The Weekly Download

“From improving pay and benefits to advocating for better working conditions, labor unions help workers in many ways. The advantages of labor unions are particularly evident in the airline industry, one of the most heavily unionized industries in the United States. At three of the four largest airlines —  American Airlines, Southwest and United  — between 80% and 85% of the workforce is unionized. This compares to a rate of about 11% in the rest of the country. At Delta, the fourth of the big four carriers, only pilots and dispatchers are unionized.  To maintain its non-union status in the face of recurrent organizing drives by various airline unions, Delta pays as well as or better than competitors.”

“Climate change is a labor issue. Simply put, without worker-led climate action we will not be able to secure the profound and urgent transformation of our economies, including public and private investments, required to create millions of new, sustainable jobs as part of a just transition. In our article for the forthcoming special issue of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) International Labour Review, ‘Turning Up the Heat: The Right to Strike and the Climate Crisis,’ we underscore the fundamental importance of the right to strike in the promotion and defense of workplace democracy, and democracy writ large.  We make the case for why it is important for international bodies and national governments to protect the right to strike in the context of the climate crisis, and the legal basis for how this right could be fully recognized under.”

“After all the waiting, all the anticipation, all the lobbying to get your union siblings to vote for your favorites, Power At Work is ready to announce the winners of the 2025 Labor Oscars. Who will take home The Worker? Watch this Labor Oscars Awards Ceremony blogcast to find out.”

“Workers at New Jersey's Volkswagen parts distribution center have file for an election to vote and decide if they should join the United Autoworkers union. This news comes even as the German automaker and the UAW continue their negotiations at the Chattanooga assembly plant. The UAW says that this vote marks the second time a group of VW workers have voted for union representation.”

“In late fall, I was in a break room with 10 or so autoworkers at the Avon Lake Ford plant near Lake Erie. As they talked about the challenges they and their families faced, one worker asked everyone whom they were voting for in the presidential election. One by one, they went around the table: the vice president. The vice president. The vice president. Only one was not. Why not? we asked. ‘The vice president wants to take my guns away.’ The man next to him turned to him and said, ‘Well, Sherrod has basically the same position on guns, and you vote for him.’ He responded, ‘Yeah, but Sherrod’s on my side. He fights for me and my family.’”

“As Elon Musk’s norm-shattering influence in Washington has grown — consider his unprecedented cameo at President Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday — he has drawn intense scrutiny and opposition. The latest pushback comes from the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s biggest labor unions, with an unexpected line of attack: applying pressure on some of the largest investors in Tesla, DealBook is first to report.”

“The National Labor Relations Board has instructed staff to start returning to the office March 3, despite a union contract that guarantees telework, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law. The letter sent to employees Wednesday said workers must be in the office full time by the end of March, concluding the agency’s longstanding practice of allowing employees to telework.The NLRB Professional Association representing staff in Washington slammed the RTO announcement, saying the parties’ collective bargaining agreement allows four days of telework.”

“Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, presided over by Judge William H. Alsup, granted a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its Acting Director, Charles Ezell, finding the termination of probationary federal employees illegal because OPM had no authority to order it. Judge Alsup said that when federal agencies fire employees for no reason, ‘that’s just not right in our country,’ adding that we can’t ‘run our agencies with lies.’ ‘The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency,’ he stated.”

“Domestic workers are the 2.3 million workers nationwide who provide vital support to our elders and chronically ill or disabled family members, care for our children, and help maintain our households. Despite their vital role in supporting American families and the economy, domestic workers are underpaid and unprotected, particularly in the South, where nearly one-third of the country’s domestic workers live. The typical domestic worker in the South earns just $18,252 per year, the lowest level of any region and 61% less than the typical non-domestic worker in the United States. Black and Hispanic women and immigrant workers are overrepresented in domestic work in the South, where the Trump administration’s and aligned state lawmakers’ anti-immigrant actions pose an immediate threat to these workers and the communities that depend on their care.”

“An independent federal board has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to temporarily reinstate close to 6,000 employees fired since Feb. 13, finding reasonable grounds to believe the agency acted illegally in terminating them. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a stay, ordering the USDA to return the fired workers to their jobs for 45 days while an investigation continues. The MSPB acts as an internal court to consider federal employees' complaints against the government.”

“Is the nation’s biggest union workforce, at the Postal Service, President Trump’s next target? The Washington Post broke the news February 20 that Trump was on the verge of issuing an executive order to dissolve the independent leadership of USPS and move it into the executive branch under the Department of Commerce, now led by enthusiastic privatizer Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street banker. Trump confirmed the next day that he was ‘looking at’ this option.”

“The Trump administration is requesting data from all federal agencies about government resources devoted to union matters, potentially setting the stage for a showdown between the White House and federal unions. In a memo issued Thursday to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the Office of Personnel Management requested data on the amount of government time and funds spent on union matters, such as contract negotiations and grievance proceedings. It also requested detailed information about federal employees with union responsibilities enshrined in collective bargaining contracts, including their pay, telework authorization, and work time spent on union matters.”

“Donald Trump’s rollback of basic guardrails for artificial intelligence leaves US workers ‘at real risk’, labor experts have warned. Protections introduced under Joe Biden to ensure the safe, secure and trustworthy development and use of AI were swiftly repealed by the Trump administration – as top executives outlined sweeping plans to overhaul the labor force…Among the guidelines removed by the Trump administration were directives issued by the US Department of Labor to ensure employers create and implement AI in the workplace without diminishing job quality or violating workers’ rights. Significant cuts are also expected at the US AI Safety Institute, as part of Trump’s efforts to cull the federal workforce.”

“Elon Musk has literally been brandishing a chain saw to symbolize his efforts to fire federal workers.  Across the country, the federal government employs about 3 million civilians.  The Defense Department employs about 750,000 of these, far more than any other department.  Federal employees do a wide variety of jobs, but many of them work at regulatory agencies, doing their best to enforce the laws that are on the books. About 15,000 work for the Department of Labor (DOL) and about 1,200 work at the National Labor Relations Board.  While life threatening cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Health program have gotten some media attention, we shouldn’t ignore the threats to these low-profile agencies that protect American workers.”

“The Trump administration plans to put the former leader of an anti-union advocacy group in charge of the Labor Department’s office that oversees financial disclosures by unions and “union-busting” consultants, HuffPost has learned. Elisabeth Messenger, who served as the CEO of the Oklahoma-based Americans for Fair Treatment, or AFFT, is expected to be the new director of the federal government’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. Billed as a member organization, AFFT promotes right-to-work laws and advises public-sector workers like teachers on how to opt out of paying union dues. ‘Having challenges with your public-sector union? We can help!’ the group’s site promises.”

“The Trump administration plans to put the former leader of an anti-union advocacy group in charge of the Labor Department’s office that oversees financial disclosures by unions and “union-busting” consultants, HuffPost has learned. Elisabeth Messenger, who served as the CEO of the Oklahoma-based Americans for Fair Treatment, or AFFT, is expected to be the new director of the federal government’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. Billed as a member organization, AFFT promotes right-to-work laws and advises public-sector workers like teachers on how to opt out of paying union dues. ‘Having challenges with your public-sector union? We can help!’ the group’s site promises.”

“Some college athletes are being asked to sign away the rights to their own tattoos. At least one college wants to sell the rights to its players' dance moves. NCAA schools are going to contractual extremes when it comes to the name, image and likeness deals that they are now signing in the expected new era of direct college payments to athletes. The deals, which could become effective this summer, are designed to be generous enough so athletes will commit to a school but also stringent enough to stop the constant churn of transfers that has introduced upheaval in college sports…[University of Illinois Professor Michael] LeRoy said the contracts remind him of the arrangements between actors and producers in Hollywood -- where the actors' long-term licensing rights and labor are part of the deal. The labor part of those deals, LeRoy said, has long been considered by courts as an employment arrangement. It's the employer-employee relationship that gives Hollywood actors a right to union representation.”

“The Trump administration has ordered employees who telework at the Internal Revenue Service to return to office this month, signaling it intends to ignore protections in the agency’s union contract. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, issued a memo Friday saying it would “cancel” all regular telework agreements on March 8 for people who live within 50 miles of an office. They would be expected to report to work on March 10. Many Treasury workers have remote-work protections in their collective-bargaining agreement. But the Treasury directive will require '100%’ in-person work, ‘including members of a bargaining unit.’ In a subsequent phase of the plan, workers who live more than 50 miles from an office would be assigned to one, suggesting they would be required to commute long distances or move to keep their jobs.”

“After months of stalled negotiations, frustrated Capital Area Transit System (CATS) workers, members of ATU Local 1546-Baton Rouge, LA., are set to go on strike on Monday, March 3 at 3AM after CATS imposed its final contract offer and refuses to address serious safety concerns. In hopes of avoiding a strike, the Union and CATS management met earlier this week. After the Union set a deadline to meet again on Thursday, CATS CEO Theo Richards never came back to the table, leading to the Union to decide to strike.”

“AFSCME Local 3299 service and patient care workers for the University of California (UC) system staged a second statewide strike this week to protest what they call UC management’s intimidation of rank-and-file employees. The strike came after the workers filed a new round of unfair labor practice charges alleging that UC illegally tried to prevent them from protesting, leafleting, picketing, striking and speaking up about declining real wages and rising staff vacancies.”

“Unionized workers at the Denver-based Cobalt Abortion Fund went on strike this month after the organization terminated the positions of two key union members and reassigned another unionized worker, who now reports to the external affairs department. Cobalt Workers United is demanding that the fund reinstate the terminated workers, Cidney Fisk and her mother, Debora Fisk, who were dismissed as Cobalt claimed that it was making a “strategic shift” from organizing to policy development.”

“The UAW has reached a groundbreaking tentative agreement with Rolls-Royce ahead of the contract’s expiration at midnight on Wednesday, February 26. This agreement follows a major rally the day prior and the escalation of a credible strike threat against the world’s second-largest manufacturer of aircraft engines. The five-year agreement, covering more than 800 workers in Indianapolis, delivers significant economic gains, including the elimination of wage tiers, double-digit wage increases, a true profit-sharing plan that the company cannot manipulate arbitrarily, improved retirement benefits, and a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) that will now be rolled into base pay for all workers.”

“Unionized editorial staff represented by The NewsGuild of NY at NBC News, NBC News NOW, and TODAY have reached a tentative contract agreement with the network. The deal protects members during future corporate restructuring and delays recently announced layoffs, providing targeted workers with additional pay, health care, and rehire rights. NBC Digital NewsGuild, which represents about 300 workers, will vote to ratify the agreement in the coming days. If ratified, this will be the first contract for the bargaining unit, which was certified in 2019.”

“After 46 days on the picket line, nurses walked back into eight Providence hospitals across Oregon in good spirits after ratifying a new contract with their employer February 26. Their effort was bolstered by striking doctors, nurse practitioners, and other hospitalists at Providence St. Vincent’s, and doctors, nurses, and midwives at the Providence Women’s Clinics.”

“For this article, New Labor Forum’s ‘Working-Class Voices’ columnist Kressent Pottenger interviewed two workers at Planned Parenthood, which is made up of hundreds of nonprofit affiliate organizations around the country. Keighlyn Alber is a medical care assistant at Planned Parenthood Keystone and a member of OPEIU (Office and Professional Employees International Union) in Pennsylvania. James Wilging is a senior community organizer for Planned Parenthood Central Northern States United and Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota Action Fund. They are a union leader at Planned Parenthood Central Northern States and previously worked in the Planned Parenthood Central Northern States Patient Services department.”

“NBC News‘ digital editorial staff will be able to delay a recent round of staff cuts and will have new layoff protections under the terms of a long-awaited first contract deal, reached on Thursday. The provisional three-year pact, announced on Friday, offers union members advance notice of layoffs and preferential treatment for rehire and a minimum of eight weeks of severance if they are cut from the job. The deal was reached just weeks after NBC News laid off dozens of employees, including 20 workers covered by the union, after previous rounds of layoffs in 2023 and 2024. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the new owner of the Los Angeles Times, photographed in the newspaper's Globe Lobby, in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 13, 2018. If ratified, the deal will cover some 300-odd union members who work on the digital side at NBC News, NBC News NOW and Today as reporters, producers, editors, designers and videographers, among other roles. A ratification vote is currently set for Tuesday.”

“Alaska Air (ALK.N), opens new tab flight attendants have ratified a new three-year labor contract, a union representing the workers said on Friday. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the union representing the attendants at the Seattle-based carrier, said that 95% of the votes cast supported the new agreement. The ratified agreement would provide attendants with pay increases ranging from 18.6% to 28.3%, boarding pay, 25 months of retroactive pay and two additional raises over the contract's duration, among other benefits, the union said.”

“Now in their fifth month off the job, striking mental health care workers from Los Angeles to San Diego appear to be little closer to a Southern California contract settlement with Kaiser Permanente than when they began. After a fruitless Presidents’ Day negotiation, Kaiser officials refused to schedule a new bargaining session with the workers’ union until March 6, union negotiators say. Kaiser spokesperson Terry Kanakri, meanwhile, confirmed to Capital & Main that the health giant declined Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Feb. 6 request that the sides enter mediation — the same process that settled a much shorter, 10-week strike in 2022 by Kaiser’s mental health care workers in Northern California.”