Holt McKeithan is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s labor news: the majority of VW Chattanooga employees sign union authorization cards, a general strike in Argentina pressures the government, and the Labor Department issues fines for child labor law violations.
The UAW announced that over half of the employees at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant have signed union authorization cards. The milestone comes only two months after Volkswagen employees launched a unionizing campaign. Chattanooga is home to the German automaker’s only assembly plant based in the United States. In 2014, the plant voted against a union, 712-626.
The campaign is part of a broader effort to unionize automakers in the south. Following the success of contract negotiations with Big Three automakers, the UAW launched a public campaign to organize the entire nonunion auto sector in the United States in November. Workers at Mercedes in Vance, Alabama and Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama have announced public campaigns to join the UAW. Both campaigns have crossed the 30% authorization card threshold.
Argentina president Javier Milei’s libertarian party withdrew an austerity bill from the floor of Argentina’s lower house. This action followed a general strike of millions of workers who protested the bill. The self-described “anarcho-capitalist” president proposed a bill to enact massive deregulation, privatization, layoffs and labor reforms. Over 1.5 million workers walked off the job in protest on January 25. Walkouts and protests have continued since.
An Alabama roofing company paid $117,175 in penalties following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the death of a 15-year worker at its worksite. The Labor Department determined that Apex Roofing & Restoration LLC employed the minor in violation of a child labor law prohibiting minors from engaging in dangerous jobs, including roofing or construction.
A Popeyes franchisee in the San Francisco Bay Area paid a $212,000 fine after the U.S. Department of Labor found the restaurants employed children as young as 13-years-old. The Labor Department’s investigation found that minors worked outside the hours permitted by child labor laws and that the employer withheld overtime wages.
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April 24
NLRB seeks to compel Amazon to collectively bargain with San Francisco warehouse workers, DoorDash delivery workers and members of Los Deliveristas Unidos rally for pay transparency, and NLRB takes step to drop lawsuit against SpaceX over the firing of employees who criticized Elon Musk.
April 22
DOGE staffers eye NLRB for potential reorganization; attacks on federal workforce impact Trump-supporting areas; Utah governor acknowledges backlash to public-sector union ban
April 21
Bryan Johnson’s ULP saga before the NLRB continues; top law firms opt to appease the EEOC in its anti-DEI demands.
April 20
In today’s news and commentary, the Supreme Court rules for Cornell employees in an ERISA suit, the Sixth Circuit addresses whether the EFAA applies to a sexual harassment claim, and DOGE gains access to sensitive labor data on immigrants. On Thursday, the Supreme Court made it easier for employees to bring ERISA suits when their […]
April 18
Two major New York City unions endorse Cuomo for mayor; Committee on Education and the Workforce requests an investigation into a major healthcare union’s spending; Unions launch a national pro bono legal network for federal workers.
April 17
Utahns sign a petition supporting referendum to repeal law prohibiting public sector collective bargaining; the US District Court for the District of Columbia declines to dismiss claims filed by the AFL-CIO against several government agencies; and the DOGE faces reports that staffers of the agency accessed the NLRB’s sensitive case files.