Brothel workers make union history, WGSU workers picket WGA HQ, and more news for your weekend.
Banner Image: Workers walk the WGSU picket line outside WGA HQ on February 24, 2026. Photo by Mel Buer.
Good morning, Friday morning. We're back in your inbox with another digest of labor headlines.
Before we dive in to this week's slice of labor news, I'd like to take a moment to humbly ask for your support. If you've got a free subscription to WAW, I ask that you please consider upgrading to a paid subscription for as little as $5/month. Each little bit helps to keep the lights on and the cat fed, and gives me the space I need to do this work. Upgrading is easy: just access your account via the link at the bottom of this email and chose a tier. Alright, that's enough about that—
Let's get into it.
Notable News in Labor
VIDEO: WGSU Holds Picket Line Rally Outside WGA Headquarters in Los Angeles
Members of the WGA Staff Union have been on strike since Feb 17.
Mel Buer
How Brothel Workers in Nevada Just Made Labor History
The courtesans at Sheri’s Ranch were staring down a horrifying new contract. So they did what workers everywhere do: They got organized.
Jack Mirkinson
Kickstarter Terminates Union Leaders in Retaliation for Recent Strike Victory — OPEIU Local 153
(New York, NY) – After Kickstarter United-OPEIU Local 153 members won a resounding strike victory, Kickstarter has retaliated and fired several key union leaders. The 42-day strike was won in November 2025, after which the union overwhelmingly voted to ratify a historic contract which included all o
SAMANTHA HEYNE
Postal workers rally for fair contracts Sunday, back congressional bills
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -- Postal workers and letter carriers gathered at the USPS office on Walnut Street Sunday afternoon for the “Fight like hell” protest in Columbia.
KQTV
Union Leader says United Airlines Hides $1B in Unpaid Crew Cost
AFA-CWA President claims United Airlines is hiding $1 billion annual costs by failing to reach a new contract with its flight attendants.
Muskan Ahuja
Oakland Teachers Approve a Strike, as Report Calls District’s Pay ‘Not Competitive’ | KQED
The Oakland Unified School District’s teachers union voted to authorize a strike after nearly a year of unsuccessful contract talks, but said it doesn’t plan to walk out imminently.
Katie DeBenedetti
Texas Teachers’ Union Fights To Keep Kirk Free Speech Suit - Law360 Employment Authority
The Texas affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers urged a Texas federal court to keep alive its lawsuit challenging a state education department policy directing school districts to report educators over “vile” or “inappropriate” social media comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, arguing that it has plausibly alleged its claims.
Advanced Search
Employers Keep Trying to Impose Forced Arbitration on as Many Workers as Possible ✦ OnLabor
In Flowers Foods v. Brock, for the third time in four years, the Supreme Court is deciding whether an employer may impose mandatory arbitration on a certain group of workers as a condition of employment. The reason for all this litigation is the Supreme Court’s 2001 five-to-four opinion in Circuit City v. Adams. Darin Dalmat has a recent post providing […]
OnLabor
Newsletter: NY now has tax credits for journalism jobs | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA
Representing journalists, media workers and other activists
Jon Schleuss
NLRB Orders Region To Recalculate Union Payouts - Law360 Employment Authority
A National Labor Relations Board official must recalculate payments owed to employees who were excluded from a concrete company’s profit-sharing plan and to a pension fund on behalf of the workers, the board has ruled, finding that the calculations must account for the payments the workers received in the past.
Advanced Search
More Than 31,000 Health Care Workers in California, Hawaii Continue To Strike
A panel of union members call on the health care giant to return to the bargaining table in “good-faith” for contracts.
Unions & the Trump Administration
Trump EPA lays off more environmental justice staff
The move to cut more workers will further cement the administration’s deregulatory agenda for a smaller agency.
Kevin Bogardus
Appeals court declines to block Trump’s anti-union EOs
The lone Democratic appointee on a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel suggested that he and his colleagues may reach a different conclusion with the benefit of a “fully developed factual record.”
Erich Wagner
Commentary & Analysis
OP-ED: One Hundred Years of Black Workers Telling the Truth
… history provides a framework for understanding what happened in Minnesota this January, when Black journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested after covering a protest inside a church opposing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the area. The message was unmistakable: documenting dissent can itself be treated as a crime.
BlackPressUSA
Has Contemporary Fiction Ignored the Working Class?
Claire Baglin’s bracing On the Clock gives its readers a close look at work behind the fry station, and in the process asks what experiences are missing from mainstream letters.
smccroskey
The UAW Is Leading the Push for Green Jobs in California
In California, the United Auto Workers are calling on the state to make major investments in green energy, while also making sure these investments provide good union jobs and products that are affordable for working-class consumers.
Dan DiMaggio
How We Organized a Union at Whole Foods
There were six of us at the first meeting to form a union at Whole Foods in Philadelphia: too many to fit around the coffee shop table, a good sign, so we moved to a restaurant around the corner. We talked about disrespectful managers, low pay, and the loss of paid breaks and health care for part-timers. “I’ve seen many wonderful people come and go” in a decade at the store, said produce worker Ed Dupree.
Enlarge
Sean O’Brien Sold Labor to Trump, and Got Nothing
The Teamster boss has cozied up to the GOP, but the Republicans’ anti-labor politics are the same as ever.
Hank Kennedy
Labor Voices: The path to clean energy runs through Michigan’s unions
Michigan’s union-led Climate Jobs coalition outlines a blueprint for a clean energy future, promising good-paying jobs, affordable power, and protection for the state’s environment.
, The Detroit News
When taxpayers incentivize jobs, the state should protect workers’ privacy in union votes
State Sen. Josh Harkins has introduced legislation to protect the investments of state and local taxpayers in economic development projects that rely on taxpayer incentives.
Sid Salter
Labor By the Numbers
This past week, there were 48 filings for union representation with the NLRB. Here are a few that stuck out:
- The workers at The TRiiBE in Chicago filed for representation with the Chicago Newsguild (Welcome, new siblings!!)
- Video Playback Operators with NBCUniversal in New York filed for representation with NABET-CWA
- Another Movement Gym location has joined the labor movement in Valhalla, NY
- 20 workers with Patagonia, Inc. filed for representation in Manhattan with RWDSU
Looking Ahead...
Do you have a...
- workshop,
- seminar,
- panel,
- conference,
- labor action,
- strike,
- protest
- walkout,
- negotiation,
- sit-in,
- or other item you’d like eyes on? Shoot me a message.
Send me an email at melbuer@proton.me or hit my DMs on Bluesky. I'll get your flyer in the newsletter.
That's it for me this week. Thanks again for your support and solidarity, and I hope you'll stick around.
In love and solidarity,
Mel
Comments ()