Posts tagged racial equity
Michael Watson: Big ESG’s Big Partner: Big Labor
April 20, 2025 // Unions’ principal interest in the ESG activism movement is on the “S” or “social” prong of the acronym. Both unions themselves, like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and critics of unions, like the Institute for the American Worker, will argue that Big Labor views ESG as a category for advancing union organizing and other core union priorities. Proxy Preview shows unions and union-aligned groups (like city and state pension funds and the largely union-owned and union-controlled Amalgamated Bank) pushing shareholder resolutions demanding that companies “adopt a noninterference policy respecting freedom of association” or “respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining”—euphemisms for neutrality in union organizing. Under a neutrality agreement, the employer agrees not to present its views on the potential consequences of union organizing to employees, and it may agree not to confirm union majority support by a government-supervised secret-ballot election, instead using public union-card signatures (known as “card check”).
The Teamsters’ Trojan Horse
April 16, 2025 // Hawley may believe that Sean O’Brien and his Teamsters Union speak for a new faction of a political coalition he hopes to one day lead. But in an era when fewer than 6 percent of private-industry workers are unionized, O’Brien does not. For that reason, organized labor comfortably lives in the house of the political left — no matter what rhetorical blandishments union bosses like O’Brien contribute in Republican Party meetings, no matter what chump change union PACs give Republicans like Hawley who abandon the party’s traditional labor policies, and no matter what union members like the majority-pro-Trump Teamsters might want their dues to do.
Kamala-Backed Dockworkers Union Once Walked Off Job To Protest Diversity Hiring
October 11, 2024 // “The absolute control of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) over hiring in the Port for over 60 years has not only led to a lack of diversity and inclusion in waterfront employment, but also to the perpetuation of criminality and corruption,” the Commission said in 2020. “For far too long, well-deserving residents of the Port’s surrounding communities were systematically denied the opportunity to work on the waterfront. Meanwhile, those who are connected to union leadership or organized crime figures are rewarded with high paying, low-show or no-work special compensation packages.”
Portland teachers use strike to demand racial equity trainings as schools stay closed
November 15, 2023 // Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos ripped the teachers unions in a statement to the Washington Examiner, saying, "Big school unions love closing schools." "They’re holding nearly 50,000 kids hostage to their radical demands, and families across Portland are paying the price," she said. "This is on top of Oregon recently removing basic math and reading competency requirements to graduate high school. It’s hard to argue kids are getting a great education there, and it’s a shame parents in Portland who want better for their kids can’t 'strike' themselves and take their kids out of the government schools."
Seattle workers rally for new contract, express outrage over city proposal
September 21, 2023 // Cat Hernandez, a Seattle Dispatcher’s Guild member, highlighted the city’s vocal commitment to equity, race and social justice, challenging city leaders to uphold those stated values in giving city employees a living wage. Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda attended the rally in support of the workers, stressing to the crowd they were not only fighting for fair wages and improved working conditions but also for the city to address its housing problem, affordability and the climate crisis.
Op-ed: Small Business Administration should fight for entrepreneurs, not unions
June 24, 2022 // Nonetheless, a recent Freedom Foundation analysis of SBA’s PPP loan database identified 223 loans totaling $36.1 million made to labor unions and related organizations between March 2020 and March 2021 that, as mostly 501(c)(5) nonprofit groups, were not eligible to participate in the program. The recipient list included a dozen teachers unions and advocacy groups, such as the Michigan Education Association and the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, ironically among the fiercest champions of lockdown policies, the effects of which PPP funds were intended to alleviate. Alabama State Employees Association, Maryland Public Employees Council, Alaska AFL-CIO, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Isabel Guzman, Small Business Committee,