Posts tagged union members
Court Victory Vindicates Union Members and Exposes Years of Government Neglect
September 9, 2026 // Union leaders routinely demand transparency from employers, corporations, government agencies, and taxpayers. They should be held to the same standard themselves. Transparency is not anti-union. It is pro-worker. This outcome demonstrates an important lesson for policymakers. Too often, government responds to problems by creating new laws, regulations, and mandates. But many of Connecticut’s challenges stem not from insufficient laws, but from the failure to enforce existing ones. The courts have now confirmed what Yankee Institute, union members, and transparency advocates have argued from the beginning: Connecticut’s financial disclosure requirements are real, they are enforceable, and union officials must comply with them.
Opinion: California’s unions have built a $1B taxpayer-funded machine
August 31, 2026 // One group, more than any other, has cashed in on this arrangement: California’s public-sector unions. For them, higher taxes are good business. More taxes means more state workers, which means more union members, more dues, and more power for union bosses. The union bosses, in turn, keep the dollars flowing, agitating for more tax hikes, more spending, and more state workers. How powerful are California’s public-sector unions? In the calendar or fiscal year ending in 2024, 10 of the largest California-based unions with public-sector members collectively raked in more than $1 billion in dues and fees.
COLUMN: It’s a mistake to support Faster Labor Contracts Act
July 1, 2026 // The Club for Growth, one of the most influential conservative scorecards in Washington, has issued a formal “Key Vote Alert” urging all representatives and senators to vote no on the FLCA and announced the vote will be included in its 2026 congressional scorecard. For the seven House Republicans who signed the discharge petition — Riley Moore, of West Virginia; Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler, of New York; Don Bacon, of Nebraska; Max Miller, of Ohio; and Rob Bresnahan and Brian Fitzpatrick, of Pennsylvania — a vote for this bill is now on permanent record as a vote against economic freedom. The Wall Street Journal editorial board was blunt in its assessment, calling these members “rubber stamps for labor bosses who are allies of the Democratic Party” and describing their support as the latest sign of Republican midterm panic.
Chair Cassidy Exposes UAW Boss for Workplace Retaliation, Abusing Members’ Trust
January 19, 2026 // U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, slammed United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain for engaging in workplace retaliation to advance his personal agenda at the expense of union members. According to a court-appointed Monitor, President Fain’s office led a retaliation campaign against Secretary Treasurer Margaret Mock and Vice President Rich Boyer—officers UAW members elected in their first-ever direct election of International Executive Board (IEB) officers. As a result, the two officers lost their departmental oversight, and Mock was relieved of her two board positions. The Monitor concluded that Mock was a victim of retaliation for instituting strict policies governing expenses.
Union Cronies Wanted: Goldwater Fights University of Rhode Island’s Illegal Hiring Preferences
November 25, 2025 // The University of Rhode Island has a policy of giving “preferential consideration” to National Education Association Rhode Island union members in its hiring process. Under the policy, nonunion applicants are only considered for jobs if a position cannot be filled by a union member. That’s unconstitutional—conditioning public employment on union membership violates prospective employees’ First Amendment rights. On Thursday, the Goldwater Institute and its American Freedom Network attorney Kevin McCaffrey filed a lawsuit against the university to vindicate Nicole’s First Amendment rights.
Commentary: Labor strikes add to Harris union headache after Teamsters snub
September 23, 2024 // The announcement laid bare what could be a major liability for Harris ahead of the election. She is supported by most labor leaders, but rank-and-file members could deny her the presidency if they show up instead for Trump. But Harris also has a second emerging labor headache: Several unions are considering strikes, threatening to upend supply chains weeks out from the November election. Last Friday, more than 30,000 Boeing workers walked off the job, and dockworkers at ports along the Gulf and East coasts are threatening their own strike next month. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain similarly announced on Tuesday his organization will hold strike authorization votes against auto manufacturer Stellantis.
Commentary: For Once, Trump Can Legitimately Argue an Elite Cabal Cheated Him of a Real Win
September 23, 2024 // Keep in mind, the Trump campaign already gave the union an unprecedented gift: Teamsters president Sean O’Brien gave the closing address on the first night of the Republican National Convention, serving up a 17-minute speech that spent a lot of time bragging about how effective the Teamsters are, denounced corporations for “economic terrorism,” and praised Missouri senator Josh Hawley for changing his position to oppose national “right to work” legislation. (Dominic Pino reminds us what the Teamsters Union actually is.) My Three Martini Lunch podcast co-host Greg Corombos and I spent the first segment on Tuesday discussing the rumors that the Teamsters were going to betray Trump and endorse Harris. Trump dodged the worst-case scenario, but . . . based on that poll, he earned the Teamsters endorsement, and the leadership of the union wouldn’t give it to him. A non-endorsement is a tie that really should have been a Trump win.
Union Members Offered $100 To Attend Rally for Dem Rep. Susan Wild, Leaked Text Message Shows
September 23, 2024 // An official with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers offered the stipend to union members to attend a "Labor Rally/Canvass Launch" on Sept. 7 in Allentown, the message shows. "Wear your Union Colors and there will be a $100 stipend for those that would like to participate," wrote Randy Eberly, the secretary treasurer of the local chapter of the bricklayers union. He signed off the message with, "In Union Solidarity."
Commentary: The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
December 30, 2023 // Work is already drying up for those lower-end actors for other reasons. The move to streaming series has resulted in TV series having shorter seasons. SAG, in short, is likely to start losing members as work for extras and bit part players simply dries up and people drop out of the profession. On the flipside, this will mean Hollywood will have need of even more computer nerds – animation specialists, motion capture technicians, computer color and lighting specialists and so on. So, Hollywood will be employing more people in other areas. Given the technical skill levels required these may be better-paying jobs than the acting ones. But they almost certainly won’t be actors’ union members.
Ohio: State of the Labor Unions
September 6, 2022 // The union membership rate in 2021 of public-sector workers (33.9%) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (6.1%). The highest unionization rates were among workers in education, training, and library occupations (34.6%) and protective service occupations (33.3%).