Don McIntosh

Undeterred by last year’s unprecedented assault on federal worker union rights by the Trump administration, some federal government employees are still lining up to unionize. In ballots tallied June 17, National Park Service workers in eight Western states voted 317 to 11 to be represented by National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the second-largest union of federal employees.

TEST OF SKILL Journeyman roofers now make $47.01 an hour under their new union contract. It takes four years of training to get to that point. Above, apprentice Rogelio Gutierrez-Perez represented Local 49 at the National Roofers Apprentice Competition in Livermore, California, which took place May 18-22. | Photo courtesy Roofers Local 49

The annual inflation rate reached 4.2% for May, according to the latest monthly Consumer Price Index report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was up from 3.9% in April. The figures come from comparing overall prices in the previous month to what they were a year before. The May rate was the highest inflation since April 2023.

Last year the U.S. Department of Labor announced plans to lessen the paperwork burden on small unions. But under Trump’s new acting labor secretary Keith Sonderling, the DOL wants to go in the opposite direction, adding new reporting requirements and overhauling how some unions do their bookkeeping.

The 400,000-member United Auto Workers is on track to be the first U.S. union to divest from Israel, following a

The year 2025 was a golden one for the ultra-wealthy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of individuals with a net worth of $30 million or more jumped by 14.4%, the biggest jump since 2017. All told, 556,850 individuals worldwide have “ultra-high net worth” of $30 million or more — roughly one in 20,000 human beings. That includes 206,880 individuals in the United States (more than the next nine countries combined), 55,490 in China, and 28,330 in Germany.

The 1,300-member independent union that represents employees of Clackamas County is accusing its treasurer of embezzlement.

Up to now, federal regulation has largely kept the riskiest kinds of investments out of your 401(k). That could be about to change.

Oregon Tradeswomen, a nonprofit group that recruits and prepares women to enter construction and other skilled trades, is seeing a big increase in interest.

The Northwest Oregon Labor Council's top honors this year went to Kien Truong, a 29-year-old Vietnamese immigrant.