Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, a Kroger worker strike hints at broader dissatisfaction among retail workers, and the American Federation of Teachers filed the latest in a string of lawsuits against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In Colorado, over 10,000 workers at the Kroger-owned supermarket, King Soopers, reached nearly a week on strike. The workers’ union, UFCW Local 7, began bargaining with Kroger and King Soopers in October, but the union reported that both retail chains refused to bargain in good faith. UFCW called an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike on February 6 in response to the retail chain’s refusal to bargain. Yesterday, King Soopers responded to the ongoing strike by seeking a temporary restraining order against thousands of their own striking employees, claiming that these workers have created unsafe conditions outside their stores. Commentators note that despite low overall union density, retail workers continue to express interest in joining unions, and their union membership rate has increased gradually in the past year. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon, and Whole Foods have made headlines over the past year for their unionization efforts against union-hostile employers.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that Elon Musk’s new government department, DOGE, violated federal law by disclosing U.S. citizens’ personal information. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, named after the Shiba Inu-themed meme and cryptocurrency, aims to reduce government spending and regulation. The AFT’s suit against DOGE is one of many filed by labor unions alleging that the Trump administration has breached the Privacy Act.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.