Posts tagged Union
NC couple, execs stole $20M from union for ritzy trips, meals & salaries, jury finds
June 10, 2026 // Nearly $2 million more in salaries and benefits were paid to others for jobs that did not require them to work, including $1.8 million paid to Kateryna Jones, documents show. She got some of the money while she was dating Newton Jones and still living in Ukraine, they said. The Chapel Hill couple also enjoyed date night meals that totaled over $160,000 and charged shopping trips and other personal expenses to the union, prosecutors said. Over $5 million was spent on “unnecessary and lavish international travel,” including executive meetings held “for no apparent purpose in extravagant hotels” in Paris, Rome and other cities.
Labor Department toughens union transparency rules
June 9, 2026 // The purpose of the changes (and less substantial changes to the LM-2 for unions reporting receipts of $350,000 to $39,999,999) are to carry out the purposes of the LMRDA (and the consensus principle it codified): Ensure union members, prospective union recruits, and the public can appropriately track the use of member dues and compulsory fees required of workers in non-right-to-work states.
Lawmakers Consider Hiking Fees for Filling Prescriptions
June 8, 2026 // In response to that opposition, the bill’s sponsors amended the bill to exempt the “collectively bargained” health plans covering union members. It also does not apply to Medicare or the “self-insured” health plans offered by most large employers, which are exempt from state regulation by federal law. As a result, the bill primarily targets the health plans purchased from insurance companies by small and medium-sized employers – where it will add to premium costs that are already among the highest in the U.S.
PECO union “overwhelmingly” votes to authorize strike as contract negotiations continue
June 2, 2026 // Members of the union representing about 1,600 PECO workers voted Saturday to authorize a strike. The move would give union leaders the power to call a work stoppage if ongoing contract negotiations fail to produce an agreement. A spokesperson tells CBS News Philadelphia the strike was "overwhelmingly" approved with 94% of the votes in favor. More than 1,000 members voted. As of now, there are no plans to walk off the job Saturday.
More transparency for the largest unions
May 31, 2026 // A new rule from the Labor Department will recalibrate the disclosure reports that labor unions are required to file. It’s a welcome update to ensure that union members know how their money is being spent. What will happen in the 2026 midterms? Sign up for Margin of Victory The reason unions have government-mandated disclosure requirements is that they are government-backed monopolies. Labor relations law gives unions exclusive power as the sole bargaining agent for the entire workplace.
Alabama Sherwin-Williams Production Site Workers Win Vote to Eject Boilermakers Union Bosses
May 27, 2026 // Employees at a Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings Group production facility have freed themselves from the unwanted “representation” of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union officials. The workers’ effort was spearheaded by Jacob Miller, who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), seeking a “decertification” election to end the Boilermakers’ exclusive bargaining powers over the workers. Miller’s petition was filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
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.
Unions, businesses urge legislators in opposite directions on independent contractor rules
May 13, 2026 // “New Jersey’s labor department says it may consider some factors in one case but not in another case, so who knows what matters?” said Kim Kavin, a freelance writer long opposed to ABC regulations. “The department says it may consider factors that aren’t listed anywhere.”
Op-ed: George F. Will: It’s graduation time for disappointed little Lenins
May 11, 2026 // Disgruntled Starbucks workers embraced the United Auto Workers union, which they soon despised as too tepid about rectifying all injustices everywhere. Scheiber says the UAW now represents “roughly 100,000 higher-education workers” — graduate students and non-tenure-track faculty. Their numbers and grievances are growing faster than those of autoworkers. Many Starbucks workers agitating for unionization were berating the company for an inadequate commitment to LGBTQ rights. Then, on Oct. 7, 2023, they fell in love with Hamas. One organizer wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with a portrait of Karl Marx. An Apple store employee, who blamed her declining mental health on “the job” and “the stress of unionizing,” became, Scheiber writes, so “desperate” she sold her two $150 tickets to a Beyoncé concert. An employee at a Baltimore-area Apple store: “I had to get rid of Hulu” (a subscription-streaming service).
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.”