Henry Green is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary, lots of headlines for the United Auto Workers as the union comes out in support of tariffs, files for an election at a Volkswagen distribution center in New Jersey, and continues to bargain a first contract at the Chattanooga VW plant they organized last spring.
The UAW released a statement Tuesday praising President Trump’s announcement he would initiate broad tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. “We are glad to see an American president take aggressive action on ending the free trade disaster that has dropped like a bomb on the working class,” read a statement posted on the UAW’s website. The statement calls on corporations not to raise prices in response to the tariffs and says the union is working with the Trump Administration on “auto tariffs in April to benefit the working class.” As an article from Axios notes, the UAW endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024, but has “softened its tone toward the president since he won reelection.”
Meanwhile, bargaining continues at the Chattanooga, TN Volkswagen plant that the union organized in April. The plant employs more than 4,000 workers. The Chattanooga election win was the UAW’s “first breakthrough at a foreign automaker in the South.” Negotiations for the unit’s first contract began over the summer. The company’s latest offer includes a 20% wage increase over four years, up from an offer of 14% in December. The UAW bargaining committee says it’s fighting to secure a comparable package of wages, benefits, and working conditions as UAW members receive at Ford, GM, and Stellantis.
And in a final piece of UAW news, UAW-organized Volkswagen workers have filed for an election in New Jersey. Workers at a parts distribution center in Cranbury, NJ “became the first VW workers on the East Coast to file to unionize with the UAW,” according to the union. Parts distribution centers operate as a warehouse of parts for VW dealers, as a worker explains in a UAW video about the election. It appears the New Jersey unit would be smaller than the Chattanooga one, since the promotional video says the two units together would equal 5,000 UAW members at Volkswagen.
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December 11
House forces a vote on the “Protect America’s Workforce Act;” arguments on Trump’s executive order nullifying collective bargaining rights; and Penn State file a petition to form a union.
December 8
Private payrolls fall; NYC Council overrides mayoral veto on pay data; workers sue Starbucks.
December 7
Philadelphia transit workers indicate that a strike is imminent; a federal judge temporarily blocks State Department layoffs; and Virginia lawmakers consider legislation to repeal the state’s “right to work” law.
December 5
Netflix set to acquire Warner Bros., Gen Z men are the most pro-union generation in history, and lawmakers introduce the “No Robot Bosses Act.”
December 4
Unionized journalists win arbitration concerning AI, Starbucks challenges two NLRB rulings in the Fifth Circuit, and Philadelphia transit workers resume contract negotiations.
December 3
The Trump administration seeks to appeal a federal judge’s order that protects the CBAs of employees within the federal workforce; the U.S. Department of Labor launches an initiative to investigate violations of the H-1B visa program; and a union files a petition to form a bargaining unit for employees at the Met.