Axios

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Union insiders and outside observers predict the United Auto Workers will secure a historic victory tonight at the sprawling Volkswagen plant here.

Why it matters: Volkswagen Chattanooga workers are finishing three days of voting on whether to become the only non-Detroit Three automotive assembly plant in the U.S. to be unionized.

The big picture: The UAW lost two previous votes to organize the factory in 2014 and 2019, but it appears to be on the precipice of a win on its third attempt.

• "This time does feel different on many dimensions," Harvard Law School professor and Center for Labor executive director Sharon Block tells Axios. "The campaign has been very different, the leadership of the UAW has been very different and the pushback has seemingly been very different."

Opposition among Southern Republicans has intensified in recent days.

• Beyond Chattanooga, the UAW has secured a vote to organize the Mercedes-Benz factory in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
• And it is making progress in its bid to organize other facilities, including Tesla, Hyundai and Toyota sites.

Between the lines: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee — along with the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas — issued a statement on Tuesday bashing the UAW campaign to organize plants in their states.

• The effort is "driven by misinformation and scare tactics," and "we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch," the governors said.

🛢️ The Biden administration is blocking new oil and natural gas leases in northern Alaska. (Axios)

🇨🇳 Apple removed WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China under orders from Beijing. (Axios)

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comment on a draft form for 2025, 1099-DA, to report "digital asset proceeds from broker transactions."

Why it matters: As tax treatment of these assets becomes more formalized, the industry moves out of the regulatory grey area, allowing more players in the financial industry to get involved.

Usually when bombs are dropping in the Middle East, the market reaction is predictable: Stocks and other risky assets sell off, bonds surge and oil rallies.

The big picture: Those effects haven't been completely absent from conflict between Israel and Iran, but they have been muted, as traders seem to assess that both sides are seeking to keep up guardrails and avoid full-scale war.

Ghana and Sri Lanka announced major setbacks this week in their yearslong efforts to restructure their national debts.

Why it matters: Debt restructurings are taking too long — and the international lending community, especially the global financiers who descended on Washington, D.C., this week for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, is under pressure to fix it.

TSMC lowered its 2024 growth outlook for the overall chip market today, sending its U.S. listed shares down nearly 5%.

• The world's largest contract chip manufacturer said it expects the semiconductor market — excluding memory chips — to grow about 10% this year, versus the "more than 10%" it forecast three months ago.

Between the lines: Driving the lowered forecast was chip demand from the auto industry — which TSMC now sees as declining — and a muted bounceback from smartphones and personal computers, the company told analysts on a conference call today.

🧬 23andMe's CEO wants to take the DNA-testing company private after its enterprise value turned negative. (WSJ)

🏠 Sales of existing homes fell by 4.3% from February to March — the sharpest drop in more than a year. (CNN)

Digital rewards company Ibotta debuted today at $117 after pricing at $88 per share Wednesday night.

• The opening trade marks a 33% increase, as the IPO market continues to shed its inertia. Shares closed at $103.25, up over 17%.

Zoom in: Walmart-backed Ibotta raised $577.3 million in its IPO at a $2.7 billion valuation.

• It was a significant liquidity event for many of its individual shareholders, CEO Bryan Leach told Axios.

State of play: Ibotta joins a cadre of tech companies that have seen a relatively warm reception from public markets in recent months, including Klaviyo, Instacart and Reddit.

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"We're off to a good start in 2024."

Increasingly emboldened workers are demanding union protections at some of some of America's blue-chip companies.

Why it matters: The U.S. worker unionization rate hit a new low in 2023, but public support for unions is near a six-decade high.

Here's what's new on Netflix, Hulu, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Peacock and Paramount+.

What we're watching: A new season of Netflix's social competition show, the second installment of "Rebel Moon" and a new documentary about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

With the world's finance ministers gathered in Washington this week, one topic is coming up over and over: A surge in the value of the U.S. dollar against most other major currencies is making life complicated for economic policymakers around the world.

Why it matters: The flip side of the stronger dollar is weakening in other major currencies, which tends to fuel inflation in countries that have already been struggling to bring price pressures down.

Elon Musk is asking Tesla shareholders to approve two proposals that would be unthinkable at almost any other public company: Moving the corporate headquarters out of Delaware, and giving the CEO billions in pay that's already been stripped from him by a Delaware judge.

Why it matters: The votes are effectively a referendum on Elon exceptionalism. He seems to be confident he's going to win them both, on the grounds that keeping Elon happy — at almost any price — is ultimately in shareholders' best interests.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to hire a new batch of air traffic controllers amid a push to beef up staffing at many of the country's towers and other air traffic control (ATC) facilities.

Why it matters: Wannabe air traffic controllers don't need a degree — meaning the job may appeal to the many young Americans who are turning to trade and vocational work instead of a college education, as Axios' Erica Pandey reports.

Austin's tech workforce grew faster than any other metro area between 2019 and 2023, while New York City won the biggest share of relocating tech workers and the San Francisco Bay Area continued to dominate AI talent, per new data from VC firm SignalFire.

Why it matters: The U.S. is able to support a growing number of second-tier tech hubs, which also include Seattle and Boston, without undercutting the Bay Area, whose tech workforce continued to grow despite the extra competition and heavy layoffs in 2022 and 2023.