In today’s news and commentary, it’s Labor Day! To celebrate, “Workers Over Billionaires” protests sweep the nation, nurses prepare to strike, and Volkswagen is ordered to pay $30 million to Brazilian workers. 

Over 1,000 anti-Trump protests are scheduled nationwide today by the AFL-CIO, Bargaining for the Common Good, the Working Families Party, the AFT, and Public Citizen. One of the largest events will take place in Chicago, where in recent days President Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard. The protests will likely be a more organized continuation of similar actions that took place on May Day. In Manhattan, thousands of restaurant workers plan to open a “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out) restaurant in front of Trump Tower. “This isn’t just about policy — it’s about building meaningful worker power,” organizers said.

Nurses at the Henry Ford Health Genesys Hospital outside of Flint, Michigan, are slated to begin striking today. As of Saturday night, no deal had been struck. While negotiations are ongoing, the parties remain apart on a number of terms. The union is seeking to add fixed ratios of nurses to patients, while the hospital hopes to remain flexible in their staffing. Teamsters Local 332 President Dan Glass says the strike will be “indefinite,” ending only when their demands are met. Henry Ford Health says the hospital will remain open to patients and any nurses who wish to continue working. 

On Friday, Brazil’s labor court ordered Volkswagen to pay approximately $30 million in “collective moral damages” for labor abuses committed by the company during the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, workers were “subjected to slave-like conditions at a company-owned farm in the Amazon.”  Workers were insufficiently fed, housed, and forced to stay on the farm under a contractual system of debt bondage. Medical care, even for those who contracted malaria, was absent. Volkswagen’s Brazilian headquarters promised to appeal the decision, stating the company has “consistently defended the principles of human dignity and strictly complied” with labor laws. The investigation into Volkswagen began in 2019 after the Labor Prosecutor’s Office was given “extensive documentation” spanning decades by a local priest. Viewed as reparations, the $30 million is the largest judgment of its kind in the country’s history.