Donald Schroeder Comments on Contract Negotiations to Watch in 2025

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Donald Schroeder commented in the Law360 article, “4 Contract Negotiations To Keep An Eye On In 2025,” offering perspective on labor and employment issues employers may confront in the year ahead.

Schroeder suggested that with the current National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on its way out, employers could actually have increased leverage under a new board that is likely to show “more of a modicum of objectivity” under the incoming administration.

“The level of union activity is not likely to diminish in this new administration, but I do think that there will be a little bit more of an even-handed approach to cases by the NLRB,” he added.

Schroeder commented on two companies involved in negotiations of particular interest, Starbucks and Volkswagen. Noting the potential impact of new executive leadership at Starbucks on negotiations, he explained that after continued battles with a union, a company at this stage of talks may be assessing impact to its public image. When unions are not “going away where they are, finding a path to kind of close it out right now, might be more palatable,” Schroeder said.

On Volkswagen’s bargaining negotiations with the United Auto Workers, Schroeder noted the reasonableness of the automaker’s proposed 14% pay bump over four years, but added that “given what unions have been seeking of late, I suspect, it’s dead on arrival.”

(Subscription required)