Posts tagged voluntary recognition
Federal labor official schedules union elections at West Allis, Madison mental health clinics
April 20, 2026 // In the April 14 order, Regional Director Jennifer A. Hadsall rejected Rogers’ position that the election should include all 13 Wisconsin Rogers locations. Hadsall instead directed elections at the West Allis and Madison clinics, where a majority of employees had signed up with the National Union of Healthcare Workers, according to the union. Union supporters at the Wisconsin clinics have said they decided to seek union representation in response to increased caseloads, changes in how employee productivity was measured and a reduction in individual time that therapists and other providers could spend with patients.
Union Effort at New York Transit Museum Heads to a Vote
March 17, 2026 // Museum workers first announced plans to unionize in early February, a decision they say was driven by concerns over job insecurity, unfair compensation, a lack of transparency around managerial decision-making, and isolation between workers in separate departments. The museum management’s decision to deny voluntary recognition marked a shift in its response toward unions at the institution: Last year, when three dozen sales associates working in the Transit Museum gift shop unionized through the Transport Workers Union 100, museum management opted to recognize the union voluntarily, allowing those workers to move forward without an NLRB election.
US union elections declined in 2025 after Trump hobbled labor board
February 11, 2026 // The number of workers participating in union elections dropped by 59,000, a 42% decline compared with the year prior, according to the report from the Center for American Progress. The total number of union elections fell from a 10-year high of 2,124 in 2024 to 1,498 in 2025. The success rate in union elections also dropped to 69.8% in 2025, after rising to 72% in 2023.
Cayuga Medical Center nurses are unionizing, pushing for hospital recognition
December 11, 2025 // The union is asking hospital management for voluntary recognition, which would mean the nurses wouldn’t need to hold an election to finish establishing the union and start bargaining their first contract. However, when reached for comment, a hospital representative did not say that Cayuga Medical Center would provide that recognition. Instead, they said Cayuga Medical Center respected nurses' rights to hold a vote on unionization. “We fully respect their right to pursue a secret ballot vote following National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules,” the hospital said in a statement.
Suntrapp workers formally unionize with owner’s voluntary recognition
December 1, 2025 // While Suntrapp has not confirmed whether it will reopen or when that will occur, Suntrapp Workers United has shown optimism for the future.
LACMA Declines to Voluntarily Recognize Union Formed by Hundreds of Workers
November 8, 2025 // The AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36, a division of the national AFSCME Cultural Workers United, has helped workers unionize at other leading LA museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Foundation, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits. At the national level, AFSCME Cultural Workers United represents employees at museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Earlier this week, employees at the Detroit Institute of Arts announced plans to join AFSCME Michigan. In its new statement, LACMA United said that the museum’s status as a county museum makes management’s position “particularly troubling,” noting that, unlike mutual-benefit nonprofits, LACMA was established by Los Angeles County as a public-benefit corporation and receives more than $30 million in public funding each year.
VOLUNTARY RECOGNITION IN POLICE COMMANDERS’ BID TO UNIONIZE
October 8, 2025 // Today, Mayor Ed Gainey and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police’s 12 Commanders are pleased to announce that the Administration has agreed to voluntarily recognize the commanders in their effort to form a union. The Commanders unanimously opted to form a union with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Under Trump, Student Labor Organizers Face New Challenges
August 7, 2025 // Anticipating a rollback of recent NLRB precedent, some unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition, looking for other paths to continue their work.
Will Sussman: Columbia Students Should Decertify Their Union
August 5, 2025 // Columbia students are fed up with their union’s focus on radicalism over bread-and-butter issues. “As a Jewish Israeli student at Columbia, the union has done absolutely nothing for me,” said Alon Levin, a graduate student in electrical engineering. “I have heard more blatantly racist and discriminatory language from them than anything that would remotely resemble aiding me in, say, addressing my cost of living or my health insurance concerns.” The problem with graduate student unions is not limited to Columbia, as I learned at MIT.
Now Park City Mountain’s bike and trail workers want to form a union
August 5, 2025 // After seeing the success of the ski patrol union in last winter’s strike, the resort’s summer employees are trying to follow suit.