Unions

Research Medical Center closed its labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care departments last year. Emergency room nurses say pregnant patients still come, and staff don’t have the tools to safely treat them.

A labor group submitted more than 4,500 signatures for a ballot measure that would give Kansas City voters final say over the city's $600 million financing package for a Crown Center ballpark. Organizers say that money is better spent on improving living conditions for residents.

Pharmacy technicians at the University of Kansas Health System narrowly lost their May union election. But nearly 40% of the ballots arrived in the mail late, potentially changing the results. So far, the Kansas state board hasn’t counted them, but organizers are demanding a redo.

Missouri and Kansas laborers unions float a potential affordable housing solution — investing pension money in projects that would also provide paid workforce training — that’s been done in other cities.

A Missouri bill that would outlaw hemp-derived products has a new section to protect cannabis workers' right to organize.

Librarians and staff in the Mid-Continent Public Library system have announced their intent to unionize. They want better wages and workplace protections. With more than 700 workers, it could be the largest library union in Missouri.

Construction trades are riding the biggest building boom in decades, in part due to data center projects. But the artificial intelligence that the facilities power could upend the job market for everyone else.

Constant fights over bus funding have meant service cuts and long wait times for riders. Now, dozens of riders are launching a union, and they hope others join to make service better for everyone.

The Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council wants the Port Authority of Kansas City to pass rules that ensure workers on projects funded by the port will earn a good wage and be part of work training programs.

A new exhibit at Charlotte Street Foundation highlights the power of design in one of Kansas City’s most successful labor organizations, and how graphic arts has helped shape the struggle for economic justice among low-wage workers in Kansas City.

At a protest in the state Capitol on Wednesday, hundreds of Missourians urged lawmakers to respect their will on reproductive rights and paid sick leave — two measures that voters passed in 2024 but the legislature moved to reverse immediately after.

As 2025 nears its end, we’re catching up on the biggest stories we reported this year. It was a hard year for federal workers in Kansas City, who weathered mass layoffs and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Hear how that impacted workers' jobs and mental health.