Pro-union support highest since 1965: Gallup. Public support for unions has hit its highest point since 1965, the Gallup Organization reported, as 71% of respondents approve of unions. The all-time record in the union poll, which started in 1936, is 75% in 1953 and also in 1957.
“After a year of victorious strikes, record union election filings and relentless efforts from corporate billionaires to silence workers, today comes as no surprise,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Working people recognize the need for a collective voice — and it shows.”
The support held across the board by gender and race, with some variations by political party. Democrats support unions 89%, while Republicans are at 58%. Independents are 68% and self-described conservatives are 54%, Gallup reported.

Congressional Republicans telegraph plans to target labor. The GOP hasn’t officially unveiled its legislative agenda if Republicans retake the House in November, but they gave a “preview” in key committees.
Politico reports that Republicans in the House Education and Labor Committee said they’ll go after labor if the GOP regains a House majority. Members of that committee include Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller, a Trump-endorsed incumbent from the 15th District. Miller and Illinois Congressmen Darin LaHood (16th District) and Mike Bost (12th District) “all signed on to a lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 election,” Politico reports.
Republicans are aiming at labor regulators in the Biden administration, like Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. Committee Republicans said they’ve sent 57 letters of complaint about labor and unions since Biden was inaugurated.
“Targeting these figures and curbing pro-union policies that the administration has put in place will be one of their first orders of business,” Politico reports.
In the House Rules Committee’s debate on the Inflation Reduction Act, Republican proposals included Rep. Lauren Brobert (R-Colo.) proposing reviving the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the environmentally degrading project President Biden ended; GOP Reps. Ted Budd (N.C.) and Joe Duncan (S.C.) seeking to transfer funds budgeted to hire more IRS employees to instead build the Trump-era Mexican Wall; and Republican Reps. David Schweikert (Ariz.) and Kevin Bacon (Neb.) proposing killing prevailing wage requirements for “green” construction projects.
On the Senate side, organized labor was stunned when Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested changing Social Security from automatic payments to Congress annually deciding whether to allot the money to send out checks.
California fast-food workers score big win on Labor Day. After fast-food workers walked out from 350 eateries across California, the state legislature approved a landmark labor measure establishing a 10-member, labor-management-government council to set and enforce standards, and Gov. Gavin Newson signed the bill on Labor Day.
“This landmark bill will be the most important piece of labor law to pass in decades,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of Service Employees International Union. “It will give 550,000 fast-food workers a chance to sit down with government and their employers to decide wages and working conditions.”

Seven U.S. Postal Service unions and a coalition of 83 advocacy groups have accused USPS management of secretly planning to close Post Offices and other USPS facilities.
“How many Post Offices will be closed?” asked Chuck Zlatkin, legislative and political director for the New York Metro Area Postal Union. “How many clerks and drivers will lose jobs? [Postmaster General Louis] DeJoy’s Great Consolidation is a true danger to the public Post Office.”
Biden appointees now make up a majority of the Postal Service Board of Governors, but one of its Democrats (Donald Moak) has sided with the board’s Republicans backing DeJoy. However, Moak’s term and Republican William Zollars’s expire in December.

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