Posts tagged Teamsters
Cargill locks out more than 1,700 union workers from Colorado meat plant
May 21, 2026 // The beef plant has skidded to a standstill during a time when consumer complaints about high beef prices are growing. The slaughterhouse in northeast Colorado takes in live cattle and ships out boxed beef, and the union said the plant is pivotal for the local economy. Cargill reported base wages at the plant are $23.50, up from $15.35 in 2018.
The Union You’ve Never Heard Of Is Following A Blueprint You Should Know
May 18, 2026 // In 2021, IATSE members authorized a strike by 98.7%. What followed was four years of increasingly coordinated action across entertainment unions. WGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and the Teamsters built a solidarity coalition that showed up at each other’s picket lines in 2023, during a 148-day WGA strike and a 118-day counterpart for SAG-AFTRA. During contract negotiations, this coalition has been using pattern bargaining, and “wins” by one union become the baseline for those that follow. Each contract raises the floor for the next negotiation, and whether that method is sustainable for the industry isn’t relevant here. What matters is that other unions are watching, and they love to copycat each other.
Commentary: Josh Hawley’s Pro-Union Bill Would Let Washington Write Your Contract
May 16, 2026 // A Hawley-backed bill, known as the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), seems to be picking up steam and may soon pass the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the FLCA is a trifecta of bad public policy: It suffers from constitutional infirmities, revives a corrupt government agency, and takes away the voice of both businesses and workers. Earlier this Congress, Hawley introduced the FLCA in the Senate, alongside one other Republican senator and three Democratic senators; he has since picked up another Republican and 10 more Democrats. Companion legislation in the House has 99 cosponsors, 17 of which are Republican.
Here’s how much money Shawn Fain, other UAW leaders made in 2025
May 15, 2026 // April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union, made $322,045. Sean O'Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, made $443,539. Fain's compensation for the year was the highest of his tenure by about two thousand dollars. In 2023, filings show Fain made $228,872. In 2024, Fain was paid $274,407.
The Union Organizing Boom Has a Number They Don’t Want You to See
May 14, 2026 // The Faster Labor Contracts Act, championed by union-aligned legislators on Capitol Hill, would impose a 90-day bargaining deadline. If no deal is reached, a government-appointed arbitrator writes the contract — and workers do not get to vote on the result. Critics have pointed out that this structure actually incentivizes union negotiators to stall and run out the clock, betting an arbitrator delivers better terms than good-faith bargaining would. Workers get a contract faster. They just lose the right to approve it. The dues keep coming either way.
California’s War on Autonomous Trucking
May 14, 2026 // As structural economic factors push costs for the freight industry and consumers higher, the American public has three options. It can accept higher prices for all transportation services; it can enlarge the labor pool through immigration; or it can embrace new technology that improves transportation productivity and resolves the Baumol dilemma. Becerra, Steyer, and Khanna have followed the path prescribed by FreightWaves’ Fuller, promising to force higher freight costs onto the public. While the Golden State’s coalition politics might require genuflecting to the Teamsters, Californians are bound to notice before long that they’re paying higher prices than people in other states while also lagging behind them technologically.
‘Demanding a voice’: Tri-State workers go on strike, want union recognition
May 12, 2026 // Workers at Batesville Products plan to begin a strike Monday morning after unanimously voting to demand union recognition, according to Teamsters Local 135. The group — including machinists, polishers, and shipping and receiving employees — is organizing with the union amid concerns over workplace conditions, long hours, pay and benefits. Workers say many have been required to work 60-hour weeks for months with little improvement in conditions. Employees requested voluntary recognition from the company April 28, but the request was denied. They then filed for a representation election with the National Labor Relations Board.
Former Amazon Union Leader Who Was Arrested at Met Gala Has No Regrets
May 11, 2026 // Smalls has become a known figure in the labor movement and the subject of an acclaimed documentary, “Union.” His arrest on Monday, however, resulted in a more complicated reaction from the group he once led — the Amazon Labor Union, which is affiliated with the Teamsters. Local union officials effectively disavowed his actions, saying they “were not coordinated with the rank-and-file worker leaders and movement partners currently building a national campaign to take on Amazon.”
Chipotle’s US union dissolves without securing a labor contract
May 7, 2026 // The Teamsters union has forfeited its rare union foothold at a Michigan Chipotle restaurant following more than three years without securing a contract, showing the steep challenges for US unions even at companies where workers voted to organize. In an email last month, a local Teamsters president informed the US National Labor Relations Board that the union “officially withdraws and disclaims interest” in representing Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. employees at the Lansing location — the burrito chain’s first and only unionized US restaurant.
A Federal Court Limits the NLRB’s Power to Force Union Bargaining: What Hospitality Employers Should Know
May 5, 2026 // On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a significant decision in Brown-Forman Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board. The case addresses how the National Labor Relations Board (Board) may impose bargaining orders when employers interfere with union organizing campaigns