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Big Union Contract Fights Are Coming in 2026. Here’s a Preview of What’s Ahead.
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This article was first published at Labor Notes.
The coming year could keep the strikes rolling through steel mills, state offices, telephone lines, axle plants, baseball diamonds, and hospitals from coast to coast. Union contracts expiring in 2026 could open up major fights by manufacturing, education, entertainment, and government workers.
Fiber and Wires
The contract covering 20,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic expires on August 1. Since their seven-week strike in 2016, the Communications Workers and Electrical Workers (IBEW) have agreed with the company on two contract extensions — but not this year.
Retiree health care is a major issue. At the start of 2026, Verizon retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare face huge increases in their health care premiums. Verizon has not hired much over the past 20 years, as technological changes — including the move to fiber optics and wireless — have dramatically reduced the workforce. Most remaining workers are retirement-eligible, with either 30 years of service or a combined 75 years of service plus age. Another issue is that more recent hires form a lower tier, with weaker layoff protections, pensions, and retiree health care benefits than earlier hires.
CWA also has three contracts coming up with AT&T next year. The AT&T Mobility “Orange” contract, covering 9,000 workers, the biggest of the four contracts in the company’s wireless arm, expires February 13. And AT&T contracts covering 5,000 wireline (landline and fiber) workers in the Midwest and another 2,200 wireline workers across the country expire April 11.
The contract covering 3,500 Teamsters at DHL is up on March 31. Last time around, members won what the union celebrated as the most “financially lucrative agreement” in the history of that contract. It included protections against inward-facing cameras in delivery vehicles. That same day, the Teamsters First Student contract expires, covering 17,000 school bus drivers, attendants, and monitors nationwide.
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As Trump prepares to escalate attacks on unions and immigrant workers, the labor movement must build power to stop him. By Michael Arria , Truthout December 27, 2025 TruthoutConstruction sector contracts expire for 12,000 Electrical Workers in Los Angeles on June 30. A month later, contracts are up for 1,200 fellow IBEW members in Richmond, California, many of whom work at oil refineries.
“In the next six months, there’s going to be a lot more members involved, and the goal is to keep them that way,” said Chris Bonfilio, president of the young worker committee in the L.A. local. Bonfilio expects that a rank-and-file contract campaign, hopefully in concert with officers, will reinvigorate the fight for more paid time off, increased overtime pay, and jobsite safety.
Manufacturing
The national oil refinery pattern agreement for nearly 30,000 Steelworkers will expire January 31. The union struck at major refineries in 2015 and 2022 over wages, safety, and staffing demands. This round, the bargaining team aims to win first-time provisions barring A.I. from displacing, monitoring, or automatically disciplining members.
On May 15, contracts expire for 4,400 aluminum workers, members of the Steelworkers, at Alcoa and Arconic plants in Indiana, New York, and Tennessee.
United Auto Workers members at car part suppliers come due for a string of expirations, beginning with 2,500 members at Nexteer building steering controls, followed by 1,200 at Bridgewater Interiors in May. Contracts expire at five American Axle shops throughout the year, including in May for 1,000 workers at a growing Michigan plant. Members there aim to regain the $28-an-hour wages they had before 2008, and set a pattern for other plants to follow.
Some 25,000 Steelworkers at Cleveland Cliffs and US Steel mills, largely in the Midwest, have contracts expiring on September 1. This will be the first Big Steel contract bargaining since Nippon Steel acquired US Steel this year, and securing jobs at unionized steel plants will be a top worker priority.
In October, contracts will expire for 17,000 Boeing engineers and techs in the Seattle area, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
In May, the contract expires for a thousand UAW members building heavy agricultural machines at Case New Holland in Iowa and Wisconsin. The union is demanding that the company commit to keeping the Iowa factory open.
“The agriculture market in the U.S. is very slow and lethargic right now,” said Keenan Bell, president of the union local at Bridgestone in Des Moines. “They’re not doing well, and we’re not doing well, especially with tariffs changing every month.” But Bell thinks the union can win raises, ease attendance policies for members with kids, and ensure that workers won’t be fired if their work visas expire.
In late July, national master contracts will expire at key firms in the rubber and tire industry, covering 4,000 Steelworkers at five Goodyear plants and 2,400 members at four Bridgestone-Firestone plants. Five hundred members at Yokohama in Virginia will follow in September.
Public Sector Fights
Over 300,000 municipal workers in New York City have contracts up in 2026, just as a labor-backed mayor arrives in office. Some 50,000 New York state workers, largely in professional and technical roles, have a contract expiring April 1.
The contract expires for 96,000 Service Employees (SEIU) workers for the State of California on June 30. Giovanni Martinez, who works at the Housing and Community Development office, says a statewide stewards network is holding lunchtime meetings with union members, and has found that cost-of-living raises and restoring telework options are popular demands.
The nationwide contract for 16,000 National Nurses United (NNU) members at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics is technically due to expire in May. Trump has ordered federal managers to ignore contracts for a million workers, so bargaining a new deal may be tough. But the date may become a lightning rod for nurses to force the issue.
Expiring in May is the three-year contract for 200,000 city Letter Carriers (NALC), which took so long to bargain that it was mostly retroactive, awarded by an arbitrator last March after members voted down a tentative agreement. After the groundswell of “vote no” sentiment and a bottom-up campaign for more transparent bargaining, the union leadership is doing a bit more to involve members this time, starting with a bargaining survey.
Still ongoing are the 2025 negotiations for a smaller postal union, the 50,000-member Mail Handlers.
Grocery Workers
In February, a contract covering 30,000 Food & Commercial Workers at New England grocery giant Stop & Shop is set to expire. In 2019, a strike by 31,000 members beat back a plan to double out-of-pocket expenses and increase health premiums by 90 percent. The company, which shuttered 32 stores last year, could seek similar concessions this time around.
A contract covering 19,500 UFCW Local 99 members across 123 Fry’s stores (owned by Kroger) in Arizona expires in March. In May, a UFCW Local 75 contract covering 20,000 Ohio Kroger workers is up. Short staffing is a priority, said member Mason Wyss.
And in June, about 14,000 UFCW Local 876 members at Kroger in Michigan could walk out if they don’t reach an agreement.
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