AFL-CIO roundup: Unions secure contracts, pay gains and a federal hiring question blocked

An AFL-CIO roundup published Thursday highlighted a string of recent labor developments across sectors, including a first contract for Forbes journalists, a nearly 20% three-year wage deal for San Diego shipbuilders, new public-sector agreements and a federal court order blocking a contested political essay question in federal hiring.

The roundup, titled “Worker Wins: ‘A Meaningful Voice In the Decisions that Affect Them’” and dated Sept. 24, pulls together examples from media, manufacturing, public safety, nonprofit work, food processing and federal employment. Taken together, the independently confirmed cases show a broader pattern: organizing drives and labor-backed challenges are producing concrete contracts, pay gains, formal recognition and legal protections across very different kinds of workplaces.

Among the clearest contract examples was Forbes, where unionized editorial staff represented by the NewsGuild of New York ratified their first contract on Sept. 1. The three-year deal covers nearly 90 reporters and photo and video editors, according to the union.

The union said the agreement includes a 4% raise in the first year, followed by 3% increases in each of the next two years, along with a $2,500 ratification bonus and a new $68,500 wage floor. It also includes just-cause job protections, a one-year recall period for laid-off workers, a path to full-time jobs for temporary employees and editorial-integrity protections. Forbes staff organized in 2021, making the deal the culmination of a yearslong campaign.

“We refused to accept any deal that didn’t honor the value we bring every day to Forbes,” Andrea Murphy, the unit chair and a statistics editor at Forbes, said through the NewsGuild of New York.

In shipbuilding, more than 800 International Association of Machinists-represented workers at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego ratified a three-year contract announced Sept. 17. The union said wage increases total nearly 20% over the life of the agreement: 10% in the first year, 5% in the second and 4% in the third.

The IAM said the deal also improves retirement benefits, adds a floating holiday and strengthens contract language on attendance, seniority, life insurance and disability benefits.

The roundup also pointed to a labor-backed court challenge that extends beyond collective bargaining. In AFGE v. Kupor, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Sept. 11 granted a stay blocking federal agencies from using a disputed essay prompt in the Trump administration’s hiring process while the case moves forward.

The prompt, identified in court records as “Question Three,” asked job applicants how they would “help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities.” The lawsuit was brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the National Association of Government Employees.

The ruling bars agencies from using the question going forward, but it does not prevent them from considering answers that had already been submitted. The lawsuit stems from the Office of Personnel Management’s May 2025 Merit Hiring Plan.

“Federal employees should be hired based solely on their ability to perform the job-not their allegiance to any particular administration,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in union press coverage.

Other recent developments cited in the AFL-CIO roundup show the same cross-sector spread.

In Somerville, Massachusetts, the city said Sept. 15 that it had signed a three-year successor agreement with International Association of Fire Fighters Local 76 covering July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029. The city said the contract had been ratified by the union and funded by the City Council. Terms include 2% cost-of-living increases each year, an additional 2% raise for firefighters with 20 or more years of service, a higher EMT certification stipend of $6,000, a new emergency medical response stipend starting at $1,000 and rising to $2,000, and a $50,000 annual city-funded cancer-screening account. The agreement also provides 18 sick days annually, allows up to 10 sick days for approved Family and Medical Leave Act caregiving and includes eight weeks of paid maternity leave.

In Northampton, Massachusetts, workers at the Cooperative Development Institute received voluntary recognition for their union on Aug. 31, according to The NewsGuild. Voluntary recognition means an employer recognizes a union without a formal National Labor Relations Board election. The new union, CDI Workers United, represents about 30 employees and is affiliated with the Providence Newspaper Guild, The NewsGuild-CWA Local 31041.

“We organized because we believe deeply in CDI and in the cooperative values that guide our work,” Addy Schuetz of CDI Workers United said through The NewsGuild.

And in North Carolina, an NLRB vote tally issued Aug. 27 in a union election at Butterball LLC in Raeford showed 25 votes for UFCW Local 1208 and three against among sanitation employees. The tally said 28 ballots were counted and 54 workers were eligible to vote.

The AFL-CIO roundup included more items than those examples, but even this narrower, verified set points to the same trend: recent labor activity is yielding measurable results across media, shipbuilding, public service, nonprofit work, food processing and federal employment, rather than in any one industry alone.