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.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.
July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.