Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, Senator J.D. Vance joins Donald Trump’s campaign, targeting pro-labor voters, Project 2025 includes gutting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and Seattle Boeing workers prepare for a strike vote.
Senator J.D. Vance joined the Republican ticket as Trump’s vice-presidential nominee on Monday. While Vance has voiced support for unions during his career, his track record supporting labor law is mixed. Vance joined an autoworkers picket line in 2023 and claimed he is “not a fan” of right to work laws. In office, however, Vance opposed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which aimed to close gaps and expand worker protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Vance also rejected pro-worker nominees to the NLRB and voted against the NLRB’s expanded protections for employees of joint employers. Prominent labor leaders at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Association of Flight Attendants voiced skepticism of Vance’s ostensibly pro-labor stance.
As the Republican party courts labor leaders, critics in the labor movement analyze how conservative policy will affect organized labor. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington, D.C., published Project 2025, a policy wish list for a Trump presidency. Critics point out that the plan includes initiatives to abolish overtime law, outlaw public sector unions, cut back on health and safety protections for workers, and eliminate the federal minimum wage.
In Seattle, Boeing workers prepare for a strike vote today. Union leadership say they hope a strong turnout for the vote will send a strong message to Boeing and the negotiating committee. Nearly 30,000 union workers are eligible to vote to authorize a strike when their contract expires on September 12. Their negotiating committee aims to win a 40% raise in their historic negotiation—the first for this group of workers in 16 years.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 15
The Department of Labor announces new guidance around Occupational Safety and Health Administration penalty and debt collection procedures; a Cornell University graduate student challenges graduate student employee-status under the National Labor Relations Act; the Supreme Court clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with a significant staff reduction at the Department of Education.
July 14
More circuits weigh in on two-step certification; Uber challengers Seattle deactivation ordinance.
July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras