Jason Vazquez is a staff attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023. His writing on this blog reflects his personal views and should not be attributed to the IBT.
POLITICO profiled Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) yesterday, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the Buckeye State’s open Senate seat. The piece characterizes the congressman as a “pro-labor Democrat,” and it spotlights his efforts to cast himself as “a friend of unions” on the campaign trial. Moreover, the article describes that Ryan’s campaign strategy rests on an attempt to distance himself from the “Democratic establishment” by highlighting his commitment to labor and disavowing calls to defund the police. On the contrary, in fact, Ryan has emphasized his support for local cops, which he has attempted to frame as a workers’ rights issue. At present, Rep. Ryan enjoys a narrow lead in the polls over his Republican opponent, J.D. Vance, and he has raised four times as much money as his counterpart. The election in Ohio will be a tight one, which could prove critical to determining control of the Senate.
Nearly 2,500 Boeing employees are set to strike next week at three of the firm’s defense plants in the St. Louis area. The workers, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, recently rejected a contract offer from the aerospace manufacturer, dissatisfied with the 401(k) plan it offered. “We cannot accept a contract that is not fair and equitable, as this company continues to make billions of dollars each year off the backs of our hardworking members,” the union explained.
In a brief update on labor organizing, 80 workers at Mom’s Organic Market, a grocery chain in the D.C. area, have voted to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
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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.