The hottest Labor Unions Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top U.S. Politics Topics

SEIU Delenda Est

Astral Codex Ten • 41984 implied HN points • 06 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. SEIU repeatedly uses ballot initiatives as leverage, proposing attractive-sounding measures designed to wreck targeted industries and then demanding money or union access in exchange for withdrawing them.
  2. The proposed California Billionaire Tax is poorly written—taxing unrealized gains, valuing stakes by voting rights, and applying retroactively—and could drive billionaires and tech founders out of the state, possibly reducing revenue and harming Silicon Valley.
  3. The ballot proposition system creates a perverse incentive for interest groups to design destructive but popular measures as bargaining chips, effectively turning direct democracy into a tool for political extortion.

Public Choice Links, 3/10/2026

In My Tribe • 288 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. Governments and regulators often perform poorly at both delivering services and directing others, because they lack the local knowledge and incentives needed to design effective policies.
  2. Making buses free or heavily subsidized can raise overall welfare by shifting people out of cars and reducing congestion, though congestion pricing or higher taxes on drivers can be an equally efficient way to address those externalities.
  3. Erosion of constitutional norms and more arbitrary policymaking make government control less predictable, creating space for powerful interest groups, including large public-sector unions, to capture policy outcomes.

Columbia Grad Students Get a Reality Check

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 626 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
🚌 Education Labor Unions
  1. The UAW warned Columbia's graduate student union to drop radical or political demands, saying those demands would keep the national union from supporting a strike.
  2. Although student workers authorized a strike, the UAW controls whether it can happen and has said it won't fund or green-light a walkout until the students keep negotiating with the university.
  3. The situation shows a clash between the local union's political priorities and the national union's pragmatic strike strategy, and without compromise the students may not get the backing they need.

Why Grad Students at Columbia May Go on Strike

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 459 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🚌 Education Labor Unions
  1. About 3,500 graduate student workers could authorize a strike that would halt teaching, grading, and research, potentially disrupting Columbia’s academic operations.
  2. The strike vote is happening amid campus turmoil over pro‑Palestinian protests and clashes between university leaders and federal scrutiny over alleged antisemitism.
  3. The union’s political focus is controversial among students, and an affirmative vote could quickly escalate tensions by triggering an immediate walkout.

How the oligarchy shrank America’s middle class (Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 8)

Robert Reich • 19752 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. The virtuous cycle of rising wages with productivity gains broke in the late 1970s, leading to stagnant incomes for most American workers.
  2. Corporate governance shifted in the 1980s, with a focus on maximizing shareholder returns, leading to massive job cuts and weakened worker bargaining power.
  3. Decline in union membership since the late 1970s has contributed to shrinking middle class as unions effectively negotiated better wages and benefits for workers.
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Labor Unions Are Industrial Policy

BIG by Matt Stoller • 32430 implied HN points • 04 Nov 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. Labor unions can influence corporate investment decisions and set industrial policy.
  2. There is a shift towards empowering workers to have a greater say in how corporations operate.
  3. The rise of antitrust enforcement, labor activism, and focus on domestic manufacturing subsidies are interconnected in challenging the influence of financiers and middlemen.

At will? Whose will?

Can We Still Govern? • 254 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. The Supreme Court seems poised to let presidents remove independent agency leaders, which will make agencies more political and reward loyalty over expertise.
  2. The federal government is already operating like an at‑will system right now, with partisan firings and stripped safeguards that weaken career staff, reduce state capacity, and invite corruption.
  3. State experiments with at‑will hiring offer weak, mixed evidence and don’t map well to the federal level; you can’t safely combine lots of political appointees with at‑will employment without risking politicized abuses, so reforms need careful evaluation.

More evidence from coast to coast that American medicine may be on an unsustainable path

Unreported Truths • 36 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Labor Unions
  1. American healthcare costs are escalating and may be unsustainable, with Medicaid spending surging and states even proposing new taxes to cover growing bills.
  2. Pay and incentive distortions are visible: nurses pushing large raises while nonprofit hospital executives earn multimillion-dollar compensation, driving up system costs.
  3. Political and market pressure is mounting — federal moves to hold reimbursements flat and insurer stock drops show the system depends heavily on government funding and is politically fragile.

The Inner Civil War

Altered States of Monetary Consciousness • 1034 implied HN points • 04 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. The economy has different classes like shareholders, managers, workers, and consumers, each playing a role in a complex system. Understanding these roles helps explain where money and power flow.
  2. Money acts like 'soup vouchers' that represent our claims on resources. The wealthy often accumulate a vast amount of these vouchers, leading to significant inequality.
  3. Workers often feel pressure from their bosses and compete against each other for jobs. This creates tension and can make collective action difficult to achieve.

Why Technocapitalism is Stronger than DEI

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 2487 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. Anti-woke sentiments can be divided into those focused on discrimination and those on government interference with markets.
  2. Market forces and incentives help maintain safety standards in industries like aviation, outweighing concerns over diversity initiatives.
  3. Regulations unrelated to diversity issues, like arbitrary training standards, can sometimes have more tangible and negative impacts on industries than DEI policies.

It's the (Knowledge) Economy, Stupid

Symbolic Capital(ism) • 119 implied HN points • 04 Dec 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. The biggest divide in American politics is between knowledge economy professionals and those feeling like 'losers' in this economy, impacting the Democratic Party and the political landscape.
  2. Knowledge economy professionals have significantly influenced the Democratic Party, leading to a disconnect with the values and priorities of most other Americans, especially working-class voters.
  3. The focus on catering to the preferences of knowledge economy professionals has caused a shift in the style and substance of Democratic politics, moving it away from the concerns of ordinary Americans and towards more niche ideologies.

The Death and Privatization of Japanese National Railways (Part 2, 1982-1987)

S(ubstack)-Bahn • 220 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🌍 World Politics Labor Unions
  1. The privatization and dissolution of Japanese National Railways (JNR) was driven by political dynamics and a push for neoliberal reforms by key figures like Yasuhiro Nakasone.
  2. The media played a significant role in shaping public opinion and supporting the privatization of JNR, contributing to its downfall.
  3. Labor unions ultimately surrendered and supported JNR privatization and division, leading to the dissolution of the iconic railway agency by April 1, 1987.

The Rise and Fall of Japan's National Public Railway Labor Unions

S(ubstack)-Bahn • 160 implied HN points • 09 Mar 24
💾 History Labor Unions
  1. Japan's national public railway labor unions faced a significant decline from their powerful past, with membership dropping drastically over the years.
  2. The labor unions within Japan's national railways held significant influence and power in the past, shaping the fate of the railways through radical left-wing politics and strikes.
  3. The privatization of Japan's national railways in the 1980s marked the end for the powerful labor unions, leading to mass layoffs, legal battles, and the dissolution of the unions.

🔋Is Ford’s Pause on CATL Plant Really About China?

Interconnected • 185 implied HN points • 02 Oct 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. Ford's pause on the CATL plant is not primarily about China, but rather about leverage between Ford and the UAW in a labor strike.
  2. Multiple incentives and support were provided for the CATL-powered plant, despite CATL being a Chinese company.
  3. The uncomfortable reliance on Chinese technology by US EV makers like Ford is a mutual issue, not just a one-sided concern.

How Unions Can Create Jobs

Satiation Point • 19 implied HN points • 28 Apr 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. Unions can negotiate for higher salaries and create more jobs for members.
  2. In markets with monopsonistic employers, wages are lower and there is a shortage of labor.
  3. Labor unions can help balance the power dynamics, allowing for better wages and job creation.

The Second Largest US Teachers Union Irreparably Harmed US Children

Who is Robert Malone • 14 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Labor Unions
  1. School closures during the pandemic harmed students' academic performance significantly. Many students fell behind in learning, especially low-income and minority children.
  2. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) influenced policies that contributed to negative mental health effects in students. Isolated from peers, many kids faced increased anxiety and depression.
  3. Prolonged school closures also worsened children's physical health. With less access to nutritious meals and physical activities, rates of obesity and related health issues increased.