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Utah’s Republican leadership announced they will repeal HB267 — a law restricting collective bargaining rights for public employees — after a massive union-backed referendum campaign gathered over 250,000 signatures to overturn it. The repeal is aimed at avoiding a likely defeat at the ballot box in 2026, while lawmakers also plan to delay candidate filing deadlines and advance a constitutional amendment that would give the legislature new power to override voter-approved initiatives. Labor groups say the reversal protects the rights of teachers, first responders, and other public workers, calling it a major win for Utah’s unions.

A last-minute agreement between SEPTA and Transport Workers Union Local 234 prevented a city-wide transit shutdown, with both sides settling on a two-year contract that raises wages 3.5% annually and boosts pensions, night-shift pay, and new-hire benefits. Union leaders say members’ frustration had been mounting after working without a contract, but credited renewed negotiations — aided by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — for breaking the stalemate. The deal now heads to union ratification and SEPTA’s board, helping stabilize operations following a difficult year for the transit system.

A dispute over pay and working conditions has led the pilots’ union to refuse a required wage-certification letter for dozens of foreign pilots Allegiant hopes to sponsor for permanent residency, halting their green card applications. Union leaders argue the airline is relying on lower-paid visa holders instead of raising wages and improving schedules to retain U.S. pilots, while Allegiant says the visa hiring was transparent and intended only to supplement staffing shortages. The standoff leaves many foreign pilots uncertain about their immigration status amid a tightening federal stance on work visas.

Workers from The New Yorker Union distributed flyers outside a Netflix documentary premiere to protest what they describe as stalled contract negotiations at Condé Nast. Staffers said the public action was meant to draw attention to management’s failure to offer raises that keep pace with rising living costs. Their presence at the high-profile event reflects growing frustration across Condé Nast publications, where multiple unions have been pushing for stronger wage and job security protections.

The largest labor federation in Tunisia, the UGTT, declared a national strike for January 21 in protest of government policies they say are worsening living conditions and undermining public services. The union has clashed with President Kais Saied over wage freezes, subsidy cuts, and stalled negotiations. With hundreds of thousands of public-sector workers expected to participate, the strike is set to escalate tensions in an already fragile political and economic climate.

A federal appeals court ruled that the president has broad authority to fire members of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, allowing Donald Trump to remove two Democratic board members earlier this year. The judges held that FLRA members qualify as removable at-will executive officials, rejecting arguments that their independence was legally protected. The decision strengthens Trump’s influence over federal labor policy at a time when the agency is facing major case backlogs.

A panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals signaled skepticism toward an NLRB decision finding that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz unlawfully threatened a pro-union barista by suggesting she “work for another company.” The judges questioned whether the single remark, made during a 2022 employee town hall where Schultz pledged no retaliation, truly amounted to coercion under labor law. Their eventual ruling could add to a string of appellate decisions narrowing the NLRB’s interpretation of what constitutes unlawful employer speech.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled that Amazon illegally required employees to sign overly restrictive workplace agreements that limited their ability to discuss working conditions or engage in organizing. The decision found that confidentiality, non-solicitation, and non-interference rules dating back to 2020 unlawfully chilled protected activity under federal labor law. Amazon was ordered to stop enforcing the policies and rewrite them, as the case unfolds amid ongoing unionization efforts at the company’s warehouses.

A Senate committee narrowly approved President Trump’s nomination of Scott Mayer, Boeing’s chief labor lawyer, to the National Labor Relations Board, moving his stalled nomination toward a full Senate vote. The NLRB has been paralyzed with only one sitting member since Trump fired Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox in January, leaving hundreds of cases unresolved. If confirmed alongside two other nominees, Mayer would help restore the board’s quorum and shift it to a Republican majority for the first time since 2021.

Unions across India staged nationwide demonstrations to oppose new labor policies they say weaken worker protections and expand employer control. The protests, which included marches, strikes, and disruptions in several major cities, criticized the government for consolidating labor laws in ways unions argue make it easier to hire and fire workers and undermine collective bargaining. Officials defended the reforms as necessary to modernize the economy, but unions vowed to intensify resistance.