Posts tagged unionize
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)
University of California IT Staff Unionize Amid AI Fears
May 27, 2026 // About 2,100 IT and technical employees across the University of California system voted to join the labor union over concerns about mass layoffs in the tech sector, as well as growing workloads without any added pay.
Clinicians push to unionize amid staffing, burnout concerns
May 25, 2026 // Among the most recent efforts in May are the more than 73% of the 870 nurses at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., who signed cards supporting unionization. The group filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on May 1 and is awaiting an election date. Nurses involved in the effort said they want a stronger voice in decisions affecting staffing, retention and working conditions.
Tucson charter school teachers vote to unionize
May 23, 2026 // CITY charter school network becomes second unionized charter school in Arizona
Nashville council members, baristas press Starbucks on union contract
May 22, 2026 // "Starbucks is actively engaging with the union in good faith and put forward comprehensive proposals that build on Starbucks’ already competitive pay and industry-leading benefits, which includes baristas earning more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits, a new performance incentive of up to $1,200 per year and expanded tipping opportunities," Anderson said. The company has said it intends to bring 2,000 jobs to its Nashville office, set to take up an entire six-story building at Peabody Union just south of Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville, in the next five years. Outside the courthouse, the group spoke of a growing union movement among local employees and urged the company to make good on its hiring promise. Just last week, workers at a Starbucks location in North Nashville voted to unionize.
St. Louis marijuana workers win union vote after two-year ballot fight
May 21, 2026 // Agricultural workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, the federal law that protects most private-sector employees' right to unionize without fear of retaliation. "We agree with the regional [NLRB] director, for the reasons provided in her decision, that none of the workers employed in the classifications at issue here are agricultural laborers under the secondary definition of agriculture," the national board members wrote.
Seattle Art Museum Workers Move to Unionize
May 19, 2026 // Over 100 staff members across departments at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) have announced their intention to unionize in a recent letter to the Director and CEO Scott Stulen and the museum board, urging leadership to voluntarily recognize the union by Wednesday, May 27. Going by Seattle Art Museum Workers United (SAMWU), the employees have affiliated with Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28, which also represents workers at the Tacoma Art Museum, as first reported by the Seattle Times. Dated May 13, the SAMWU letter to the museum was signed by 59 current employees working in visitor experience and memberships, collections care and art handling, curatorial and exhibition projects, events management, institutional giving, and education, among other departments.
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.
Employees of DC Paint-Your-Own Pottery Studio Vote to Unionize
May 14, 2026 // The employees of the Cleveland Park paint-your-own pottery studio All Fired Up have voted to unionize. The staffers began a campaign to formally unionize in early April, and they voted to do so during a National Labor Relations Board election Monday. The decision was unanimous, staffer Toni Lewis tells Washingtonian. “Unionization gives us a formal role in shaping policy and process,” the employees’ organizing committee’s members—who said staffers were inspired by similar efforts at Crumbs and Whiskers cat cafe in Georgetown and Aslin Beer Company—wrote in a statement. “As a small business without HR, we need a way to advocate for our needs.”
WWE Wrestlers To Unionize? Legend Pushes for Strong Response to TKO’s Bold Cost-Cutting
May 14, 2026 // Nash went further by proposing a path forward, pointing to SAG-AFTRA as a model that wrestling talent could realistically pursue, given how closely the production of modern pro wrestling resembles scripted television and film industries that Endeavor Group Holdings already operates within.