Chris Bohner

Research-tivist with stops @ UAW, IBT, UNITE HERE, Culinary 226, AFL-CIO, worker centers, reform caucuses, & climate. Opinions my own, not necessarily my union.

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

Unions are actually still well-positioned to continue their organizing and bargaining momentum despite Trump's re-election, @_ericblanc and I write in @Jacobin today. Read Eric's thread below 👇

[Eric Blanc @_ericblanc]

Trump’s election doesn't have to mean the labor resurgence is over

Unions actually organized more workers under George W. Bush than under Obama (mostly because labor seriously funded organizing in the early 2000s)

Here's why unions can still go on the offensive today 🧵

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

Trump on the brutality of ICE toward USA protesters: “These are these are bad people. They go out shooting protesters. You’re a protester. They shoot you right through the head,” he said to NYTimes today

Oh wait, sorry, he meant Iranian Rev. Guards.

https://t.co/guklun6TfH

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

Do you get it now? Why the working class was betrayed by Biden, Pelosi, Clinton…

https://t.co/fuzZIaVMH8

[Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine]

A man who has never seen war and never will, cheering this on from a comfortable perch in Washington.

Every Senator who fails to stop this war should lose their seat, starting with @SenSusanCollins and @SenFettermanPA.

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

Amen

[Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 @PollTracker2024]

NBC News: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain had a conversation with Schumer this month to discuss the race, among other topics. The UAW is supporting Mills’ opponent, Democrat Graham Platner, while Schumer and the DSCC are supporting Mills.

A person familiar with the call said Fain discussed with Schumer what he views as the “shortcomings” in Democratic leaders’ approach to the 2026 midterms, “particularly their failure to adequately listen to working-class voters.” Fain cited the Maine contest as an example, this person said.

[Helen Brosnan @HelenBrosnan]

Nearly 1,000 @UAW members just gathered in DC to build working class political power.

We laid out our demands: fight for living wages, healthcare for all, dignified retirement, and time off the job with our families. Fight against divide and conquer politics and corporate greed.

[Brandon Mancilla @mancillabrando]

This is one of the most important days in the history of the UAW and the southern autoworker movement. After two years of battles we’ve reached a TA at VW. This is the first contract at a non-union OEM in my lifetime and with strong organizing will definitely not be the last!

[Rand Wilson @randwilson]

@Radish_Research Southern workers aren’t “non union”. They are “not yet union“

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

And then there were twelve, who's next? LFG!

[UAW @UAW]

🚨 UAW REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH VOLKSWAGEN IN CHATTANOOGA, MARKING HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH FOR SOUTHERN AUTOWORKERS 🚨

Autoworkers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant have won a historic tentative agreement with the company. After making history as the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to join the UAW, the 3,200 workers at Volkswagen Chattanooga have won a tentative contract deal that provides 20 percent across-the-board wage increases, affordable health care, real job security, and more.

After workers voted 3-to-1 to join the UAW in 2024, they elected a 20-member negotiating committee of their peers. After months of negotiations, the tentative deal marks a breakthrough for non-union autoworkers and manufacturing workers across the South. The tentative deal ensures that Volkswagen workers have a legally binding and enforceable agreement that guarantees fair pay, more affordable health care, safer working conditions, and clear protections against favoritism.

“For years, Chattanooga workers were told to settle for less while Volkswagen made record profits. So, the workers stood together and won their union—and now they’ve secured a life-changing first agreement,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “This deal proves what happens when autoworkers stand up and demand their fair share. People said Southern autoworkers could never form a union or win a union contract. Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga said, ‘Watch this.’”

For workers like bargaining committee co-chair Steve Cochran, a skilled trades worker and co-chair of the Bargaining Committee, the agreement represents a turning point. “A strong contract makes sure promises are delivered. Respect and security shouldn’t be up for negotiation—and now they won’t be.”

The tentative agreement is especially significant given Volkswagen’s recent record-breaking profits. In 2024 alone, the world’s second-largest automaker reported $20.6 billion in profits—even as Chattanooga workers struggled under substandard health coverage and rising out-of-pocket costs.

Key Wins in the Tentative Agreement:

• Major Wage Increases – 20% GWI
Substantial raises that begin to close the gap with industry standards and reflect Volkswagen’s record profits.

• Improved High-Quality Health Care with No Increases
Lower out-of-pocket costs, improved coverage, and protections that ensure no worker must choose between medical care and basic needs.

• Big Bonuses Initial bonuses equaling $6,550 per worker upon ratification and additional annual bonuses of $2,550 for the life of the agreement. Thousands of dollars of additional compensation for each worker.

• Job Security Protections
Strong language against unilateral job cuts, shift reductions, and outsourcing—making sure VW keeps good union jobs in Chattanooga.

• Stronger Health & Safety Standards
Enforceable safety rules, dedicated union safety representatives, and a greater worker voice in identifying and fixing hazards on the job.

• Paid Time Off & Scheduling Protections
Guaranteed paid leave, fair scheduling requirements, and safeguards against forced overtime and favoritism.

• Fair Discipline & Grievance Rights
Clear, enforceable protections against unfair discipline and a transparent, worker-centered grievance process.

• A Real Voice on the Job
Rights that ensure workers have a say in day-to-day decisions that shape their work, their safety, and their future.

This historic agreement reflects significant improvements over the company’s last proposal in October, including:

• New product commitments
• Enhanced right-to-strike protections
• Key newly won Job Security agreements, including protections against outsourcing
• Thousands of additional dollars of annual compensation per worker
• Key Skilled Trades issues addressed
•Stronger safeguards against plant closures or the sale of operations

Workers will receive details of the tentative agreement in the coming days, followed by a ratification vote.

“This contract is proof that if you stand up and stick together, you can win a better life,” said Kelcey Smith, a worker in the paint department. “No matter where you live, or where you work, autoworkers deserve a union contract, whether at the Big Three or Volkswagen, from Detroit to Chattanooga. Volkswagen workers are showing the whole country what’s possible.”

The Chattanooga victory signals a profound shift in the Southern auto industry, as workers across the region stand up to global corporations, demand their fair share, and build a future where autoworkers—no matter where they live or what company they work for—have a collective voice and a seat at the table.

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

From the radical left-wing Cato Institute…

[Cato Institute @CatoInstitute]

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023.

The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets. Learn more from @David_J_Bier.

https://t.co/MfkUXoopp4

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

👇👇👇

[Chris Brooks @chactivist]

Excited to be writing about labor and building working class power for @Jacobin as a columnist for the magazine!

[Eric Blanc @_ericblanc]

Trump is probably going to pivot away from openly praising caught-on-camera ICE murders of innocent white Americans, but nobody is going to forget that MAGA's leading spokesmen—Matt Walsh, Vance, Trump himself, etc.—spent the last month defending the indefensible in Minneapolis

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

This is terrifying because it’s true 👇

[Annalea 🪷🐝🌻 @citizengatsby]

This is one of the most unnerving TikToks I’ve ever come across. “Just comply! Just comply!” Nightmare material.

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

I gotta say that this plus his advocacy of CA billionaire tax is getting my attention

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

Congress is not powerless. Democrats must unify around an actual agenda.

1. Vote no on DHS funding bill.

2. Repeal the multi-year $75 billion funding for ICE.

3. End qualified immunity for ICE agents.

4. Investigate and prosecute every single ICE agent who broke the law.

5. Impeach Noem and Bondi.

6. End the Kavanaugh stops with racial profiling and end the militarization of ICE.

7. Codify a use of force standard so courts can enforce the law against rogue ICE agents.

8. Tear down and replace ICE with an agency that has oversight.

Trump is engaged in the SYSTEMATIC destruction of the rule of law.

Only if Congress fights with every legal tool at our disposal including lawsuits in the courts, like we are doing with the Epstein files, can we stop this madness.

We owe that to nurse Pretti and the hundreds of thousands on the streets risking their lives to stand up for our freedoms.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Matt Walsh and these other right-wing empty men who think they're avatars of über-masculinity particularly hate Alex Pretti because he exemplified the virtues they love to extol but are too cowardly to actually embody.

They cosplay as trad men by dressing up in campy plaid shirts and sitting in podcast studios with a log cabin aesthetic.

Alex Pretti went to the street to fight for causes he believed in, protected and helped others in both how he protested (he was helping two women when ICE grabbed him) and in his work as an ICU nurse. He lived the values they pretend defines them, all while they lack the courage to ever do or risk anything. He's a reminder to them of what they're not: a mirror showing their own fragility.

That's why they feel vicariously strong watching ICE agents shoot him in the back and killed him.

[Eric Blanc @_ericblanc]

ICE can't function without the private sector. Here are ICE's top corporate collaborators:

Amazon/Whole Foods
Target
Palantir
Every major hotel chain
Home Depot
Lowe’s
AT&T
Aramark
Eastern Airlines
Global X
Omni Air
Flock Systems
Dell
UPS
FedEx
Motorola Solutions
LexisNexis
Thompson Reuters

We don't need vague calls to stop shopping at these places or one-off rallies — we need sit-ins, pressure campaigns, *organized* boycotts, employee and consumer petitions, sickouts, demands from elected officials, and non-violent disruption to force these companies to immediately break from ICE

[Dan Savage @fakedansavage]

Every Democratic member of Congress should be on a plane to Minneapolis right now to join the people protesting in the streets. Federal elected officials should physically place themselves between the public and these dangerous thugs sent to terrorize this American city.

[Benjamin Dictor @BenjaminDictor]

SCOTUS will preserve the independence of the Fed while destroying the independence of the NLRB.

Our government was designed to protect capital, not workers.

[UAW @UAW]

STATEMENT ON FORD PLANT VISIT FROM VP LAURA DICKERSON, FORD DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR

The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union —the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.

The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.

Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.

[Chris Bohner @Radish_Research]

Essentially reading for anyone in the labor movement ⬇️⬇️⬇️

[Eric Blanc @_ericblanc]

Subscribe here to get my writings on working-class organizing and politics, it's free

https://t.co/hT2zhNbRj3