Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, the United Auto Workers Union filed unfair labor practice charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, leader of Tesla and SpaceX, Starbucks appointed an anti-labor CEO, and Vice-Presidential Candidate, Governor Tim Walz made his first solo campaign speech to a union audience.
The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) announced in a thread on X that Trump and Musk violated federal labor law by attempting to threaten and intimidate workers. Musk hosted an interview with Trump on X Monday night. Trump praised Musk in the interview for conducting mass layoffs. “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you go, ‘You’re all gone,’” Trump said. UAW claims that this statement violates federal labor law since a strike is considered a protected activity for which workers cannot be legally fired. UAW President Shawn Fain commented: “When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean.”
Starbucks named Brian Niccol, former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill as its new CEO on Tuesday. Niccol faced criticism for his negotiations with Teamsters while at Chipotle. Teamsters considered Chipotle’s wage offer in a store in Lansing, Michigan insultingly low. The same year, Chipotle violated federal labor law by closing a store and firing workers who tried to form a union. After the NLRB sided with the union, Chipotle paid $240,000 to aggrieved workers.
Governor Tim Walz gave his first solo speech as vice-presidential nominee on Tuesday night to a union audience in Los Angeles. Walz spoke to members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees about his and Vice President Kamala Harris’ working-class roots. Walz was a union member as a public-school teacher before he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
March 17
West Virginia passes a bill for gig drivers, the Tenth Circuit rejects an engineer's claims of race and age bias, and a discussion on the spread of judicial curtailment of NLRB authority.
March 16
Starbucks' union negotiations are resurrected; jobs data is released.
March 15
A U.S. District Court issues a preliminary injunction against the Department of Veterans Affairs for terminating its collective bargaining agreement, and SEIU files a lawsuit against DHS for effectively terminating immigrant workers at Boston Logan International Airport.
March 13
Republican Senators urge changes on OSHA heat standard; OpenAI and building trades announce partnership on data center construction; forced labor investigations could lead to new tariffs
March 12
EPA terminates contract with second-largest union; Florida advances bill restricting public sector unions; Trump administration seeks Supreme Court assistance in TPS termination.
March 11
The partial government shutdown results in TSA agents losing their first full paycheck; the Fifth Circuit upholds the certification of a class of former United Airline workers who were placed on unpaid leave for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons during the pandemic; and an academic group files a lawsuit against the State Department over a policy that revokes and denies visas to noncitizens for their work in fact-checking and content moderation.