Posts tagged Public Employees
Key labor group mobilizes WI voters in fight for workers’ rights
October 28, 2026 // The union put their message into action over the weekend. Hundreds of union workers rallied and took to the streets for door-to-door canvassing as part of a nationwide “Unions for All” effort. In Milwaukee, healthcare, school, janitorial and security workers mobilized around the election while calling on corporations to stay out of politics and pay what they owe in taxes.
Freedom Foundation: Are California Unions Legally Untouchable?
October 28, 2026 // The Freedom Foundation sued under California’s unfair business practices laws on behalf of employees allegedly harmed by these and other deceptive practices. But the California courts concluded that consumer protection claims arising from these disputes fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), the state agency that oversees public-sector labor disputes. (Those decisions are on appeal, Marsh et al. v. SEIU Local 2015, No. F090824 (Cal. Ct. App., 5th Dist.); Kendrick et al. v. United Domestic Workers, No. C106403 (Cal. Ct. App., 3d Dist.)) So, the Freedom Foundation’s legal team pivoted and filed unfair labor practice charges with PERB.
Op-ed: Other states should copy NC’s model labor policy
October 21, 2026 // In both the public and private sectors, North Carolina protects employees’ right to choose. It gives private employees a right to opt out of union dues. And it protects public employees from having a union contract foisted on them. In effect, it respects choice by preventing coercion. But elsewhere, public policy is moving in a different direction — a direction that sacrifices choice in favor of more union membership. The prime example is a recent proposal by academics at Harvard University, which would create a statewide system of “sectoral bargaining.” Sectoral bargaining is the opposite of choice: It funnels every employee in an industry into a single union, whether an employee voted for the union or not. The proposal’s premise is that unions are automatically good for workers, so workers should automatically be put into unions. Choice is beside the point.
More than 800 city of Portland workers poised to strike
October 21, 2026 // The union represents 800 city workers in largely behind-the-scenes positions, ranging from financial analysts to multimedia specialists to technology staff. CPPW was formed in 2023 and adopted its first two–year contract last year. Its members are currently negotiating over wage increases and layoff protections — a piece of that original contract that both parties had agreed to renegotiate this year. The city has said its final offer for CPPW includes about $9.1 million in new spending, while the union’s would require approximately $19.8 million over the same period.
1,753 Reasons WFSE Should Be Worried
October 12, 2026 // After approving a 2027-29 collective bargaining agreement that included no general wage increase — an outcome WFSE President Mike Yestramski described as “the best we could get” — the pace of member opt outs accelerated. By the end of September, 1,753 WFSE members had exercised their right to opt out of membership and dues through the Freedom Foundation’s Opt Out Today website in 2026. The total puts the organization’s outreach efforts on pace for a record year. As for WFSE, each member who chooses to leave represents a significant financial hit. Union dues are deducted at 1.5 percent of a member’s salary, an average of roughly $1,200 per year.
Kentucky Students Struggle to Read and Do Math as Teachers’ Unions Sit on More Than $22 Million
October 8, 2026 // Since 2018: KEA’s workforce fell 40 percent Direct member benefits fell 32 percent Net assets climbed 198 percent, reaching $12.3 million At the same time, KEA spent 53 percent of its FY2025 budget on staff compensation and benefits. Executive Director Mary Ruble received $254,498, roughly 4.6 times the approximately $55,000 average Kentucky public-school teacher salary used in the report. KEA’s political operation tells another striking story. 96.1 percent of KEPAC political spending went to liberal issue committees or Democratic candidates and party committees. KEA lobbying disclosures also show $150,000 allocated to receptions and events for legislators in 2026 alone.
Ballot Question 2 asks: Should public defenders have the right to unionize?
September 29, 2026 // Question 2 would allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS, to participate in collective bargaining. If they negotiate a contract, CPCS would then be required to request the funding needed for that agreement from the governor within 30 days. The Yes On 2 campaign was organized to help grant public defenders the right to join a union. The campaign’s central argument states: CPCS employees should have the same opportunity to organize and negotiate collectively that many others have.
New York’s union bosses just invented a new way to silence their critics
September 17, 2026 // But read past the press release and you find the real target: the state attorney general now has subpoena power and can seek $1,000 per violation against any person or group, in state or out, whose mailers about a worker's right to leave a union get labeled "impersonation." Unions get their own private right to sue on top of that. I've spent three decades in regulated finance, and I know what an uncapped $1,000-per-item liability schedule does to an organization's willingness to speak. It doesn't punish fraud. It punishes volume.
Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group
September 15, 2026 // "This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker," said Withe. He asserted that the New York law was "copied" from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will "make the same case here." Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Walters, former superintendent of Oklahoma public schools and CEO of Freedom Foundation’s education arm, the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Walters called the New York law an example of "pure censorship and targeting of political opponents by Democrats protecting their union bosses."
Union endorsements cross party lines in Mont. federal races
September 8, 2026 // Democratic candidate Sam Forstag and Republican Aaron Flint — both competing for the 1st Congressional District — signaled they support collective bargaining rights for public and private workers. This position is similar to Montana U.S. Senate candidates independent Seth Bodnar, Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead and Republican Kurt Alme. Forstag, Flint, Bodnar and Alme have union endorsements.