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.

In his broadest attack on federal workers and their unions to date, President Donald Trump on Thursday announced an executive order that claimed to end collective bargaining rights for nearly the whole federal workforce. Early estimates have the move affecting 700,000 to 1 million federal workers, including at the Veterans Administration and the Departments of Defense, Energy, State, Interior, Justice, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and even Agriculture. This gutting of federal worker rights has the potential to be a pivotal, existential moment for the labor movement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. California teachers in dozens of districts covering tens of thousands of educators have lined up their contracts to expire in June. These include unions in Los Angeles (35,000), San Diego (7,000), San Francisco (6,500), and Oakland (3,000).

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.

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.

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. Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) forced out locomotive engineers, conductors, and yard workers who are organized under the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

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. Leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association have called a September 4-5 delegates meeting to discuss demands and strike strategy. Last week the union sent the employer association, known as USMX, a strike notice that federal law requires 60 days before a strike.