Posts tagged unions
WATCH: Union urges lawmakers to curb influencers amid daycare fraud coverage
September 28, 2026 // Political & Legislative Director at SEIU 925 Erin Haick sent a Tuesday email to lawmakers obtained by unDivided podcaster Brandi Kruse, raising concerns about the video, and suggesting lawmakers should do what they can to make sure reporters can’t go out “harassing” daycare providers.
Opinion: I liked the idea of unions. Then I joined one at Starbucks.
September 25, 2026 // I was part of a bargaining unit, so I expected to have a say in union matters, but I realized the union wasn't interested in my point of view. Instead, it was there to serve a handful of workers.
Professor Claude? College unions negotiate for protection against AI teachers and evaluators.
September 25, 2026 // Research universities, like Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University, have especially embraced AI as both an area of study and a resource to be mined. The two local schools have hosted notable industry gatherings around innovation, and their respective presidents each tout the tech’s capabilities. “We’ve seen a pretty rapid effort by universities to adopt AI tools, and with, I would say, much more kind of inconsistent thinking and policy development about guardrails and protections for how those AI tools might impact academic work at universities,” said Tyler Bickford, president of Pitt’s faculty union.
What happened to North Hollywood’s Star Garden, the nation’s only unionized strip club
September 24, 2026 // Since the NLRB complaint was filed in 2024, the club has not resumed normal operations with its 17 unionized dancers on an indefinite strike. Without a hearing, it’s uncertain if a union will operate anytime soon in a strip club industry valued at $7.7 billion. The Star Garden owners, Yevgenya “Jenny” Kazaryan and Stepan “Steve” Kazaryan, and their attorneys could not be reached by LA Public Press for comment. Stepan Kazaryan is also the registered owner of Dreams strip club in Wilmington. Other business filings show he owns Pink Diamonds Club in North Hollywood and Burlesque Enterprise Inc.
Commentary: Federal unions owe workers more transparency. Congress can help.
September 24, 2026 // Congress should also ask why so few have and strengthen union accountability by requiring unions to disclose in their filings the total number of workers they claim to represent versus the number of actual members. They should also be required to report election turnout data at all levels: eligible voters, ballots sent and ballots returned — similar to shareholder-vote disclosures. For example, some unions use “delegate” qualification procedures that can insulate national incumbents from direct member voting. As a matter of fair competition, challengers should have the same access to membership contact lists as incumbents, with sufficient time to mount a campaign, with direct member voting as the preferred standard.
Illinois’ new rideshare union law could hurt drivers, passengers
September 23, 2026 // The law could lead to job losses for rideshare drivers if they become more expensive to the companies than emerging self-driving technologies. Companies such as Waymo are already replacing human drivers with autonomous vehicles. In February, Waymo started the process of mapping out the city of Chicago for its fleet of driverless vehicles and announced that “we look forward to serving the city in the future.” While autonomous vehicles haven’t rolled out in Illinois yet, Waymo will be ready if lawmakers approve legislation to allow them to operate.
Teachers unions, not racism, are failing New York City’s black students
September 22, 2026 // The problem is accountability. New York’s government unions fight against being held responsible for their failures at every stage. Tenured teachers can be dismissed only for cause after a formal proceeding before an arbitrator. They ordinarily remain paid during reassignment and receive union-provided legal representation. Seniority rules can force schools to release newer teachers who may be good rather than ineffective veterans who either cannot or will not do their jobs. Excessed teachers can be placed in other district schools rather than removed from the system.
Commentary: Are Unions Rising from the Political Grave?
September 21, 2026 // Here again, however, there may be less than meets the eye. Despite its surprising bipartisan support, the FLCA would raise significant constitutional questions if enacted. By relying on a government-mandated arbitration panel to resolve labor disputes, the law effectively empowers the state to impose contractual terms on private parties—a form of what constitutional lawyers call “state action.” As attorneys Alex MacDonald and Vinnie Vernuccio observe: “[S]tate action opens the door to a slew of constitutional requirements and restrictions, notably to protect rights of free speech and association.”
New York’s union bosses just invented a new way to silence their critics
September 17, 2026 // But read past the press release and you find the real target: the state attorney general now has subpoena power and can seek $1,000 per violation against any person or group, in state or out, whose mailers about a worker's right to leave a union get labeled "impersonation." Unions get their own private right to sue on top of that. I've spent three decades in regulated finance, and I know what an uncapped $1,000-per-item liability schedule does to an organization's willingness to speak. It doesn't punish fraud. It punishes volume.
Government Unions Are Making a Comeback — and Taxpayers Will Pay the Price
September 15, 2026 // Taken together, those same four unions have added back more than 230,000 members since 2024, the Commonwealth Foundation reports. That’s a 3.5 percent jump, and it has wiped out most of what looked like a permanent decline. Two of the four unions, AFSCME and SEIU, now have more members than they did before Janus. Only one union, the NEA, is still losing members, but even that decline has slowed.