The Weekly Download

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Raj Nayak, Candace Archer, and Rebecca Reindel, three policy experts who are closely monitoring and actively opposing the Labor Department’s deregulatory agenda.”

“In more than half of U.S. states, a so-called “right-to-work” law limits workers’ ability to form sustained, well-funded unions. These laws –which ban union security agreements requiring all workers who benefit from a union contract to either join or pay dues to the union that negotiated it—allow workers to opt out of joining the union while still receiving union wages, benefits, and representation. These laws aim to decrease union membership levels and, in turn, disrupt workplace solidarity, political lobbying power, and financial resources.”

“The Trump administration has moved forward with a plan to end collective bargaining with federal unions across a swath of government agencies, even after arguing in federal court that it would not do so until a legal battle over an order President Trump signed was over.”

“The agriculture sector is on edge like never before. With ICE officers chasing undocumented immigrants through fields and barging into meatpacking plants, workers are spooked. Even before the farm raids, workforce shortages and economic uncertainty rankled the industry. Now, as harvest season arrives for many crops, concerns are growing that there may not be enough workers out there to feed the country.”

“When Michael Ziegler started his PhD at Brown University in 2019, his union shop consisted entirely of graduate students. But in the past few years, three undergraduate bargaining units totalling about 500 students were formed at Brown, drastically expanding the size and reach of the union. Nationally, from 2020 to 2025, undergraduate unions went from two to more than two dozen, with many more in the works. But whether this momentum can continue under Donald Trump’s National Labor Relations Board is unclear, as student organizers anticipate changes in their bargaining rights and a landscape far less friendly to collective bargaining. Some unions anticipate a rollback of recent NLRB precedent—recognizing undergraduate workers as primarily students rather than employees. These unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition and are looking to other paths to continue their work, including statewide labor law changes and other forms of collective power.”

“A promising new strategy to enable rideshare drivers at companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize and bargain collectively first became law in Massachusetts in November 2024. As worker organizing there continues, the strategy could spread to California as soon as this fall, with drivers also pushing Minnesota and Illinois to consider action. These new and proposed state policies, based on creating an easier path to form a union and bargaining across an entire sector of the economy rather than with an individual employer, represent critical experiments for how to rapidly improve jobs in today’s economy. Most directly, these state policies will test whether a new type of collective bargaining policy can build power and improve conditions for drivers in the rideshare industry, a particularly challenging sector of the economy in which to raise standards because of its high turnover rate and vulnerable workforce with few legal rights. Raising standards is also complicated by the industry’s dominance by powerful corporations that make heavy use of artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies to surveil workers and potentially replace them.”

“President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the massive revisions to the latest jobs report constituted a “scam,” accusing one of the top overseers of government statistics of cooking the books in a vendetta against his presidency. ‘In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,’ Trump said in a message on Truth Social Friday. As a result, he fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump, in a message posted to Truth Social Sunday, incorrectly claimed McEntarfer ‘had the biggest miscalculations in over 50 years.’ In fact, the revisions the BLS made to recent jobs reports were neither historic nor evidence of corruption.”

“Around 149,000 employees have left the federal government since President Donald Trump took office in January and began dismantling the administrative state, according to a new analysis. The data from the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that advocates for a more effective federal government, offers a snapshot of the deep workforce cuts that have plunged morale at agencies across the bureaucracy. The administration has not been transparent about the reductions, making comprehensive estimates hard to come by. The group said the largest workforce reductions have hit the Treasury, Agriculture and Defense departments, which have lost around 31,000, 22,000, and 20,000 employees, respectively. The Department of Health and Human Services has lost roughly 13,000. The U.S. Agency for International Development — the aid agency Trump all but demolished unilaterally — accounts for another 10,000 employees gone, the Partnership for Public Service said. The federal government as a whole includes around 2.3 million civilian employees.”

“Blue Bottle coffee shops in the Bay Area have unionized, becoming the latest locations to be swept up in the wave of barista organizing that has surged across the U.S. in recent years. In an election held by the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, workers at Bay Area locations of the specialty coffee chain — three in Oakland and one in Berkeley — voted 22 to 5 in favor of joining Blue Bottle Independent Union. The independent union won its first victory in May of last year when it unionized six locations of the Nestle-owned chain in the greater Boston area. The roughly 80 workers the union represents in Massachusetts will now be augmented by 37 workers at the four new union stores in California.”

“Uber and Lyft drivers in California have been fighting for years for higher wages and better working conditions — in the streets, before state lawmakers, in court and at the ballot.  Now, a bill making its way through the state Legislature would allow ride-hailing drivers to unionize."

“When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip 16 years ago, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter. But the single mom found herself exhausted, falling behind on bills and without access to stable health insurance, caught in a cycle of low pay and little support. For years, she said, there was no safety net in sight — until now.”

“City Bureau workers have won voluntary recognition of their union, the City Bureau Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 34071. On Wednesday, July 1st, a delegation of workers at City Bureau sought voluntary recognition of their union from the non-profit. The union — which secured unanimous support before recognition — represents 14 eligible staff members across six departments. After going public, the union formally filed for an election with the NLRB on July 7th. City Bureau management responded and signed a voluntary recognition form on July 10th.”

"Restaurant workers employed by Patina Group at Disney Springs are calling on the Walt Disney Co. to investigate their employer for what they believe to be potential violations of Disney’s supply chain code of conduct...Workers at several Patina-operated restaurants at Disney Springs believe that Patina has violated these rights during their efforts to organize a union with UNITE HERE Local 737, a union that represents about 18,000 Disney World workers, in addition to employees of the Patina-operated Tutto Italia and Via Napoli at Disney World's EPCOT.”

“California’s flagship farmworker union has accused a major agribusiness of paying workers to participate in an anti-union protest last year — the latest twist in a bitter and high-profile unionization campaign at North America’s largest grapevine nursery. The United Farm Workers published a video on Wednesday alleging more than 100 Wonderful Nurseries, LLC workers who participated in an anti-union protest were paid $100 in cash for joining the protest.”

“Christy Williams stood outside the Boeing facility in St. Louis for hours on Tuesday next to her handwritten sign declaring: ‘We aren’t building toasters!’ For the last three years, Williams and her son have helped build F-15 fighter jets at Boeing in the St. Louis area — something she called her life’s dream…On Monday, Williams walked out from her job alongside 3,200 workers at Boeing’s three facilities in St. Louis, St. Charles and Mascoutah, Ill., after her fellow members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted Sunday to reject a four-year labor agreement. According to a union statement announcing the strike, its members ‘assemble and maintain advanced aircraft and weapons systems, including the F-15, F/A-18, and cutting-edge missile and defense technologies.’”

“With less than three weeks until the first day of school in the School District of Philadelphia, teachers in the district are contemplating a strike. Dozens of school district workers gathered on Wednesday to prepare signs for the picket lines as the union representing about 14,000 district employees continues negotiations with the School District of Philadelphia.”

“Novato’s largest group of unionized municipal employees launched an open-ended strike on Tuesday as contract negotiations drag on. The two-year contract for Novato’s 76 general employees expired on June 30, but negotiations for a new contract began in February, said Jana Blunt, a field representative with Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents the employees.”

“On the morning of August 7, the University of Minnesota facilities and food service workers, represented by Teamsters Local 320, filed an intent to strike notice for student move-in week. The notice was filed with the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services. The move follows a strike vote in late July, in which 97% of those who turned out voted in favor. ”

“A new national study from groups including Gallup and the non-profit Jobs for the Future found that relatively few employees have any influence over how new technology is adopted in the workplace. Molly Blankenship, director of strategy and impact at Jobs for the Future, explains what that means for employers and employees as technology like generative AI becomes more common in the office.”

“The New York State Nurses Association said nurses have reached a tentative agreement with Albany Medical Center. The union said the four-year deal that includes 16% to 22% first-year wage increases. There will also be market parity increases in two more years of the contract, additional 3% increases in the following years and no wage caps for experienced nurses. Union members are scheduled to vote Monday and Tuesday on the tentative deal.”

“The first group of workers to unionize at an Activision Blizzard subsidiary has ratified their inaugural labor deal. A group of quality assurance testers at the Wisconsin-based studio Raven Software has voted unanimously to support a tentative contract deal, the Communications Workers of America union announced Monday. The contract enshrines wage increases, ‘crunch time’ protections and promotions and layoff processes.”

“After more than two decades on the job, Tim Evans stepped into his second-ever contract negotiation this spring with Duke University in North Carolina. But this round was unlike anything he’d experienced before. ‘I’ve never fought like that before. We didn’t just show up — we held the line — and our union brothers and sisters came out champions,’ said Evans, an environmental services team lead at Duke and a proud member of AFSCME Local 77 since 1987.”