Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, striking Los Angeles hotel workers reach a deal with a third hotel, and the United Automobile Workers celebrate nonunion autoworkers as future union family amid expanding strike at General Motors.
Striking union hotel workers in Pasadena reach a tentative agreement with Loews Hollywood, marking the third hotel to reach an agreement after four months of work-stoppages. This latest hotel employs 300 members of UNITE HERE Local 11. Both Loews representatives and union leadership celebrated this tentative agreement. Local 11 president, Kurt Petersen called on the rest of the industry to follow suit and share their prosperity with workers. This win for Local 11 members comes just days after reports of hotels hiring unhoused migrant workers to replace striking staff.
The United Automobile Workers expanded their strike effort on Tuesday to General Motors’ largest U.S. factory just a day after striking at Stellantis’ RAM truck plant. This move expands the unions strategy to strike all big three automakers’ largest and most profitable plants. G.M.’s 23 percent increase in wages over the next four years is still far apart from the union’s original proposal of 40 percent raises for its members.
U.A.W. president Shawn Fain has suggested that these talks with big three automakers are the first step towards a broader effort to organize workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and others U.S. auto factories. Executives at the big three automakers have suggested that higher wages for their own workers would put them at a competitive disadvantage with nonunion automakers. But Fain insists that “nonunion autoworkers are not the enemy. Those are our future union family.”
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October 2
Gov. Newsom signs bill regulating AI in workplace; federal judge blocks Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee.
October 1
Senate confirms Keith Sonderling as Labor Secretary; Amazon warehouse workers launch an unfair labor practice strike.
September 30
Harvard grad union wins in First Circuit; AI data trainers initiate misclassification suits; Trader Joe’s found liable under ERISA.
September 29
Unions, AI companies, and private equity firms form a new coalition to shape data center policies; unions express support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
September 28
The Protect College Sports Act nears passage in the Senate; San Francisco municipal workers agree to contract extensions.
September 27
The Trump Administration reaches a settlement with federal unions on reduction in force actions; the United Auto Workers file an en banc petition seeking review of a Second Circuit decision regarding labor arbitrations.