We hear this one a lot. During organizing drives, unions falsely assure workers that they can protect jobs, and during contract negotiations, unions strongarm employers into unsustainably high labor costs. Big Labor then shouts about “victory,” and employers find themselves cutting costs to stay in business. Workers get left holding the bag after job losses.
In response to layoffs, unions tend to issue sternly-worded releases while pointing the finger elsewhere. As we discuss below, this recently happened at a Pacific Northwest-based grocery, but of course, it’s nothing new.
Also, this roundup includes a trio of Teamsters troubles:
United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) vs. New Seasons
In 2022, New Seasons workers at 10 stores formed an independent union and later affiliated with UE. A three-year contract battle and an averted strike led to a Dec. 2025 contract ratification and hikes of over $4 per hour for most workers. The company soon announced a wave of layoffs across the grocer’s Oregon and Washington stores. The UE’s statement was one of “outrage” after the company explained that “limited staffing reductions across 20 locations, both union and non-union” were the result of “significantly increased” labor costs due to “a new labor agreement.”
Teamsters vs. Yellow Corp
The freight carrier permanently shuttered after a union dispute led to the company warning in 2023 that it could not withstand a strike amid a restructuring plan. This followed a long struggle with the union demanding $11-per-hour raises, which the company stated it could only afford by securing new funding. Yellow ended up suing the Teamsters for maneuvering to block the company’s restructuring.
In late 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals revived that lawsuit, but this won’t save the nearly 30,000 jobs lost when Yellow went out of business.
Teamsters vs. Stop & Shop
A more delayed effect occurred years after an 11-day strike by 31,000+ workers in 2019 led to an expensive contract that reportedly raised wages by up to 80% over four years. A few years later, the company had closed 32 New England stores.
In 2025, a distribution center in Freetown, Massachusetts nearly met the same fate when Stop & Shop cautioned that it would have to outsource jobs to keep operations running after another strike threat.
Teamsters vs. UPS
Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the years since the 2023 contract that infamously hiked full-time driver pay upwards of $170,000 annually.
The fallout has included rounds of corporate layoffs and shuttered warehouses, along with a pair of buyouts and a failed union lawsuit while union President Sean O’Brien kept the lies coming. Sadly, workers learned too late that unions cannot stop layoffs, especially when market conditions collide with skyrocketing labor costs after a CBA.
UAW vs. Stellantis
Shawn Fain’s so-called “stand-up strike” against the Big Three automakers led to a contract that raised Stellantis starting wages up to 67% with additional COLA benefits. In an attempt to recover, the company was forced to idle multiple plants and lay off thousands of temporary workers while reducing hours of some permanent workers.
It’s no wonder Labor Pains labeled this as a “failed UAW contract.”
SEIU vs. California fast-food franchisees
The hardest-lobbying union pushed an industry’s minimum wage to at least $20 per hour. This was an unsustainable leap that led to layoffs after the law passed and before it took effect. The nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that between 18,000 and 23,000 fast-food jobs evaporated due to the SEIU’s heavy-handed tactics, which included an illusory union and “Fast Food Council” that hasn’t fulfilled its promises to workers yet.
Conclusion: The Union Math Doesn’t Pay
To put this bluntly: Unions shout victory, and workers get the bill.
