Posts tagged working conditions
State Health Dept. Sued Over Forced Unionizing of Michigan Home Caregivers
October 19, 2026 // The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s effort to classify home caregivers as state employees for union representation. The lawsuit seeks to enforce the Michigan Constitution’s rules governing state employment and invalidate the election that certified SEIU Healthcare Michigan as the bargaining representative for home caregivers. The foundation represents James “Jase” Bolger, a former member of the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Bolger brings the lawsuit as a citizen, as the Michigan Constitution allows any citizen to sue to enforce its civil service provisions.
New York City Carpenters Union Says Federal Oversight Has Ended
October 16, 2026 // The council said the end of the long legal process gives it greater authority over its operations and removes prolonged external approval processes. It said internal compliance and investigative systems, along with safeguards for the union and its members, will remain in place. The announcement did not describe the specific action or date that formally ended federal supervision.
Congress Just Learned an Important Lesson About Collective Bargaining
October 14, 2026 // Eight congressional employees negotiating with a strongly pro-union member of Congress took four years to get their agreement right. FLCA essentially gives private-sector workers and employers roughly four months before the process can move toward having outsiders determine the terms for them. And those agreements can be vastly more complicated than a congressional office contract.
Business costs are increasing, and unions are not helping. Here’s what employers need to know.
October 13, 2026 // Business expenses are rising, and while unions have historically improved wages and working conditions, increased unionization has added further challenges to controlling business costs. Union membership hit a 16-year high in 2025, driven largely by growing interest among younger and minority workers, and continued growth could increase the costs of goods and services we frequently use. Businesses offering a safe and productive working environment, along with competitive pay structures, will reduce the need for organized labor and its associated costs.
Workers at Obama’s ‘Death Star’ presidential library strike back, vow to unionize over benefit cuts, ‘increasing workloads’
October 8, 2026 // Employees at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago are unionizing over their working conditions, claiming benefits have been cut and workloads are increasing just four months after the center opened in June. Workers circulated a letter to staff Wednesday announcing their intent to unionize, complaining about “increasing” workloads and “vague responses” from administrators to a list of complaints they’d raised, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Some of the complaints suggested the $900 million presidential center — often maligned for resembling the Star Wars Death Star or a huge trash bin — could already be facing financial trouble.
Why Do TSA Employees Spend so Much Time on Union Business?
October 6, 2026 // That is why Americans should pay attention to a newly filed Transportation Security Administration record detailing the operational burden of the agency’s 2024 collective bargaining agreement. The federal government is now appealing a court injunction keeping that agreement in force. Americans for Fair Treatment, of which I am CEO, has been fighting this battle for years. Congress never expressly granted collective bargaining rights to TSA screeners. The current union system began with a 2011 decision by Obama-era TSA Administrator John Pistole.
Tulane University employees file petition to unionize for better pay and working conditions
October 5, 2026 // Staff members at Tulane University told leadership Wednesday that they plan to form a union as they push for better pay and working conditions, following recent unionization efforts by Tulane faculty and librarians. University officials declined to voluntarily recognize the union after several staffers hand delivered a letter to Tulane President Michael Fitts Wednesday afternoon informing him of their intent to unionize. In response, the group filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, kicking off the process of holding a union election.
Nearly 1K Duquesne Light Company union workers go on strike
October 3, 2026 // Tension occurred at facility gates as trucks from Indiana arrived at the property. Duquesne Light brought in out-of-state, non-union workers to fill operational gaps left by striking personnel.
Cleveland Orchestra musicians go on strike as contract talks remain unresolved
September 25, 2026 // The musicians' union is seeking a 25% total salary increase over three years. Cleveland Orchestra President and CEO André Gremillet said management cannot agree to that increase and said the two sides remain far apart. “We're really far apart,” Gremillet said. “In order for us to move with our offers, they need to move down. The whole point of negotiation is it is a give-and-take process. You cannot have only one side giving.
Report: A Crisis of Representation: Antisemitism and Inclusion in Higher Education Unions
September 10, 2026 // Drawing on incident reports, member accounts, union materials, and campus developments, the report finds that some higher education unions have become flashpoints for conflicts involving antisemitism, Israel, Zionism, and Jewish identity. In some cases, highly organized activist factions have used low-participation governance processes to advance divisive political positions without broad member consensus. In others, mainstream Jewish voices are subject to such open hostility by anti-Israel activists that they lose the opportunity to meaningfully engage in their union’s democratic processes. These dynamics distract from core labor priorities, including wages, working conditions, academic freedom, job security, and fair treatment. They also erode trust and internal cohesion, particularly when Jewish faculty and graduate students experience exclusion, hostility, silencing, or fear of retaliation for raising concerns about antisemitism or expressing views related to Jewish identity, Israel, or Zionism.