U.S. union membership rate hits all-time low despite campaigns
Automation, outsourcing and lower unionization rates in traditional union strongholds, like auto manufacturing, are among the reasons for the steady decline.
Automation, outsourcing and lower unionization rates in traditional union strongholds, like auto manufacturing, are among the reasons for the steady decline.
In a big win for labor unions, the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Tuesday to expand the fees and penalties the agency can collect from employers that illegally terminate workers for labor activism.
The reform candidates campaigned on taking a more confrontational stance in bargaining with Detroit’s three automakers. The adversarial stance is likely to raise costs for General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, which almost certainly would be passed on to consumers.
Legislation to avert what could have been an economically ruinous freight rail strike won final approval in Congress on Thursday as lawmakers responded quickly to President Joe Biden’s call for federal intervention in a long-running labor dispute.
A coalition of more than 400 business groups sent a letter to congressional leaders Monday urging them to step into the stalled talks because of fears about the devastating potential impact of a strike.
Indiana’s top Republican lawmakers said they plan to prioritize school choice and enact a plan to “reinvent” high school education during the next legislative session. Teacher unions have other priorities.
A national rail strike, which could happen as early as Dec. 5, would threaten the nation’s coal shipments and its supply of drinking water.
The Air Line Pilots Association said Tuesday that 94% of the nearly 10,000 United pilots who took part voted against a tentative agreement that the union and United reached in June.
The railroads took the unusual step of issuing a statement late Wednesday rejecting the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union’s latest request to add paid sick time on top of the 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses they received in the first five-year deal.
About 56% of the track maintenance workers represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union who voted opposed the five-year contract even though it included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses.
Car buyers might not get the vehicle they want on time, commuter rail lines could see service disrupted, and shipments from everything from oil to livestock feed could be snarled.
Stellantis said that operations at the plant in Kokomo would resume late Monday after UAW Local 1166 workers voted to ratify the agreement.
The 1,200-worker plant, Kokomo Casting, is the world’s largest die cast facility, according to Stellantis. It makes aluminum parts for components including transmissions and engine blocks.
The railroad trade group said a strike would idle some 7,000 freight trains a day run by CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and other railroads and disrupt passenger operations nationwide.
Economists say tight labor markets tend to give workers more leverage to form unions and to demand higher wages and better working conditions, while downturns tend to make workers less willing to make collective demands of their employers.
Starbucks on Monday asked the National Labor Relations Board to halt all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional NLRB officials improperly coordinated with union organizers.
The increase in unionization efforts over the last year has been eye-opening. Or at least, it should be.
The largest pilots union has approved a contract that would boost the pay of pilots at United Airlines by more than 14% over the next 18 months, potentially clearing the way for similar wage hikes throughout the industry.
The protest, which the union said drew up to 1,300 Southwest Airlines pilots, was the latest example of airline workers trying to put pressure on companies by taking their demands for higher pay directly to the flying public.
The National Labor Relations Board is asking a federal court to order Starbucks to stop interfering with unionization efforts at its U.S. stores. It’s the third time the board has filed a case in federal court against Starbucks since December.