Joe DeManuelle-Hall

Four hundred and fifty train engineers at New Jersey Transit walked off the job overnight, after years of fruitless negotiations with their employer.

These workers drive the state-run commuter trains that serve 350,000 daily riders in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. As of late Thursday night, NJT train service was completely shut down. The transit system is running additional buses as an alternative, but it’s extremely unlikely that they can make up the difference.

Strike Halts New Jersey Transit

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The second Trump administration has the federal workforce in its crosshairs. Spearheading the effort is Elon Musk (the richest man in the world) and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (not actually a government department).

Trump and Musk have taken a shotgun-blast approach: instituting a hiring freeze, shutting down whole agencies, telling workers to stop coming in, offering buyouts to 2 million workers, ordering remote workers back to the office in violation of union contracts, and mass-firing workers still in their probationary periods.

Federal Workers Organize Against Billionaire Power Grab

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A sea of faces in a protest crowd. Some printed signs say "Stop the Billionaire Takeover," "Hands Off Workers Data," "Stand, Unite, Fight," and "Nobody Elected Musk." Some handlettered signs say "Congress, WYA?" and "He doesn't even go here!"

The International Longshoremen’s Association has settled its East and Gulf Coast contract shortly before a January 15 strike deadline. The deal locks in a 62 percent wage increase over six years and expands existing automation protections. Workers will also see larger “container royalty” payouts.

The agreement will go first to a body of ILA delegates, and then members will vote. The full agreement is not yet public.

Longshore Deal Secures New Automation Language and Big Pay Bump

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A large ship piled with containers is shown next to a dock with cranes.

As the Trump administration prepares to take power, the nation’s freight railroad companies are at the bargaining table with rail craft unions representing 115,000 freight workers who move essential goods across the country.

Already the bargaining looks very different from the last round of negotiations, which finished in 2022. For the first time since 1963, multiple railroads have gone rogue, breaking with the employer association in which they typically present a united front.

Railroads and Unions Divide and Scramble

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Rail workers on the job outdoors in reflective orange vests are viewed through the windowlike shape of a huge yellow piece of earth-moving equipment

In some of the most exciting fights of 2024, strikers shut down ports on the East Coast and backed up plane orders on the West. The coming year is full of expiring contracts that could keep the strike wave rolling.

ALIGNED TO FIGHT

The list includes some big contracts lined up so unions can bargain and possibly strike together.

The Big Union Contract Fights Coming in 2025

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Workers silhouetted against the sky march forward in a line, smiling. Some hold "CUPW" flags aloft. The view is looking up from near the ground, giving them a heroic vibe.

Port employers in British Columbia shut down ports on November 4 over a contract dispute with the 730 members of the Longshore Union’s (ILWU) Canada’s foremen’s local. Another 7,500 Canadian longshore workers represented by ILWU, who are working under a contract settled last year, were also not working as a result of the lockout, grinding port traffic to a halt. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade estimated an impact of $800 million Canadian ($576 million U.S.) per day.

Canadian Longshore Workers Forced into Binding Arbitration by Government

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A group of people hold picket signs in front of a canopy.

UPDATE, August 22: The lockout was not even a day old when the government moved to end it with a back-to-work order and initiate binding arbitration. —Editors

Ten thousand Canadian railroad workers were locked out early this morning after two sets of major contracts expired.

Canada Ends Lockout of Rail Workers

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Around dawn, but still dark, a group stand around a burn barrel with signs saying Teamsters Rail locked out

Union negotiations covering longshore workers on the East and Gulf Coasts have been stalled since June 10, bringing the union closer to a potential strike at the September 30 contract expiration.

East Coast Longshore Contract Clock Ticks Down

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Four port workers in hardhats and neon vests look tiny as they stand beside a line of trucks with a stack of huge containers behind them.

Education unions just won a massive victory in the fight to bring collective bargaining rights to Virginia’s public sector. Workers at the Fairfax County Public Schools voted this week to unionize, creating a wall-to-wall union of 27,500 teachers, custodians, teaching assistants, bus drivers, and more.

The new bargaining unit is one of the largest K-12 unions on the East Coast, according to the National Education Association.

Fairfax County is in Northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and the Fairfax County school district is by far the largest in the state.

Big Union Win in Virginia Schools where Bargaining Suddenly Legal

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A grid of photos of union supporters holding up paper saying “I’m voting yes” and other things.

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