Posts tagged public-health

    News Article ● Labor Unionization Unions

    Harris County becomes first in Texas to allow employees to organize with new ‘consultation policy’

    March 19, 2026 // Harris County commissioners voted 3-1 Thursday to let many county workers choose a labor organization to advocate for workplace policy changes, elevate grievances and make recommendations to Commissioners Court. The "employee consultation policy" does not permit employees to engage in collective bargaining, which state law blocks most government employees in Texas from doing. Government employees in Texas cannot strike.

    AFSME Austin bureaucracy collective bargaining Collective bargaining agreements county commissioners Democrats engineering Fire Fighters Flood control government employees Harris County Housing and community development human resources police Public defender’s office public library public safety workers public-health Republicans San Antonio Strike Texas unionize Veterans services

    Op-ed / Commentary

    Randi Weingarten Appointed to DHS School Safety Advisory Council

    June 23, 2023 // In the fall of 2020, Weingarten denounced calls to reopen schools as “reckless, callous, cruel.” An AFT affiliate in Chicago similarly condemned then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022, who called her efforts to reopen school “rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.”

    AFT Alejandro N. Mayorkas Ben Cline Covid DHS education emergency management Freedom Caucus Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council Lori Lightfoot Mariannette Miller-Meeks NAEP Nation’s Report Card public-health Randi Weingarten Rick Scott safety SCHOOL CLOSURES security