The Weekly Download

“In an era when union density continues to decline and traditional workplace organizing is under siege, the US labor movement is venturing into new territory: social media. To capture public attention and mobilize support, unions are adopting social media strategies used by political campaigns and digital marketing. Campaigns like Fight for $15, OUR Walmart, and #RedforEd demonstrate the power of digital platforms to amplify worker voices. Yet many labor activists are questioning the effectiveness of this new approach. Do digital campaigns translate into tangible gains for workers?  And how do they interact with sustained, on-the-ground organizing?”

“The last few months have seen some unexpected and significant changes in high profile labor leadership. The news on May 12th that Marc Perrone, the long-serving leader of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), was stepping down would be a momentous enough story all by itself. UFCW is one of only five unions in the country with a membership of over one million, and Perrone’s retirement was not announced in advance. Similarly, the defeat of long-time SEIU Local 1199 President George Gresham the week before is noteworthy even without any additional context. SEIU 1199 is a local that is bigger than most international unions, and Gresham had been in office 18 years. But these two changes underscore a trend: large union leadership is turning over at an unusually brisk pace. Such changes can create risks. In this perilous time, however, it’s best for labor to lean into change; embrace it and use it to re-energize and revitalize our unions.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by President Lorena Gonzalez of the California Labor Federation and President Chrissy Lynch of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO to discuss the new effort by the AFL-CIO’s state federations of labor to study, plan, organize, and bargain around artificial intelligence in the workplace and our society.”

“As employers and tech companies rush to deploy artificial intelligence software into workplaces to improve efficiency, labor unions are stepping up work with state lawmakers across the nation to place guardrails on its use. The renewed drive to regulate AI could change how workers are exposed to AI in their jobs and complicate industry plans to roll out technology such as robotaxis or tools that track individuals’ productivity. It comes after the Senate killed a proposed federal moratorium that would have banned states from regulating AI for the next 10 years.”

“Episode #7 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived! The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:”

“An inter-union U.S. rail coalition on Monday announced its formal opposition to Union Pacific's $85 billion bid to purchase Norfolk Southern and any other private consolidation of railroad giants, warning that such mergers serve only to enrich investors at the expense of workers, passengers, and communities across the nation. Railroad Workers United (RWU)'s steering committee adopted a resolution outlining its opposition to the pending Union Pacific (UP)-Norfolk Southern (NS) deal, noting that rail mergers ‘have more often than not been fraught with inefficiencies, confusion, service disruptions, clogged terminals, staffing shortages, exhausted workers, and general malaise.’”

“The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is sharpening its focus on ‘salting’—the practice of union organizers seeking employment with non-union employers to facilitate organizing campaigns. On July 24, 2025, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel (‘AGC’) William Cowen issued updated guidance that both clarifies and intensifies scrutiny around salting cases, altering how these matters will be investigated and litigated. Employers and HR professionals should take note of this evolving landscape.”

“On July 25, workers at the H&M store in historic downtown Detroit voted unanimously to join UFCW Local 876, marking the first time H&M workers have unionized in Michigan. These workers filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on July 3 after being denied voluntary recognition by H&M. After winning their union election on July 25, they now join the other 2,000 H&M workers represented by the UFCW and RWDSU.”

“One of California’s largest agricultural employers plans to close a Central Valley grape nursery by the end of the year after laying off hundreds of employees, including many supportive of a United Farm Workers effort to unionize the workforce. Wonderful Co., owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, plans to shut down the majority of the nursery in Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield, and donate the farm to UC Davis, representatives for the company and the university confirmed this week. The move comes as Wonderful Nurseries remains locked in a battle with the UFW after the union last year petitioned to represent workers growing grapevines, using a new state “card check” law that made it easier for organizers to sign up workers. Company officials said their decision was unrelated to that.”

“A supplies and packaging distributor in Orlando hired a notorious union-busting firm last month to convince delivery drivers to get rid of their union, federal records show. According to a union official with the Teamsters, the workers’ union representative, the drivers ultimately voted against keeping their union this month — after their employer Imperial Dade, a company taken over by private equity in recent years, brought in a team of professional union busters. Federal records show their employer entered into a contractual agreement in July with Quest Consulting, a Nevada-based firm that has run campaigns to squash organizing drives at Amy’s Kitchen, global beverage distributor Refresco and Hampton Inn, among other companies. The firm reported $2.3 million in earnings last year, billing rates of at least $300 an hour per consultant.”

“Imagine you get a letter from your manager a week before you are set to teach classes, removing you from teaching duties but saying you’ll get paid anyway. This odd experience has happened to around 137 graduate students at Columbia University in New York City who teach core curriculum, language, and writing classes. They are members of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), Auto Workers Local 2710.”

“More than 100 Teamsters are on strike at the multinational Mauser Packaging Solutions plant in Chicago, where workers who recondition steel containers used to transport chemicals are demanding higher pay, safer working conditions, and contract language protecting immigrants. The unfair-labor-practice strike by members of Teamsters Local 705 started June 9 after the union says the company illegally surveilled workers while talking with union representatives. It comes on the heels of Mauser locking out 20 members of Teamsters Local 117 in Seattle in April and eventually closing the plant. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters extended picket lines to Los Angeles and Minnesota in June. Teamsters didn’t report to work, refusing to cross the picket line in support of workers in Chicago.”

“The planned closure follows the shutdown of Providence Medical Service’s labor and delivery program, and will expand the area of the Kansas City metro without maternal care services…Around 40 union members and registered nurses gathered on a Monday evening under the steady drill of cicadas to protest the impending shutdown of the Research Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit and labor and delivery services.”

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture moved on Tuesday to terminate union contracts with thousands of employees of its animal health and food safety inspection agencies, according to documents seen by Reuters. The notices sent to union leaders at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Food Safety and Inspection Service said the action was aligned with President Donald Trump's March executive order to exclude some federal workers from collective bargaining because their agencies have national security missions, the documents show.”

“Columbia filed an unfair labor practice charge against Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers on Friday, alleging that the union violated the National Labor Relations Act by not bargaining in ‘good faith.’ The University claims that the union has conditioned negotiations on being able to broadcast its bargaining sessions over Zoom and allowing its president, Grant Miner—whom the University expelled for allegedly participating in the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall—to attend bargaining sessions. Columbia also claims that the union has attempted to bargain over matters the University argues are unrelated to employment, such as changes to campus security protocols. The charge was filed amid stalled negotiations between Columbia and the union, which represents more than 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students providing research or instructional labor to the University.”

“Child Care Providers United — the union that represents about 60,000 family child care providers in California — has reached a tentative deal with the state after its contract expired July 1. Under the agreement, childcare providers in the union will get $90 million in one-time stabilization payments and $37 million a year for cost-of-living adjustments. They’ll also continue getting retirement and healthcare benefits, and be paid by enrollment rather than attendance.”

“The Columbus City Schools teachers union and district are nearing an agreement on a contract ahead of the first day of school, the union said. The Columbus Education Association, which represents nearly 5,000 teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors, announced Aug. 8 on Facebook that it had reached a conceptual agreement with the district on its contract. The announcement follows months of negotiations beginning in March over the union's new contract.”

“St. Paul Public Schools and the district's largest union have reached a tentative agreement for their next two-year contract. The St. Paul Federation of Teachers represents staff, educational assistants and school and community service professionals. The union reached the agreement with the district after several months of bargaining.”

“With the first day of school less than three weeks away, the city’s teachers union says it is prepared to strike while negotiating a new contract with the School District of Philadelphia. The unresolved state budget, however, remains a barrier. The public school year starts Monday, Aug. 25, but the union contract expires at the end of this month. The 14,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers represents counselors, nurses, office workers and paraprofessionals, such as nonteaching assistants, as well as teachers.”

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to end its contract with unionized employees, according to the union's president, the latest action in President Donald Trump’s push to weaken collective bargaining across the federal government. The union, which represents 8,000 EPA employees, is planning a legal response to the decision, said Justin Chen, president of the agency's chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement on Friday.”

“Fran Drescher, who led the actors’ union during its historic 2023 strike, will not be running again for SAG-AFTRA president. A list of national candidates seeking political office in the union’s 2025 elections that was released to members on Friday confirmed that the actor isn’t seeking a reappointment to the union’s top job after four years in charge. Instead, a member of her 2023 political slate and negotiating committee, Sean Astin, is running for president. So too is Chuck Slavin, a SAG-AFTRA New England Local board member. Ballots will be collected between August 13 and September 12.”

“It wasn’t just 2024: the Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien is signaling a more permanent realignment by donating to battleground Republicans in the upcoming midterms. For the second year in a row, the labor union’s political arm donated to the Republicans’ House campaign arm after nearly two decades of mostly backing Democrats. The labor union’s D.R.I.V.E political action committee — Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education — gave the National Republican Congressional Committee $5,000 in the second quarter.”