Free Republic

President Biden announced Friday he planned to appoint two key union leaders to an advisory committee on international trade, including United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain. The White House announced Fain and Brian Bryant, who serves as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) president, would be appointed to the advisory group. The President’s Export Council serves as the main national committee advising the White House on matters of international trade. The group discusses and works to resolve trade-related issues around business, agriculture and labor.

Randi Weingarten's American Federation of Teachers defends pro-Hamas campus occupations as 'peacefully demonstrating' The American Federation of Teachers led by Randi Weingarten claimed that anti-Israel protesters on college campuses were simply "peacefully demonstrating." The American Federation of Teachers led by Randi Weingarten claimed that anti-Israel protesters on college campuses were simply “peacefully demonstrating.” The Tuesday statement from the AFT came in response to a hearing last week from the House Education and the Workforce Committee where leaders of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, were grilled regarding their response to campus anti-Israel encampments. ”AFT members...

As campus protests—and violent police repression—continue to roll across the country, some unions are getting involved. More than 2,700 protesters have been arrested on 64 college campuses since the initial arrests at Columbia University in New York on April 18. Encampments have appeared at 184 campuses worldwide. The protesting students are calling for full disclosure of their universities’ finances and divestment from all financial ties to weapons manufacturers and Israel’s war on Gaza. Unionized academic workers are demanding decision-making power over their work and what it’s used for. For instance, academic workers in the astronomy department of the University of...

The phrase “pension benefits” may come up a lot in the next several days as negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and the Big Three automakers go down to the wire to avert a strike. But for most private-sector US workers, pensions disappeared long ago. In a traditional pension, employers contribute, invest and manage retirement funds for their workers, who then receive guaranteed monthly checks for life after they retire. But over the past several decades, employers have either closed or frozen their pensions and turned instead to retirement savings vehicles like the 401(k), which put much more of...

The past spring semester for universities across the United States was marked with "Gaza Solidarity Encampments" and pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests largely at commencements – that is, if commencement wasn't canceled completely due to demonstrators – but now, the protests appear to have reached a new phase, potentially foreshadowing what is to come for America this summer.Popping up on city propertyA pro-Palestinian encampment popped up in Clark Park in West Philadelphia this week, according to local outlet 6ABC, marking the first encampment on city property.On the other side of the country, hundreds of University of California, Santa Cruz employees walked...

Business groups are pushing back against a new Biden administration rule that would allow third-parties, including union representatives, to accompany federal inspectors of job sites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the final rule earlier this year, but critics say the rule goes beyond safety needs and panders to unions and their recruitment efforts. The rule would apply even to job sites where workers have not unionized. The National Federation of Independent Businesses, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, are helping lead the charge against the new “walkaround” rule, which takes effect May 31...

It is hard to overstate just how much public education in the United States was permanently changed by extended school closures of 2020 and 2021. For an entire year, millions of students across the country were forced to attend classes via Zoom, wear masks that affected their cognitive abilities, and were generally socially isolated. At the same time, decision-makers in school districts from Virginia to California were pushing a political agenda that blatantly sought to shut parents out of the education of their own children. The swift and intense backlash from parents changed the politics of education forever. And documenting...

Unions are said to be having a moment. The story goes something like this: Helped by a presidential administration that touts itself as the "most pro-union in history," labor unions—after decades of decline—are winning big victories against anti-union corporations and extracting impressive concessions for their workers. But is it all true? There has certainly been a lot of union activity. Last year we witnessed a significant increase in strikes and threats of strikes. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country lost 16.6 million labor days to work stoppages last year. You have to go all the way back...

Better not read this post out loud to anyone—federal labor regulators might not like it. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stretched its speech-policing powers to new highs last week when an in-house administrative judge ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had violated federal labor law by expressing anti-unionization views during several televised interviews in recent years. Specifically, Judge Brian Gee dinged Jassy for suggesting that Amazon employees might be "better off" without a union and the layers of bureaucracy that come with it. Jassy made those comments during an appearance on CNBC in 2022—during a segment in which he...

(BRISTOL, Conn.) – Bus drivers and monitors at First Student in Bristol have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 671. The new Teamsters provide student transportation for Bristol Public Schools. “In less than a week, more than 150 bus workers in Connecticut at two different locations voted to become members of North America’s strongest union,” said Tony Lepore, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 671 in Bloomfield. “This organizing victory was a united effort and sets a positive precedent for future organizing endeavors. Thank you to Joint Council 10 Secretary-Treasurer Tom Mari, Local 1150 Secretary-Treasurer Rocco Calo, Local 251 Secretary-Treasurer Matt Taibi, Local...

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is negotiating a new contract with the public schools system and is understood to be calling for an extra $50 billion to pay for wage hikes as well as other demands such as fully paid abortions for its members, new migrant services and facilities and a host of LGBT-related requirements and training in schools. To put the figure into context, the total base tax receipts for the state of Illinois last year were $50.7 billion.

(CHICAGO) – Workers at Sunnyside, a subsidiary of Cresco Labs, in River North have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 777. “We are thrilled to welcome another Cresco location to Teamsters Local 777,” said Jim Glimco, President of Local 777. “Dispensary workers are seeing their counterparts at other locations organize with the Teamsters and they want to secure the benefits of a union contract for themselves. We look forward to helping these workers get their first contract and continuing to organize workers in the cannabis industry across Illinois.” The River North dispensary is the sixth location to organize with Local...

The Chicago Teachers Union's contract is set to expire in June which will soon prompt negotiations between educators and the school board. Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in early March that her proposed contract for 2024 to 2028 'will cost $50 billion and 3 cents.' 'And so what?' Davis Gates added. 'That’s audacity. That’s Chicago.' The teachers union is demanding nine percent cost of living adjustments every year. According to Indeed, the average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $67,718. With raises every year for four years, teachers would be getting paid about $95,000 a year...

A group of Republican and Democrat senators, along with the United Steelworkers (USW), are calling on President Joe Biden to hike United States tariffs on imported aluminum to save American jobs. In a letter to Biden’s Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo, the senators warn that aluminum extrusion plants in the U.S. are at risk of being eliminated as a result of imported aluminum extrusions.

CHICAGO — About 300 anti-war activists crowded into the basement of the Teamsters Union’s headquarters on Saturday to hear organizers from all over the country describe their plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention this August. Joe Biden’s backing of Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack has turned these left-wing radicals against their own party.

Time to Change Our Language.. It is time to stop blaming “Covid” for breaking the economy, destroying businesses and livelihoods, and wreaking untold havoc upon families. It was not “Covid” that did this. It was not even the Chinese. It was our government. The government has conditioned us to blame the impersonal “Covid” for the destruction it wrought upon our businesses and families. We need to change the discussion by using the proper language to fix the blame where it belongs. Good generals can win a battle by picking the terrain upon which they fight. At Waterloo, Wellington forced Napoleon...

---SNIP--- Every day, SEPTA employees see criminal acts, fare evasion, people experiencing mental illness, homelessness, or drug addiction. The union I lead, Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents 5,000 SEPTA workers, has been sounding the alarm that unless conditions improve, the very survival of the public transit system is at stake. In response, we have been asked by image-conscious SEPTA managers and other public officials to tone things down and not draw too much attention to the transit agency’s challenges.

President Biden vowed on Friday that the federal government would cover the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore – and that the work would be done by union labor, potentially setting up a funding fight with the conservative wing of the House of Representatives. Biden has promised from the outset that the federal government would pay for the bridge to be rebuilt. His comments on Friday came after the House Freedom Caucus — the conservative wing of the House of Representatives — released a series of conditions for federal funding for the bridge. The conditions include...

(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) – Cheese processing and manufacturing workers at the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) plant in New Wilmington have voted 125-9 to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 261. “These workers fought hard for a good contract, and because of that, they secured the strong wages and benefits that other DFA Teamsters across the country have been enjoying for years,” said Peter Finn, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and Food Processing Division Director. “I’d like to thank the negotiating committee for all of the hard work they did to make this contract possible,” said...

The federal government pays more than $100 million a year to employees who aren’t doing their actual government jobs, but rather working for unions representing government employees against management — with taxpayers essentially funding both sides of the bargaining table. For decades, the government has tracked and reported those figures, but the Biden administration has removed the reports. Under the policy known as “official time,” hundreds of nominal government employees haven’t done anything but full-time union work in years, yet remain on the federal payroll. Not only is the policy expensive to taxpayers, but it also props up the power...