Posts tagged working conditions
Department of Defense ends union agreements at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
April 20, 2026 // The U.S. Department of Defense is terminating collective bargaining agreements for two unions representing workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. It's a move union leaders said could have significant impacts on employees. Workers with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the American Federation of Government Employees said they were notified Friday of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Union presidents said these agreements have long played a critical role in ensuring safe working conditions, fair wages, benefits, and time off for their members. With those protections now ending, many workers are raising concerns about what comes next.
Op-ed: Florida made public-sector unions more accountable — Oregon did the opposite
April 7, 2026 // In 2023, Florida passed a law requiring a recertification election for public-sector unions that fail to maintain the support of 60 percent of their dues-paying membership. What followed was revealing. Between June 2025 and January 2026, there were 218 such recertification elections in Florida. In 192 of them — 88 percent — fewer than half of eligible employees bothered to vote. Under existing rules, the unions were certified anyway. For example, at the University of South Florida, exactly 41 employees out of 2,169 eligible cast votes for union representation. Nonetheless, the union now holds exclusive bargaining authority over all 2,169. At Florida A&M, three votes out of 202 eligible employees had the same effect. In one Broward County unit, two votes bound 51 employees to their union. The new bill will change that.
University of Alaska staff vote to unionize
April 5, 2026 // University of Alaska staff announced a vote to form a union on Wednesday. The union would represent 2,300 permanent staff across the three universities and a dozen community campuses. Staff voted to form the union Coalition of Alaska University Staff for Equity, or CAUSE, which would be part of the national United Auto Workers union, in a 1,106 to 610 vote, with 64% voting yes. UA staff that would be represented by the union include student services staff, researchers, fiscal and administrative staff, development staff, science communicators, information systems specialists, library workers, athletics coaches
Oakland Schools, Teachers Union Reach Deal, Avert Strike
March 1, 2026 // Last summer, it just regained local control after 20 years in state receivership. Without factoring in the price of the new deal, OUSD is eyeing $102 million in cuts by June. Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week that without those reductions, “we won’t be able to pay all the people on our payroll in the fall. We don’t have the money in the budget for next year.” On Wednesday, OUSD approved cutting nearly 400 staff positions, including 180 filled by OEA members, through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs. Altogether, that is estimated to save about $11 million annually
Commentary: Florida Teachers Unions Have Lost Their Way
February 26, 2026 // If a union gets exclusive authority of a bargaining unit, it should be chosen by at least 50% of the employees. That's the principle behind House Bill 995 and Senate Bill 1296, now moving through the Florida Legislature.
Wage Disagreements: Workers at homeless services nonprofit join DTLA-based union
February 24, 2026 // The union is one of the largest in Southern California, with more than 100,000 members. It represents employees in sectors such as foster care, mental health and law enforcement, including workers with Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and Step Up on Second.
MEGHAN PORTFOLIO And FRANK RICCI: Teachers Union Uses ‘Crises’ To Reshape School Governance
February 12, 2026 // We wrote an MOU in a day, which in our district is definitely a record.” Under normal circumstances, agreements of this magnitude take weeks or months to negotiate and approve. That MOU now locks the district into a new operating framework. Unlike formal contracts, MOUs typically require only a single management signature and a single union signature. State labor laws and collective bargaining agreements often reduce school board authority to one individual, allowing grievance settlements or stipulated agreements to be implemented without the board’s deliberation, vote, or public input.
Sex workers at Pahrump brothel are unionizing, alleging unfair contracts and conditions
February 12, 2026 // To unionize, the workers must first prove to federal labor authorities that they are employees rather than independent contractors, who have limited bargaining rights. Then they will vote on joining the union and begin negotiating a new contract. Sheri’s Ranch, which was established in 2001 by former Chicago homicide detective Chuck Lee, maintains that the workers are not eligible for collective bargaining. “We respect the right of individuals to express their views on workplace structure,” Communications Director Jeremy Lemur told The Indy in a written statement. “At the same time, Sheri’s Ranch remains confident in the longstanding legal and regulatory framework that has supported independent contractors operating their own businesses in association with the resort for decades.”
Hampton Roads mayors want Virginia localities to keep control over collective bargaining
February 4, 2026 // Bills moving through committees in the General Assembly, however, would remove that power from localities. If signed into law, Virginia would create a state-level public employee relations board to oversee the process and arbitrate disputes. The bills could shrink Virginia’s public-sector pay gap, which is among the largest in the U.S., according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute; public employees in Virginia make more than 25% less than private-sector workers with similar schooling and backgrounds. The EPI’s report, published in January, found closing the pay gap could also lead to better public services, less turnover and improved racial and gender pay gaps.
Op-Ed: Contentious union politics eroding Washington’s classrooms
January 29, 2026 // Right now, the WEA, through its support of the Washington Families for Freedom coalition, is actively campaigning against two citizen-initiated measures to the Legislature filed by Let’s Go Washington. The first (IL26-001) would restore broader parental rights in public schools by repealing recent legislative changes to the original Parents' Bill of Rights. The other (IL26-638) seeks to protect fairness in girls’ athletics by requiring biological sex verification and barring students defined as biologically male from female competitions. Supporters turned in far more than the number signatures required to qualify for a spot on the ballot, 416,201 for IL26-001 and 445,187 for IL26-638, on Jan. 2. Reports of harassment and threats against signature-gatherers surfaced repeatedly during the process, yet overwhelming public support prevailed.