Posts tagged Wisconsin
DOL Awards $86M for Skilled Trades Training
October 29, 2025 // Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, these grants will provide outcome-based reimbursements to employers for providing training in high-demand and emerging industries that align with President Trump’s Executive Order 14278, Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future, and Executive Order 14629, Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. These priorities are also in line with the goals published in America’s Talent Strategy and America’s AI Action Plan. “President Trump has directed the Labor Department to Make America Skilled Again by providing states with the resources they need to expand on-the-job training opportunities,” said Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Blizzard’s Platform & Technology workers vote to unionize
October 17, 2025 // Early today, over 400 staff from the company's Platform and Technology department – including designers, engineers, QA testers, localization teams, and workers on Battle.net – voted to join several other Blizzard divisions to unionize. Microsoft has reportedly recognized the union. As reported by GameDeveloper, organizing committee members Daniel Weltz, Alex Kohn, and Timothy Biley decided to unionize following the departure of colleagues because of low pay or redundancies, stating "workplaces will now have to offer certain things in order to remain competitive to workers."
The 15 Most Unionized Places in America
October 16, 2025 // To determine the most unionized locations in the U.S., researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed data from UnionStats.com and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The researchers ranked metropolitan statistical areas according to total union members as a percentage of total employment. In addition to union membership, the researchers also included statistics on union representation, which is the share of workers whose terms of work are collectively negotiated (whether or not they are union members). Only metropolitan statistical areas with available data were included in the analysis.
UAW President Shawn Fain: “We Need More Than A Party – We Need A Movement”
October 14, 2025 // Fain, Speaking At A Center For Working-Class Politics & Jacobin Event, ‘Emphasized The Need For A Political Program That Addresses Workers’ Most Basic’ Issues - And ‘How A Broad Strike In 2028 Could Put Them Front & Center’
Milwaukee police union leader says he’s considering asking Trump to send Guard troops to the city
September 8, 2025 // The discussion of National Guard troops in Milwaukee comes after President Donald Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles in June to quell protests. Last month, he deployed troops across Washington, D.C., and has threatened to make similar moves in Chicago.
Striking Janesville health care workers to rally at state Capitol
September 4, 2025 // The union has also established a food pantry at 1795 Lafayette St. to support striking members and is accepting donations of non-perishable food and baby items. Donations can be dropped off on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Financial contributions to the strike fund can also be made by check. The strike has garnered support from other labor groups and community members in the Janesville area, who have joined picket lines and contributed to the strike fund.
Strike Funds help union members survive when strikes occur
September 3, 2025 // In recent years, the Teamsters have gone on strike at New Dairy Select Milk and at Leinenkugel’s. Strickland said the strike fund kept the union workers flush during a tough time. “Those folks were on the picket line for eight weeks because there was a strike fund,” Strickland said. “In addition, the union insurance. It’s not just the strike fund. Our health people stepped up to provide healthcare coverage while our members are striking. So it’s not just our strike fund, it’s also our union health benefits.”
Op-ed: Ohio needs to wrest control of public schools from the teachers’ un
August 25, 2025 // Bureaucratic schools where merit doesn’t matter. Unions have used their clout, including their ability to elect pro-union school boards, to secure lengthy, incredibly detailed employment contracts that advance their interests while tying up school leaders with red tape. These contracts include job protections (even for incompetent teachers), onerous procedural hoops that schools must follow to evaluate or discipline an employee, and benefits that exceed what many private sector employees enjoy (e.g., generous healthcare, even for retirees, and paid leave). Moreover, following a union-supported state law, these contracts require Ohio teachers to be paid according to rigid salary schedules that reward seniority and degrees instead of classroom effectiveness and individual talent—a merit-based approach to compensation that has proven to benefit students in the (few) places where it has been tried. Escalating spending.
Raven Software Workers Unanimously Vote to Ratify First Contract
August 5, 2025 // The Raven Software workers made headlines in January 2022 when they announced that they were attempting to form a union with the backing of the Communications Workers of America. Though CWA had previously won a union at the indie studio Vodeo Games (now defunct), the Raven Software effort marked the first time that the recent video-game organizing movement tested a AAA company. Though Activision Blizzard declined to voluntarily recognize the group, union organizers ultimately prevailed in a National Labor Relations Board election later that year.
Portable Benefits Are (Finally) Having a Moment
July 31, 2025 // I’ve been fortunate to contribute to this conversation from the beginning — by publishing research and policy guides that examine outdated assumptions about work and benefits. I’ve shared these findings with Sen. Cassidy’s and Rep. Kiley’s team, as well as with every congressional or state lawmaker who showed interest — and have testified more than a dozen times before Congress and in state legislative hearings.