Otto Barenberg is a student at Harvard Law School and the Digital Director of OnLabor.
In today’s news and commentary, Trump picks Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Secretary and German Volkswagen workers are on the precipice of a major strike.
President-elect Donald Trump selected Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who racked up several union endorsements in her reelection bid, to serve as his Secretary of Labor. In her single term in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer was one of three Republican cosponsors of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act — a law supported by the overwhelming majority of labor leaders and elected Democrats — and one of eight Republican cosponsors of the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would amplify the power of public sector unions. She narrowly lost to Democrat Janelle Bynum in her Portland-area swing district on November 5, but earned nods from local firefighters, ironworkers, and Teamsters.
Chavez-DeRemer’s selection elicited a range of responses from labor leaders. Teamsters’ President Sean O’Brien, who has drawn ire from many of his members for cozying up to Trump, endorsed Chavez-DeRemer earlier in the week and praised her selection on social media minutes after it was announced: “Thank you @realDonaldTrump for putting American workers first by nominating Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for US Labor Secretary. . . . Now let’s grow wages and improve working conditions nationwide.” Others, including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, expressed caution, acknowledging Chavez-DeRemer’s “pro-labor record” but warning “Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States — not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer — and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.” The AFL-CIO’s annual lawmaker rankings give Chavez-DeRemer a legislative score of 10% on workers’ rights issues.
Business leaders and their conservative allies appeared taken aback by Trump’s pick. Kristen Swearingen, chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which represents hundreds of business groups, expressed “alarm.” “Chavez-DeRemer’s support of the PRO Act raises legitimate concerns about her possible nomination,” she said. The International Franchise Association emphasized that it “looks forward to ensuring the job-killing PRO Act . . . ha[s] no place in the incoming administration.” And the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal bemoaned Trump’s “regrettable choice,” as did a columnist for the National Review.
Volkswagen and IG Metall, Germany’s largest and most powerful union, are at loggerheads over drastic cost-cutting measures demanded by the automaker. In the face of stiff competition from cheap Chinese vehicles and declining demand across Europe, the company has proposed a 10% wage cut and threatened to close German plants — a move that would be unprecedented in the company’s 87-year history. IG Metall’s counterproposal includes temporarily forgoing bonuses and reducing work hours, as well as mandating smaller dividends for shareholders. The 120,000 affected employees — nearly half of Volkswagen’s German workforce — are prepared to strike on December 1 if the parties can’t reach an agreement. Any labor action is likely to have substantial political ramifications, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz gears up for a February snap election and the status of German industry remains a key issue.
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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.