Institute for the American Worker

09/18/2026

Washington State and Louisiana employees seek to overturn anti-worker Labor Board decision limiting employees’ right to end union dues deductions

Right To Work

Employees in Washington and Louisiana are challenging a National Labor Relations Board precedent that allows unions to block workers from cutting off union dues even when there is no monopoly bargaining contract in place.

09/17/2026

Blue states with strong teachers’ unions have lower student literacy levels: study shows

Blue states with strong teachers’ unions overwhelmingly have worse student literacy scores than Republican states where educators don’t have as much say over policy, a shocking new anal…

09/17/2026

"Has the union requested or negotiated protections concerning sex-based eligibility?"
DW Opinion Aaron Withe is CEO of the Freedom Foundation

Open letter to the Women’s National Basketball Players Association:Maybe you’ve forgotten, but the first letter in WNBA is W, and the union that claims to represent its players is W.Which stands for “Women’s.”Simply put, the league was created to give female basketball players a profession...

09/17/2026

Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Yet capturing these gains requires governments to do precisely the things that make the technology valuable in the first place: reorganize how work is done, shift routine tasks from people to systems, and deliver more with the same resources. Whether public institutions are permitted to make those changes is less a technical question than a political one. New York’s LOADinG Act shows how that question is beginning to be answered.

Artificial intelligence may be one of the most important tools available to improve government performance in a generation. At a time when governments face mounting fiscal pressures, AI offers a rare opportunity to improve services without simply spending more money or hiring more people. It can hel...

09/16/2026

Yesterday, I4AW's Visiting Fellow Akash Chougule testified before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions in a hearing titled "Out of Touch: When Union Politics Leave Workers Behind." With Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity
Watch video testimony here:

About the Committee:Education and Workforce Committee Republicans ...

09/16/2026

The labor action forced the opera to cancel as patrons were finding their seats, and threw the season of one of the nation’s premier companies into limbo.

09/16/2026

"This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker," said Withe.

He asserted that the New York law was "copied" from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will "make the same case here."

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is accused of a free speech "hit job" after signing a law letting Letitia James fine groups contacting union members.

09/16/2026

California: SEIU United Health Workers West President Dave Regan is under investigation for allegedly trying to strong-arm an endorsement from the SEIU’s state council.

He is also accused of threatening and intimidating women employed by the council, as well as physically assaulting former SEIU executive Courtni Pugh, who’s now a political consultant leading the effort to stop the billionaire tax. The assault allegedly occurred in 2009.

Dave Regan, the mastermind behind California’s controversial billionaire tax, is accused of extorting other SEIU union members, as well as physically assaulting a former labor executive.

09/15/2026

“States That Work shows that the states giving workers the greatest freedom to earn a living are also creating an environment where businesses and families can thrive,” said report author and ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Director Alan Jernigan. “From protecting Right to Work to removing unnecessary licensing barriers, states have a clear roadmap for expanding opportunity without growing government.”

American Legislative Exchange Council Releases 4th Edition of “States That Work” Labor Policy Rankings

The American Legislative Exchange Council released the 4th edition of its States That Work: A Labor Policy Roadmap Across America report.

09/15/2026

"...AFSCME and SEIU, now have more members than they did before Janus. Only one union, the NEA, is still losing members, but even that decline has slowed." Commonwealth Foundation David Osborne

Government Unions Are Making a Comeback — and Taxpayers Will Pay the Price National Review

New union-friendly legislation at the state level is having an impact.