Listen: UAW’s ‘David v. Goliath’ Battle, Plus More
UAW Local 259 gets support from New York State Senator Jessica Ramos at Mercedes Benz in Manhattan where the union is in a protracted fight over their first contract after mechanics voted to unionize.
By Bob Hennelly
President-Elect Trump’s Secretary of Labor selection of Rep. Lori Chavez-De Remer, one of only three Republicans to support the PRO-Act, which would greatly strengthen the hand of new unions’ bargaining their first contract, was called “significant” by United Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten.
Trump’s Labor Secretary pick also is one of only eight Republicans to support legislation that would support public unions, something that would seem to run contrary to anti-civil servant strategies laid out in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.
Pro-business groups have said they are alarmed by De Remer’s nomination while Trump acolytes Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have pledged to slash the federal workforce which includes close to a million union members.
Meanwhile, the United Autoworkers continue to ride a wave of unprecedented public approval and wins.
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour we are dedicating the entire hour to close-ups of regional UAW Region 9 and UAW Region 9 A.
We’ll check in with UAW Local 259 President Brian Schneck who will update us on a big win for union workers and the local car dealers they work for over some of the biggest most powerful multinationals on the planet. It’s a real David over Goliath story.
In the second half of the show, we hear from UAW Region 9’s Ray Jensen and attorney Nancy Erika Smith we get an update on the union’s righteous battle to end smoking in New Jersey’s casinos, a practice the State of New Jersey continues to permit despite overwhelming scientific evidence that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure.
Jensen also outlines successful college campus workforce organizing drives including at Princeton University.
Listen to the entire show below: