Do you remember when Boeing moved a production line from union-heavy Washington State to virtually union-free South Carolina a few years ago? Remember how unions were publically outraged? Me too. That’s why I was surprised to see that the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union tried to organize the Boeing South Carolina employees – the…

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has spent tens of millions of dollars on a three-year campaign to increase the wages paid to retail and fast-food workers. Was it money well spent? In recent months, cities have passed or introduced laws requiring higher wages within city limits – oftentimes exempting union companies, thus making unionization…

New York University graduate assistants are now members of a United Auto Workers affiliate union. They overwhelmingly approved a five-year contract that includes wage increases totaling at least 12% over five years and at least 90% of health care premiums paid for by NYU. The agreement covers about 1,500 research and teaching assistants working at…

The NLRB recently addressed a common practice among unions called secondary boycotting. A secondary boycott is a union tactic where the union pressures innocent parties to stop doing business with a targeted employer. The Culinary Union in Las Vegas has aggressively implemented secondary boycotts against non-union casinos, hotels, and restaurants. For example, the Union has…

The United Automobile Workers membership has grown to 400,000 people. This is the largest the union has been since 2008. UAW’s members include more than just auto workers. The union has successfully recruited members from higher education institutions, such as teaching assistants and graduate students at a number of universities, casino workers, and other non-traditional…

McDonald’s workers recently filed complaints with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 19 cities alleging burns from popping grease, lack of protective equipment, and other workplace hazards. The complaints are a tool to exert public pressure on McDonald’s as fast food workers campaign for $15 an hour wages and unionization. The Service…