Posts tagged unionize
Micheal Alcorn: What the new NLRB majority should do for workers like me
September 8, 2026 // Federal law guarantees workers the ability to hold elections, both to unionize and to remove unions through decertification. But under the Biden administration, the NLRB handed union officials the power to delay decertification elections. All a union has to do is file a charge alleging the employer violated federal law somewhere along the way, and the vote stops in its tracks. The workers’ right to a decertification election is simply taken away. Workers who signed their names asking for the vote are made to watch as their petition sits idle. Meanwhile, the blocking charge winds through investigation and litigation — a process that can drag on for years. The union that workers wanted to remove stays in place the entire time.
Clashes Cloud Shawn Fain’s Re-election Bid at U.A.W.
August 31, 2026 // At a February 2024 meeting, the board voted to curtail the responsibilities of Margaret Mock, the union’s secretary-treasurer, after Mr. Fain accused her of obstructing the union’s work. Ms. Mock said Mr. Fain was retaliating against her for refusing to authorize some expenses. In May 2024, Mr. Fain removed Rich Boyer, a vice president, from oversight of relations with Stellantis, saying Mr. Boyer had made unauthorized concessions in negotiations. Mr. Boyer said Mr. Fain was retaliating against him for declining to intervene in a workers’ compensation claim by the sister of Mr. Fain’s fiancée, or to approve a cash bonus that would have benefited his fiancée. Mr. Boyer and Ms. Mock had supported Mr. Fain’s first run to lead the union. This year, Mr. Boyer is among five candidates running to replace Mr. Fain, with Ms. Mock on his slate.
Commentary: And Now, Chicago
August 28, 2026 // These “core services” bills are yet another variation on trying to achieve the goals that unionists detailed in 2018, when they called for “admittedly radically different” policies to try and shift entire industries into unionizable employee status. You don’t have to be a genius to anticipate that more “core services” bills are about to pop up in more cities soon.
Publishing’s ‘Hot Labor Summer’
August 26, 2026 // HWC organizers told PW they had been organizing on and off since 2022 and decided to go public this April. Something was in the air. Weeks earlier, employees at Catapult Book Group had launched their own union, and after HWC, staffers at University of Chicago Press and Dark Horse Comics announced union drives in quick succession. HWC, the Catapult Workers Collective, and the University of Chicago Press Workers Guild all won their union elections, while Dark Horse Workers United received voluntary recognition from management. In each union’s public statements, employees expressed strikingly similar reasons for organizing: inadequate pay, large workloads, and limited potential for advancement. They all cited, in their own words, what HBG organizer Julia DeVarti, an associate editor at Little, Brown, called publishing’s “passion tax”—workers’ tendency to “be exploited for working in an industry we love.”
Oregon State University objects to women’s basketball team’s petition to unionize
August 25, 2026 // Leaders at Oregon State University told the state employment relations board Monday they object to an effort by its women’s basketball team to unionize, arguing that the players are not employees and therefore cannot legally create a bargaining unit.
Henderson police captains turn to state board after city dampens bid to unionize
August 25, 2026 // “Without the police captains as members of management, the City’s command team would be a team of three and make it nearly impossible to run a police department of roughly 700 sworn officers,” city officials wrote.
Samuel Adams Brewery Workers Declare Intent to Unionize
August 19, 2026 // The bulk of Samuel Adams beer is produced at company-owned breweries in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, the latter of which is not unionized. The Ohio location, however, inherited union workers when Boston Beer acquired the facility from Hudepohl-Schoenling in 1997. Organizers claim that the Boston Beer Company has had an adversarial relationship with unions. In February 2025, Teamsters Local 1199 filed unfair labor practice charges against the brewing juggernaut, claiming that newly recruited workers weren't being offered the same raises and working conditions as their senior counterparts.
Baltimore museum workers’ union push dissolves
August 7, 2026 // Teamsters Local 570 disclaimed its interest in representing Baltimore Museum of Industry workers in February 2026. The union lost support roughly a year after workers voted 14-8 to join in January 2025.
ABC News Digital Staffers Unionize Under WGA East Amid FCC Threats To Network
August 6, 2026 // Staffers at ABC News’ digital outlets have unionized under the Writers Guild of America East. Wgae said Wednesday that it sealed the deal with the network to rep employees of ABCNews.com and ABC Network News’ Social Media Platforms. ABC News Digital’s roughly 50-member bargaining team voted unanimously to set WGA East as its collective bargaining rep. The unit includes digital reporters, editors and video producers and social media producers who contribute to the content and operation of ABC’s online entities
Independent union files for recognition in Clovis Unified over CTA-backed group
August 6, 2026 // For years, the Association of Clovis Educators (ACE), backed by the California Teachers Association, and the unaffiliated Independent Clovis Unified Educators (ICUE) have sought to represent teachers in the district. Clovis Unified is California’s largest school district without a teachers union but could become the state’s largest independent union. The unaffiliated ICUE reportedly collected more than 50% of signatures from more than 2,000 teachers in Clovis Unified, The Bee reported. The group filed a union petition with California’s Public Employment Relations Board, a feat it nearly reached last year, according to The Bee. “Teachers are realizing, ‘It’s ACE or ICUE,’ ” Erin Dieterle Garcia, a founding teacher of ICUE, told EdSource in 2025 when ICUE was less than 75 signatures away from being able to file the union petition.