New York’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, Bruce Blakeman, is betting on an unusual constituency to beat Kathy Hochul: union workers. At the state GOP gala, Blakeman pointed to a rough stretch between Hochul and organized labor — a wildcat corrections-officer strike, a nurses’ strike, and the first Long Island Rail Road strike in 30 years —…

Here’s a role reversal worth noticing: labor unions are now fighting to protect data centers — against their usual Democratic allies. More than 300 bills landed in statehouses this year to rein in data centers, including outright construction bans in 11 states. Union opposition helped kill regulatory bills in the Democrat stronghold states of Illinois,…

An NLRB judge ordered Southern Aluminum Finishing to reinstate and make whole a union organizer it fired in 2023. The decision (JD-35-26) is a clinic in what not to do. Kyle Phillips was hired as a fabricator in Indianapolis. Two weeks in, he announced he was a paid organizer for Sheet Metal Workers Local 20.…

OSHA’s proposed heat standard — the one that would require acclimatization plans, water, rest, shade, and a pile of new recordkeeping — is stuck. The rulemaking has no finalization target, and a House bill (H.R. 6213) would bar OSHA from enforcing it at all. So employers can relax, right? Not quite. Here’s the trap. The…

The Teamsters extended a strike at Breakthru Beverage from two cities to four — not by organizing new walkouts, but by invoking a contract clause. Here’s the mechanic. Teamsters at Breakthru’s Cicero, Ill. and St. Louis locations went out on a ULP strike. When the union extended the picket line to Kansas City and Champaign,…

An administrative law judge handed Starbucks a clean sweep — dismissing an entire complaint. Employers take note of the right way to avoid NLRB scrutiny. In JD-32-26, ALJ Renée McKinney rejected every allegation tied to Starbucks’ “Heritage Market” restructuring of three Seattle stores during a 2022 organizing campaign. The General Counsel struck out on grievance-solicitation,…