in SoHo, New York; Berkeley, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Durham, North Carolina; Maple Grove, Minnesota; Bellingham, Washington; Castleton, Indiana; and Santa Cruz, California. Workers at these stores have cited a desire for better wages, improved working conditions, and greater job security as reasons for unionizing.
OPINION Unionized academic workers go on strike, for what?
June 4, 2024 // The union, which states on its website that it “will not negotiate on behalf of encampment organizers,” has filed multiple complaints against the University of California with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) since the beginning of May, when the university called in law enforcement to break down the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA. By then the initial 30 tents had grown into a massive, self-barricaded site that attracted angry counter-protesters in a violent overnight clash. The union’s complaint listed “workplace demands” that included the “right to opt out of participation in military-funded research,” and the “disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.” The UAW local also complained that a new discipline policy of an “applicable review process” for employees who are arrested or cited was imposed without “notice or opportunity to bargain.” Further, the union wants the university to “make whole” any employees who were reported for criminal activity by paying their civil fines, attorney fees, bail and damage expenses.