Featured Stories
TSA Rewards Officers for Working Unpaid Through Two Shutdowns by Taking Away Their Chairs. Now Travelers Can Tell TSA How They Feel.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO American Federation of Government Employees issued the following news release:
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TSA Rewards Officers for Working Unpaid Through Two Shutdowns by Taking Away Their Chairs. Now Travelers Can Tell TSA How They Feel.
WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration has decided that the problem with airport security is chairs. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is asking every traveler who has ever handed over an ID at a checkpoint to help fix TSA leadership's actual problem, which is its judgment. Starting today,
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO American Federation of Government Employees issued the following news release:
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TSA Rewards Officers for Working Unpaid Through Two Shutdowns by Taking Away Their Chairs. Now Travelers Can Tell TSA How They Feel.
WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration has decided that the problem with airport security is chairs. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is asking every traveler who has ever handed over an ID at a checkpoint to help fix TSA leadership's actual problem, which is its judgment. Starting today,anyone can Take a Stand and tell TSA to give officers their chairs back.
On Sept. 25, Steve Lorincz, TSA's executive assistant administrator for security operations, ordered chairs removed from travel document checker podiums at airports nationwide "effective immediately." His reasoning: "Maintaining a standing posture helps reinforce professionalism, attentiveness, and active engagement with passengers." TSA told reporters the change "reinforces both our security posture and our commitment to hospitality."
Read that again. TSA took chairs away from the people checking your ID and called it hospitality.
There is no security study behind this. There is no data showing a seated officer misses a fake ID that a standing officer would catch. A boarding pass reads the same at any height. What there is, according to AFGE TSA Council 100, is a workforce that already stands and walks on hard floors all day, now told to do it for hours at a podium with no relief, because a manager in Washington thinks it looks friendlier.
Then it got worse. Days after the chairs disappeared, officers were handed a "Security Operations Pledge of Service and Security" to sign, with their immediate supervisor countersigning. No TSA seal. No letterhead. Just a signature line. The pledge asks officers to promise to support "the well-being and morale of our colleagues." TSA is asking officers to sign a pledge about morale in the same week it took their chairs. You cannot make this up. TSA did.
These are the same officers who kept America's checkpoints open through two government shutdowns in the past year, much of that time without a paycheck. TSA's thank-you was a pledge card and a sore back.
"Our officers screen millions of people a day and they do it right, sitting or standing," said Hydrick Thomas, president of AFGE TSA Council 100. "Nobody who works a checkpoint asked for this. Nobody who flies asked for this. If TSA leadership truly believes standing makes people better at their jobs, I look forward to watching every manager in the building prove it for eight hours straight. We will bring the pledge. They can bring their own chair, if they are allowed one."
"Steve Lorincz took the chairs out from under officers who kept this country flying through two shutdowns, and then TSA asked them to sign a pledge about morale," said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. "That is not leadership. That is a punch line. Hospitality is not something you get by making working people stand at a podium until their feet go numb. Respect is how you keep good officers, and respect is how you keep travelers safe. TSA should put the chairs back today, and every traveler who agrees should tell them so."
For the public: Travelers can send a letter to TSA leadership asking the agency to restore chairs a document checker podiums nationwide. As the letter puts it, "A seated officer checks a boarding pass and an ID just as carefully as a standing one."
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Original text here: https://www.afge.org/link/8b20cdbafd944d8da555f87e32118511.aspx (TNSmlt)
Post-Gazette Union-Busters Hit Dead End at Supreme Court, Must Pay Back Millions to Journalists
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO Communications Workers of America posted the following news release:
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Post-Gazette Union-Busters Hit Dead End at Supreme Court, Must Pay Back Millions to Journalists
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PITTSBURGH - Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's appeal of a ruling requiring the company to pay back its workers--members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061)--for the cuts to pay, illegally implemented increases in health care costs, and other unilateral changes to their working conditions.
Millions of dollars
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO Communications Workers of America posted the following news release:
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Post-Gazette Union-Busters Hit Dead End at Supreme Court, Must Pay Back Millions to Journalists
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PITTSBURGH - Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's appeal of a ruling requiring the company to pay back its workers--members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061)--for the cuts to pay, illegally implemented increases in health care costs, and other unilateral changes to their working conditions.
Millions of dollarsare owed to current and former PG employees. And the PG has no further venue for appeal.
"I've actually lost count of the number of agencies, judges, courts, and other authorities that have told the Blocks that the workers were right and the multi-millionaires were wrong. Our members were the first to tell them--more than nine years ago now," said Jon Schleuss, President of The NewsGuild-CWA. "It's staggering to think how much money and time the company wasted on losing when that could have been spent on dignified working conditions and improving the caliber of local journalism. The Block family's efforts to delay accountability are finished. We look forward to seeing justice served so that our award-winning journalists can continue to focus on holding power to account."
Unionized editorial workers of the Post-Gazette went on strike in October of 2022, demanding a restoration of the contract the company illegally tore up, including dignified health care. In November of 2025, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals enforced the ruling of the National Labor Relations Board, ordering the PG to do so.
With their strike demands secured, union journalists returned to the PG on Nov. 24, 2025.
The Post-Gazette, which was owned by the Block family until May 4, would go on to lose an appeal of a concurrent 3rd Circuit Court injunction restoring the health care plan that was unlawfully cancelled. The Newspaper Guild, the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Solicitor General filed briefs arguing against the company's repeatedly defeated position.
"A lot of honest, determined people sacrificed more than most know to get this ruling enforced and finalized," said Andrew Goldstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. "The Blocks and their co-conspirators in company management and elsewhere knowingly and willfully broke federal law for years, bringing untold harm to not only their workers but the news industry more broadly. We're looking forward to getting quite literal payback and hope this serves as a warning to similarly reckless owners. Shame on the Blocks."
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Original text here: https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/post-gazette-union-busters-hit-dead-end-supreme-court-must-pay-back-millions
Nurses celebrate massive, historic victory against disgusting Kaiser wage theft
SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- National Nurses United issued the following news release:
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Nurses celebrate massive, historic victory against disgusting Kaiser wage theft
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More than 1,000 RNs across California to recover millions in stolen wages
Registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente hospitals across California are celebrating a historic victory against wage theft committed by their employer today. California Nurses Association (CNA), which represents more than 25,000 nurses at 22 Kaiser facilities, successfully won an arbitration agreement that mandates Kaiser pay
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SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- National Nurses United issued the following news release:
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Nurses celebrate massive, historic victory against disgusting Kaiser wage theft
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More than 1,000 RNs across California to recover millions in stolen wages
Registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente hospitals across California are celebrating a historic victory against wage theft committed by their employer today. California Nurses Association (CNA), which represents more than 25,000 nurses at 22 Kaiser facilities, successfully won an arbitration agreement that mandates Kaiser paystolen wages dating back to at least 2021, potentially totalling a sum in the tens of millions of dollars to be paid out to more than 1,000 nurses.
"Unfortunately, Kaiser wants to normalize stealing from nurses," said Michelle Gutierrez Vo, RN in adult/family medicine at Kaiser Fremont Medical Center and a president of CNA. "They changed their payroll system, messed it up, and let the mistake steal millions of dollars from nurses. When we called them on it, their fancy lawyers fought us tooth and nail for every single dollar. Nurses wouldn't take no for an answer, and we won back millions of dollars in stolen wages, and we went above and beyond Kaiser's earlier attempts to settle for less."
CNA was first notified by Kaiser nurses several years ago of issues with wage theft following a change in Kaiser's payroll system dating back to at least early 2021. Because the union does not have direct access to Kaiser's payroll system, it took years of nurses working together to piece together the true scale and extent of the problem, which Kaiser repeatedly tried to minimize and obscure. CNA believes the final sum could total in the tens of millions.
Despite this victory, nurses remain outraged that Kaiser spent years and untold sums in legal expenses in their effort to avoid paying the wages they had stolen, which, while substantial, were still only a fraction of the organization's billions of dollars in profits. It took years of nurse advocacy to force Kaiser to even admit that more than 1,000 nurses were being shorted on their pay.
"This entire experience has been a reminder for us that Kaiser would rather pay lawyers to fight nurses than pay nurses to take care of our patients," said President Gutierrez Vo, RN. "It is another disgusting reminder of this company's priorities. And, for us, it's also another powerful reminder of what's possible when nurses work together to demand what we're owed from companies like Kaiser."
CNA represents more than 25,000 registered nurses at 22 Kaiser facilities in California and is in active contract negotiations with the company. Nurses at Kaiser hospitals protested wage theft and other key bargaining issues at informational pickets held earlier this year.
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.
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Original text here: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-celebrate-massive-historic-victory-against-disgusting-kaiser-wage-theft
Molson Coors Workers Join Teamsters
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters posted the following news release:
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Molson Coors Workers Join Teamsters
(ELKTON, Va.) - Over 400 workers at the Molson Coors facility in the Shenandoah Valley have voted to join Teamsters Local 29. The packaging, warehouse, brewing, interplant distribution, utilities, and maintenance workers organized for increased wages, improved benefits, and a voice on the job.
"These workers remained determined and refused to let management's union-busting tactics stand in the way of organizing," said Jeff Padellaro,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters posted the following news release:
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Molson Coors Workers Join Teamsters
(ELKTON, Va.) - Over 400 workers at the Molson Coors facility in the Shenandoah Valley have voted to join Teamsters Local 29. The packaging, warehouse, brewing, interplant distribution, utilities, and maintenance workers organized for increased wages, improved benefits, and a voice on the job.
"These workers remained determined and refused to let management's union-busting tactics stand in the way of organizing," said Jeff Padellaro,Director of the Teamsters Brewery, Bakery, and Soft Drink Conference. "We are proud to welcome these new members and we are ready to support them as they prepare to negotiate a fair first contract."
"This vote is a proud moment for the workers at Molson Coors and the beginning of a positive new chapter," said Jeff Vaughan, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 29. "The members voted for structure, clear standards, and a seat at the table. Our goal is to negotiate a comprehensive contract that delivers for these members and their families."
The workers overcame an aggressive union-busting campaign by Molson Coors. The company spread false information regarding status quo bargaining and purposefully conflated dues and DRIVE contributions in an effort to discourage workers from unionizing. Despite the campaign, workers remained united and voted to join the Teamsters.
"We are proud to have fought back against management's efforts and successfully organize with the Teamsters," said Cole Lam, a nine-year Molson Coors packaging bottle line tech and member of Local 29. "We're excited about the opportunity to negotiate better health coverage and establish a defined roadmap for professional growth." Teamsters Local 29 represents the hardworking and deserving men and women in the dairy, small package, warehouse, and freight trades in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. For more information, visit teamsters29.org.
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Original text here: https://teamster.org/2026/10/molson-coors-workers-join-teamsters/
DGA, IATSE, LIUNA, SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters, WGA East and WGA West Release Report on Shift in Location for Film and Television Production Over 25 Years
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees posted the following news release:
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DGA, IATSE, LIUNA, SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters, WGA East and WGA West Release Report on Shift in Location for Film and Television Production Over 25 Years
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Share of production spend on films with significant U.S.-based production declined by 32 percentage-points to 42%
Share of production spending on television episodes with significant U.S.-based production declined by 30 percentage-points to 64%
Report highlights need a federal film and television tax
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 [Category: Union] -- The AFL-CIO International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees posted the following news release:
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DGA, IATSE, LIUNA, SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters, WGA East and WGA West Release Report on Shift in Location for Film and Television Production Over 25 Years
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Share of production spend on films with significant U.S.-based production declined by 32 percentage-points to 42%
Share of production spending on television episodes with significant U.S.-based production declined by 30 percentage-points to 64%
Report highlights need a federal film and television taxcredit to make the U.S. more competitive against foreign production incentives and to secure U.S. -based jobs
Los Angeles, October 5, 2026 - The Directors Guild of America (DGA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters), the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) today released a study conducted by EY Quantitative Economics and Statistics (EY QUEST) on the change in the location of film and television production over a 25-year period from 1999 to 2024.
The full report can be found here
The study's findings confirm an increasing share of U.S. film and television production has moved to foreign locations over the past 25 years, significantly reshaping an industry that supports more than two million U.S. jobs.
An examination of where scripted, live-action productions by major U.S.-based studios were primarily filmed, as well as the production spending and number of cast and crew associated with each location, the study revealed the following.
Changes in film production
* The share of production spending by major U.S. studios on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 74% to 42% (a 32 percentage-point decrease).
* The share of films by major U.S. studios on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 66% to 54% (a 12 percentage-point decrease).
* For total cast and crew working on major studio films, the share of cast and crew working on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 72% to 43% (a 29 percentage-point decrease).
* From 1999 to 2024, the share of production spending in the U.S. among the 25 highest-budget films by major U.S. studios declined by 40%.
Changes in television production
* The share of production spending by major U.S. studios on television episodes filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 94% to 64% (a 30 percentage-point decrease).
* The share of television episodes by major U.S. studios filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 96% to 70% (a 26 percentage-point decrease).
* For total cast and crew working on major U.S. studio television episodes, the share working on television episodes filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 86% to 58% (a 28 percentage-point decrease).
The analysis focused on productions by larger studios with budgets above certain thresholds that would capture productions with the most significant impact on industry employment and economic activity and projects with sufficient scale to make strategic location decisions between filming in the U.S. or abroad. These budget thresholds were at least $5 million for feature films and $1 million for TV episodes under 41 minutes or $1.7 million for longer episodes.
When read in tandem with a recent study by the Motion Picture Association, unless action is taken America will continue to lose ground in retaining this industry and the middle-class jobs it provides.
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Original text here: https://iatse.net/dga-iatse-liuna-sag-aftra-teamsters-wga-east-and-wga-west-release-report-on-shift-in-location-for-film-and-television-production-over-25-years/ (TNSmrp)
Statement From NEA President Princess Moss on the Trump Administration's Federal Voucher Rules
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- The National Education Association issued the following news release:
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Statement from NEA President Princess Moss on the Trump administration's federal voucher rules
By: Miguel A. Gonzalez
October 1, 2026
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury took another step to implement the Trump administration's new federal private school voucher, effectively moving toward robbing students of access to great public schools across the United States. As expected, the guidance ensures the program will contain all the most damaging features of existing state-funded
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- The National Education Association issued the following news release:
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Statement from NEA President Princess Moss on the Trump administration's federal voucher rules
By: Miguel A. Gonzalez
October 1, 2026
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury took another step to implement the Trump administration's new federal private school voucher, effectively moving toward robbing students of access to great public schools across the United States. As expected, the guidance ensures the program will contain all the most damaging features of existing state-fundedvoucher programs, while limiting states' ability to protect students or ensure meaningful benefits for public schools.
The National Education Association released the following statement from President Princess Moss:
"With back-to-school in the rearview mirror, more Americans are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of school supplies, packed lunches, and gas continues to outpace salaries and paychecks. Instead of helping families make ends meet, the Trump administration is once again putting its thumb on the scale for private school vouchers at the expense of the public schools that serve 90% of America's students. At a time when educators, students, and families are calling for more resources to strengthen neighborhood public schools, this administration is advancing a plan to divert taxpayer dollars to subsidize private education for a select few.
"We will closely review the Treasury Department's new voucher regulations and continue fighting to ensure public funds remain invested in public schools where every student -- regardless of their race, ZIP code, disability, family income, or immigration status -- can learn, grow, and thrive. America's students deserve policies that expand opportunity, not vouchers that leave most children behind."
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The National Education Association is the nation's largest labor union, representing nearly 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.
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Original text here: https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/statement-nea-president-princess-moss-trump-administrations-federal-voucher-rules
[Category: Union]
AFL-CIO Applauds Signing of AI Guardrails Legislation in California
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- The AFL-CIO issued the following news release:
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AFL-CIO Applauds Signing of AI Guardrails Legislation in California
September 30, 2026
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation legislation to protect working Californians and place essential guardrails on unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) technology:
"Today is a victory for working people in California and a testament to the power of the labor movement and its allies. One day after President Trump welcomed Big Tech CEOs to the White House
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- The AFL-CIO issued the following news release:
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AFL-CIO Applauds Signing of AI Guardrails Legislation in California
September 30, 2026
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation legislation to protect working Californians and place essential guardrails on unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) technology:
"Today is a victory for working people in California and a testament to the power of the labor movement and its allies. One day after President Trump welcomed Big Tech CEOs to the White Houseand touted the administration's support for 'morally binding guardrails' and 'self-regulation,' Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed some of the strongest state legislation in the country to protect working people from the harms of unregulated, untested AI. These bills will now become law in spite of a massive corporate lobbying campaign and millions of dollars spent to defeat them. There is still a long way to go to ensure that workers have a say in how AI technology is developed and implemented in the workplace--both in California and nationwide--but these bills are an essential step forward. When working people stand together, we can take on Big Tech--and we can win."
The labor movement has long fought for state legislatures to rein in unregulated AI technology. This week, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joined the co-chairs of the AFL-CIO State Federations Artificial Intelligence Taskforce, California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez and Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch, in calling on Newsom to pass this legislation. In February, Shuler joined Gonzalez and labor leaders from across the country at the California State Capitol to highlight the existential risks that AI poses to workers and to call on elected officials to take action. The package of bills today also ensures policies become law that the labor movement demanded at its 30th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention.
The AI legislation signed today by Newsom, supported by the California Federation of Labor Unions, includes:
* AB 1331, No Bosses in the Bathroom Act, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, bans bosses from using AI surveillance to spy on workers in the bathroom.
* AB 1883, The Stop AI Strip Searches Act, authored by Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan, bans the use of invasive and exploitative AI surveillance tools in the workplace, including AI that performs emotional recognition.
* AB 1979, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, requires licensed health care professionals, not AI, to remain the decision-maker in health care clinical practice.
* SB 947, The No AI Bosses Act, authored by state Sen. Jerry McNerney, ensures AI cannot be used to fire or discipline workers without human oversight.
* SB 951, AI Job Killer Notice Act, authored by state Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes, modernizes the WARN Act to provide workers additional information on layoffs caused by AI and direct the Employment Development Department to study the impact of AI on hiring and the workforce.
Contact: Steve Smith, 202-637-5018
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Original text here: https://aflcio.org/press/releases/afl-cio-applauds-signing-ai-guardrails-legislation-california
[Category: Union]
