Posts tagged public sector unions
Editorial Board: America’s veterans deserve better care than government unions provide
December 8, 2025 // The smarter approach would be for Congress to affirm Trump’s decision to strip collective bargaining rights while dispensing with his flimsy national security justification. Consider the legacy of pro-union President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who opposed collective bargaining and strikes for federal employees. As Roosevelt and other pro-union leaders understood in the 1930s, collective bargaining is carried out against an employer. The government’s employer is the public. Allowing unelected labor union bosses to negotiate against the public’s elected representatives to determine how the government gets run is undemocratic.
MAXFORD NELSEN: The Other Education Choice: Freeing Teachers from Monopolistic Unions
November 17, 2025 // Public-sector collective bargaining tends to crowd out the interests of students, families, and taxpayers in education policymaking, but teachers unions’ power comes from subjecting teachers to a monopoly system of workplace restrictions. While individual educators now have the legal right to forgo union membership, state policymakers have many opportunities to improve educators’ ability to exercise that right. To level the playing field and increase teachers unions’ accountability to the public and their own members, policymakers should consider reforming or replacing collective bargaining in public education.
California unions are pouring more money than ever into CalPERS elections. Here’s why
September 23, 2025 // The money is coming from a mix of mostly private sector construction and trade unions that have been urging the $584 billion pension fund to favor union shops in its real estate and construction investments.
WA state workers OK new contract with retroactive pay hikes
September 18, 2025 // Those affected work at 14 community colleges and in nine state agencies. Among them are the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Revenue, the Liquor and Cannabis Board and Department of Agriculture. By law, public sector unions in Washington must approve a new contract by Oct. 1 to be considered by the governor for funding in the ensuing two-year budget. The spending plan Ferguson signed in May funds multiple public employee union contracts with pay hikes of 3% on July 1 and 2% next July. These agreements contain other salary-related changes, including raising the starting wage for state workers to $18 an hour. But last fall, Washington Public Employee Association members voted down their tentative agreement in pursuit of larger wage hikes. They didn’t get them, eventually ratifying an accord on April 3 with pay provisions mirroring those they’d rejected earlier.
Phoenix to Face AZ Supreme Court Scrutiny over Public Records Refusal
September 14, 2025 // Coming just days before Goldwater lawyers argue another important case before justices—one involving the rights to free speech and privacy—this new case, called Goldwater Institute v. Phoenix, involves the Arizona Public Records Act (the state’s version of the Freedom of Information Act). The Institute sought documents from the city concerning its labor negotiations with public sector unions—negotiations that produce contracts that often include illegal subsidies such as “release time” (which was the subject of still another case we won before the Supreme Court). But the city refused to turn over the documents, claiming the records could be kept from the public under the so-called “best interests of the state” exception—a judge-made rule that enables government entities to withhold information if they think turning over certain information would be bad for the “public interest.” There’s a lot wrong with that. For one thing, the city failed to show that disclosing the documents would actually harm the public. Instead, the city’s witnesses simply claimed that disclosing the documents “may result in” the “politicization” of negotiations between the city and the union.
Op-ed: Trump Is Right to Take On the Federal-Worker Unions
September 4, 2025 // Today, only 6 percent of private sector workers are union members. Virtually the only unions that are growing are public sector unions — such as the teachers’ unions. Today, more than one in three government workers in the U.S. belongs to a union. But over 85 percent of those work at the state and local level — not in the federal government. That makes it vital for states to follow President Trump’s lead — along with that of states like Wisconsin — and end collective bargaining for their public employees.
Commentary: The 2025 Labor Power 100 New York’s most influential union chiefs and worker advocates
August 26, 2025 // City & State’s Labor Power 100 highlights the most influential leaders in one of the most politically powerful spheres in New York. The list, researched and written in partnership with journalist Aaron Short, features union chiefs who have scored major victories – new contracts, new legislation, new members – and navigated tough circumstances. It also highlights a number of retirements that have paved the way for new leaders to ascend.
The New Frontline with Siena Rose Podcast: Teacher Freedom Summit
August 6, 2025 //
Trump-appointed judge tosses White House lawsuit against labor unions
July 27, 2025 // Albright also noted that a different federal judge in Kentucky came to the same conclusion on standing back in May. Nevertheless, he wrote that the administration offered “compelling arguments” supporting Trump’s determination that these agencies are primarily engaged in national security work and, therefore, can be exempted from unionization. The White House and AFGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In the aftermath of Trump’s executive order, agencies worked to stop deducting union dues from workers’ paychecks — a critical blow to AFGE’s and other groups’ ability to fund their operations. Unions have moved to set up alternative collections mechanisms but have said in court papers that the administration’s decision will cost them millions of dollars.
Dems have been bleeding working-class support. Now possible 2028 contenders are fighting with unions.
July 24, 2025 // High-profile Democratic governors fighting the Trump administration are also mired in bruising conflicts at home — with allies they’ll likely need to advance their presidential ambitions.