Posts tagged Unionization
North Alabama Area Labor Council encourages Huntsville auto workers to unionize
August 12, 2025 // On Thursday, 220 full-time and part-time manufacturing workers at the International Motors/Navistar powertrain manufacturing plant in Huntsville will be holding an election to determine whether the facility will become unionized under UAW.
This union cut a check to a business watchdog. Weeks later, they were doing its bidding
August 10, 2025 // Between March 2024 and February 2025, the Office and Professional Employees International Union paid out $144,000 to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, also known as Financial Services Stakeholder Action, public records show. After the initial payment landed, PESP began writing blog posts, publishing reports, and hosting events targeting Sorenson Communications and ZP Better Together, both of which are owned by private equity firms, arguing that their workers should unionize through OPEIU. Expand article logo Continue reading Nowhere in the materials published by PESP, however, does the organization disclose that it was paid well over six figures for an “organizing program” by the OPEIU, opening the door to ethics concerns.
New Game Plan: White House and Congress Move to Clarify Student Athlete Unionization Rights
July 31, 2025 // The SCORE bill’s ban is broad. Its key provision says, in part: “no individual may be considered an employee of an institution, a conference, or an interstate intercollegiate athletic association based on the participation of such individual on a varsity sports team or in an intercollegiate athletic competition as a student athlete.” In addition, the bill blocks states from enforcing any law that “governs or regulates the compensation, payment, benefits, employment status, or eligibility of a student athlete (including a prospective student athlete) with respect to participation in intercollegiate athletics.” It specifically blocks any state law that “relates to the right of a student athlete to receive compensation or other payments or benefits directly or indirectly from any institution, associated entity or individual, conference, or interstate intercollegiate athletic association.”
‘The Pitt’ Production Assistants Launch Landmark Unionization Drive (Exclusive)
July 28, 2025 // Production Assistants United claims that a “supermajority” of the show’s production assistants and assistants has signed union authorization cards. That was accomplished, they say, due to guerrilla organizing tactics inspired in part by the successful union drive at Amazon’s Staten Island fulfillment center. For a few weeks, organizers have pitched a tent outside of a parking structure adjacent to the Warner Bros. studio lot where crew members and background actors tend to park. Arriving as early as 4:45 a.m. in the morning and leaving as late as 8 p.m. at night, the group says they’ve struck up conversations with all manner of crew members on The Pitt, who were easily recognizable because they were wearing scrubs (donned by The Pitt workers in case they are caught on camera).
Many radiology program directors see resident unions as ‘problematic’
July 11, 2025 // Of the respondents, 71% indicated they work with trainees who have not yet unionized. Nearly 80% of directors said they felt unions make their job more difficult. More specifically, 71% said unions interfere with their ability to remediate a struggling resident, while another 70% indicated unions change the way directors carry out their roles. Just under 60% expressed concerns with how unions could negatively impact the trainee-faculty relationship, with others cautioning that unions may hinder residents’ willingness to accept constructive feedback. “One respondent specifically stated that unions would ‘increase friction and decrease long-term stability.'
Whatever happened to the effort by workers to unionize KY’s EV battery plant?
July 11, 2025 // The KyPolicy report says pressure from successful UAW bargaining at Louisville’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Ford Assembly Plant, and at Bowling Green’s General Motors Corvette facility has resulted in non-union plants across the state to boost wages. In December, BlueOval said starting wages would increase by between $2.50 and $3.50 per hour to as little as $21 per hour and as much as $32 per hour.
Unions don’t deliver for workers
July 11, 2025 // Take the recent UPS layoffs. In August 2023, the Teamsters Union touted its new UPS contract as a historic victory, claiming historic wage increases and increased benefits. Fast forward to January 2024, when UPS announced it was eliminating 12,000 jobs. Just a year later, it said it was cutting its delivery business with Amazon in half by the second half of 2026 and was aiming to shutter 10% of its buildings. Why the cuts? Because the union’s monopoly bargaining power allows it to demand wages that make it tough for companies to stay competitive. When costs climb, even giants like UPS have little choice but to cut jobs or invest less in the future. The UPS saga is a shining example of what the Mercatus report highlights: union power can backfire, leaving workers worse off in the long term.
Editorial: Unionizing Uber and Lyft drivers may speed up their robotic replacement
July 2, 2025 // Here’s the issue for drivers. Labor talks are playing out as Uber and its competitors are investing heavily in driverless vehicles, just like Tesla. Uber isn’t hiding that future. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi even told The Wall Street Journal this year he expects AVs to gradually overtake human drivers.
Sisters wield power as shareholders to force corporate reforms
July 2, 2025 // The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace this year put forth a proposal to require Ford Motor Co. to stop fighting unionizing efforts at its new battery plants and to work with local residents who would be impacted by the new factories. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accepted Ford's request to remove the proposal, so it never went to a vote. Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary co-filed the request. "But we're still at the table and we're still raising the voices of the local community," Francois said. "We just want the neighbors to be in dialogue with Ford." IASJ, formerly the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investing, was started by congregations of religious in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey in 1975.