Posts tagged Supreme Court
Democracy in the Workplace Is Under Threat
June 30, 2025 // The National Labor Relations Board, which the NLRA created, initially agreed with the majority-of-a-unit standard. In a 1936 decision involving Chrysler, the board rejected a unionization election in which only 125 out of an eligible 700 workers had voted. While 97 percent of the voting workers supported organizing, the board rightly concluded that a mere 17 percent of workers didn’t represent the views of the majority. The law’s text required that ruling. But the NLRB reversed course within months, giving a minority of workers the power to determine the majority’s future in a case involving newspaper workers. In a separate decision, the board declared that it couldn’t require a majority of workers to vote in favor of unionization, nor could it require the lower bar of a quorum. The NLRB, in the 1930s, defended its rejection of the law’s plain text by saying that, with a majority requirement, “the purpose of the [NLRA] would be thwarted.” But the board itself is doing the thwarting of workers’ rights and workplace democracy.
Op-Ed: Public employees deserve truth from union officials
June 27, 2025 // In 2020, Colorado union officials gained mandatory collective bargaining affecting state employees. Three years ago, they landed compulsory organizing of many county workers. And the following year, Colorado lawmakers granted more favorable rules on how certain municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals interact with and speak about unions. Now, union officials want to fundamentally change the state’s labor landscape once again.
New York State Looks to Take Over Labor Law Enforcement Amidst Uncertainty at the NLRB
June 26, 2025 // With mounting uncertainty about the lack of a quorum and near term future of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or the “Board”), New York State legislators are attempting to usurp the powers delegated to the Board by Congress.
Op-Ed: Public employees deserve truth from union officials
June 24, 2025 // Pueblo’s contract isn’t even the worst offender in Colorado. The Denver Housing Authority’s contract, enacted this year, says that its 300-plus employees must be full, dues-paying members of the union, AFSCME Local 535. If enforced, the requirement could be one of the most egregious violations of public employees’ rights of free speech and association anywhere in the country. With some union officials unaware of — or unwilling to comply with — dettled law, it’s more important than ever for public employees in the state to understand their rights under union representation.
Nearly 1 in 3 Illinois school contracts mislead teachers about fees they owe
June 18, 2025 // Seven years after they were freed from being forced to pay unions, at least 267 of Illinois’ 866 school districts still have “fair share” language in their teachers union contracts. Those contracts are wrong and should be fixed so teachers get the truth about their pay.
Opinion — Medicaid Is A Slush Fund For Labor And The Left
June 10, 2025 // Stripped of this Medicaid-funded, taxpayer-underwritten war chest and forced to support their failed candidates and causes solely through voluntary donations from people who actually agree with them, unions and their pet politicians would face an even bleaker future than the one already confronting them. The law has always intended for Medicaid payments to be made directly and in full to Medicaid providers, but government unions have figured out a way to use it as a slush fund for Left-wing politics. President Trump has the ability to end this scheme by implementing a rule change to uphold the integrity of federal Medicaid laws and stop the diversion of Medicaid funds to unions.
Op-ed: Virginia Must Clarify Its Labor Laws
June 9, 2025 // The ideal outcome for Virginia would be to repeal the Democrats’ 2020 law and return Virginia to being one of the few states that outright prohibit collective bargaining in the public sector. North and South Carolina have for decades, and Utah joined them with a new law signed by Governor Spencer Cox (R.) this year. But with Democrats currently in control of the Virginia General Assembly, a repeal effort would go nowhere. In the meantime, the proposed regulations are needed to make sure local government unions are following the law. Virginia is a right-to-work state with many strong protections for employees in unionized workplaces. Public employees deserve those protections just as much as private employees do.
Whole Foods Union Certified by US in First for Amazon’s Grocer
June 1, 2025 // Employees at the Philadelphia site voted 130 to 100 in January to unionize with the United Food & Commercial Workers union. Whole Foods argued the result should be overturned, alleging the union made promises and provided free car rides to workers that prevented a fair election, and that a ruling by the labor board’s Democratic members deprived the company of its rights. The union has denied wrongdoing.
Op-ed: ‘We win, they lose’ GOP should use Reagan’s approach with unions
May 23, 2025 // In the case of unions, that means fundamentally reforming the current labor model. This doesn’t mean going back to the bad old days, when unions were treated as a criminal conspiracy. But it does mean ending the legal favoritism that allows unions to coerce workers, control businesses and advance their selfish interests at the expense of everyone else. The Republican goal should be to make unions earnestly compete for workers’ support, with neither a monopoly in the workplace nor restrictions on workers’ ability to choose the union that’s best for them. When is the last time Republicans forcefully advanced such a principled vision? Even before the recent backsliding, Republican leaders rarely made the moral case against forced unionization. Sure, they broadly supported policies that would have empowered workers, and most Republicans still do. But with few exceptions, the party tip-toed around the real stakes. If union coercion is wrong, then anyone who loves freedom has a duty to fight it — without apology and without quarter.
Op-ed: Colorado workers should know their rights
May 22, 2025 // With the examples of Pueblo and Denver—and those in other states—in mind, Colorado employees would be wise to educate themselves on their rights under state and federal law regarding union membership and representation. With lawmakers determined to expand union power, it may be up to employees to ensure that union officials are also held accountable to the law.