Latest news with #MorningShift
NZ Autocar
5 days ago
- Automotive
- NZ Autocar
LDV NZ launches Terron 9 ute at Fieldays
Following a recent preview, LDV NZ will unleash its Terron 9 double-cab ute to the public at Fieldays next week. This new four-wheel drive workhorse features a 2.5L 164kW/520Nm turbodiesel and a 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity. So it's another up-for-anything ute that LDV says works as hard as Fieldays attendees do. The Terron 9 is larger (5500mm) than many of the market's best-known utes and joins LDV's smaller T60 line-up. It will form the centrepiece of LDV's site I50 at Mystery Creek from June 11 to 14. After a debut for the brand at Fieldays last year, 2025 promises to be even bigger. There's also the opportunity for showgoers to meet and greet LDV's brand ambassadors. Queenstown-based qualified carpenter Chelsea Roper (She Builds Bro) will be making the trip north on Friday and Saturday. The Morning Shift's podcasters will make an appearance at the LDV site on Saturday. Professional rugby player Katelyn Vaha'akolo who, like her fellow LDV ambassadors also drives an LDV T60 ute, will also be onsite on Saturday. LDV will have exclusive Fieldays offers for those considering a purchase during the event. For example, anyone buying an LDV vehicle there will receive a free accessory pack valued at $3000. This offer runs until June 30. Inchcape New Zealand General Manager Kym Mellow is confident the Terron 9 will set a new benchmark for utes in New Zealand. He is looking forward to seeing the public's reaction to it. 'The all-new LDV Terron 9 is built for power, designed for versatility, and is ready to redefine the ute experience' he said. 'Expanding our range, the Terron 9 brings toughness, intelligence, and performance to the next level. Backed by LDV's commitment to quality, it comes with a seven-year warranty, giving you confidence on every journey.' Also at the LDV site (#I50) there will be a range of T60 utes and LDV's Deliver 7 van with 2.0 turbodiesel power.
Politico
17-03-2025
- Business
- Politico
Sanders puts Musk in focus amid DOGE cuts
QUICK FIX WHO'S REALLY RUNNING DOL?: Since losing his post atop the Senate HELP Committee, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — the panel's current ranking member — has unsurprisingly been frosty toward President Donald Trump's nominees to lead the Labor Department. However, amid the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's effort to purge federal employees, Sanders has taken a more uninterested tone in the nominees themselves by dismissing the president's picks and asserting that Elon Musk will ultimately be the one to shape their agencies. 'The next secretary of Labor, the next secretary of Education, the next secretary of [Housing and Urban Development], next secretary of the Treasury is Elon Musk and let us understand that reality and play go along with the charades,' Sanders said before lawmakers voted to confirm Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Sanders also left Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling's nomination hearing early and has made sure to highlight Musk at nearly every hearing he's attended. When asked about how he's approached the nominee process for Trump's picks, he told Shift last week that he only left one hearing early, but his move to shift the focus to Musk is one of the many strategies Democrats are attempting in standing up to Trump's effort to remake the federal government. As Democrats have resorted to pointing fingers and searching for a coherent message since Trump's victory last fall, Sanders has hit the road to hold rallies with strong attendance where he's focused on pocketbook issues while calling attention to the risks of taking a chainsaw to federal agencies. With several additional labor and employment nominees set to appear for the committee in the coming months, Sanders is likely to continue highlighting Musk's role in the federal government, especially as new polling shows that his work leading DOGE is deeply unpopular with the American public. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, March 17. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@ lukenye@ rdugyala@ and gmott@ Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. AROUND THE AGENCIES NOT SO EAGER: Federal employees reinstated by a pair of district court rulings last week aren't rushing to reclaim their jobs and are already filling out applications for other roles after losing faith in their previous employers. 'The government hates us,' Oleka Chmura, 28, an employee who previously worked at Yellowstone National Park, told The Washington Post. 'I was originally putting up with it because I believed in the park's mission, but I can't go back to the anxiety of, 'Am I fired or am I not?'' Some employees were excited to return to work but discovered that their agencies weren't part of lawsuits in California and Maryland that led federal judges to order the Trump administration to call fired feds back to work. More agency news: 'UFL players file complaint with NLRB over CBA talks,' from ESPN. Even more: "Federal Budget Ax Threatens Contractors, but Could Also Be an Opportunity,' from The New York Times. On The Hill FUNDING FALLOUT: Democrats continued their recriminations into the weekend after Senate leaders chose to support a stopgap funding bill that the party seemingly broadly opposed, with many directing their ire at Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Some lawmakers did come to his defense, including Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who notably voted against the bill. 'Leader Schumer has a very difficult job. I don't envy the job that he has,' Murphy said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' adding: 'I still support Senator Schumer as leader.' Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who appeared on ABC's 'This Week,' threw cold water on the anger directed against his colleagues who backed the continuing resolution, arguing that entering a government shutdown would've empowered the Office of Personnel Management to pursue deeper cuts to the federal workforce. Schumer backlash continues: ''Uniting anger': Democrats fume over Schumer's handling of funding fight,' from our Holly Otterbein, Lisa Kashinsky, Jordain Carney, Elena Schneider and Brakkton Booker. Unions NOT ON THEIR WATCH: Nurses unions are pushing back against hospitals for adding AI tools that monitor patients' vital signs and develop action plans for care as they grapple with staff shortages, The Associated Press reports. 'Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses,' said Michelle Mahon of National Nurses United. 'The entire ecosystem is designed to automate, de-skill and ultimately replace caregivers.' The union has organized more than a dozen protests urging hospitals to let their staff dictate how the technology is used, and guardrails against discipline for personnel who choose not to follow medical advice from AI. In the Workplace DISTRICT DOWNTURN: The D.C. economy could enter a recession as early as this year due to the widespread job losses from the Trump administration's effort to trim the federal workforce, CNN reports. Oxford Economics estimates the region could lose nearly $5 billion in wages from cuts to federal jobs, which will likely ripple through the region's consumer-facing businesses, including hospitality and retail. Not just D.C.: 'DOGE Upheaval Arrives in Cities Far From Washington,' from The Wall Street Journal. TESLA TUMBLES: AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund, is dropping its Tesla shares over the company's worker rights record and Elon Musk's support for far-right political candidates, Bloomberg reports. The move comes after the company's stocks tumbled in recent weeks, prompting Trump to hold an event at the White House featuring the EVs to show support for Musk. The company's stocks briefly began to rebound last week. Conservatives began to rally around the car brand last week, while the left escalated their attacks against Musk, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who announced last week that he was getting rid of his Tesla and called the vehicle 'a rolling billboard' for Musk. More workplace news: 'Davos organiser promises revamp after probe into workplace discrimination,' from the Financial Times. WHAT WE'RE READING — 'How Trump's 'No Tax on Tips' Could Backfire for the Working Class,' from Bloomberg. — 'To Investigate Labor Abuse, We Began With a Question: Who Profits?,' from The New York Times. — 'CEOs Face More Accountability When a Board Member Has Military Experience,' from The Wall Street Journal. — 'Other states are preparing for the House NIL settlement. But can Florida schools compete?,' from our Andrew Atterbury. THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!
Politico
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
DOGE critics seek docs on use of AI
QUICK FIX FIRST IN SHIFT: A group that has emerged as one of the biggest thorns in the side of the Trump administration is submitting public records requests today to more than a half-dozen federal agencies seeking information about the use of artificial intelligence to make personnel decisions. Democracy Forward's target list is unsurprising to anyone who has tracked the start of President Donald Trump's second term. It includes DOGE, USAID, the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, as well as the Departments of State, Treasury and Defense. 'DOGE and this administration are operating in a shroud of secrecy, and their 'govern by chaos' tactics have only made government less efficient and caused disruptions to our safety and security,' Skye Perryman, the organization's president, said in a statement. The speed at which the Trump administration is implementing major policies — coupled with the opacity it is affording DOGE even as it makes mistakes and exaggerates purported cost savings — has frustrated members of Congress, flummoxed federal judges, and drawn outrage from good government groups. An environmental organization, the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a FOIA lawsuit last week in a battle over DOGE records, per POLITICO's E&E News. Democracy Forward said that the inquiry was prompted by the mass messages sent out to federal employees, several of which have been sent from OPM email addresses but appear to have originated with Elon Musk and his DOGE acolytes, and public reporting that the Trump administration may use AI tools such as large language models to sift through them. Another batch of emails went out over the weekend asking federal workers to provide five bullet points of what they accomplished last week, as our Danny Nguyen and Holly Otterbein report. The first attempt at this was met with contradictory messages from different agency leaders but generated about a million responses, the White House said last Tuesday. It would be rather inefficient — to put it mildly — to have people in the government parse through that mountain of information, raising suspicions that the format is designed with AI in mind. 'The American people deserve to know what is going on – including if and how artificial intelligence is being used to reshape the departments and agencies people rely on daily,' Perryman said. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, March 3. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@ lukenye@ rdugyala@ and gmott@ Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. AROUND THE AGENCIES OFFICE OF SPECIAL CONSIDERATION: A federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's firing of a federal workforce watchdog was illegal — teeing up a Supreme Court showdown over the president's claim to nearly absolute control of the executive branch, our Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson concluded that Hampton Dellinger — confirmed last year as head of the Office of Special Counsel — may continue to serve his five-year term despite Trump's effort to remove him from the post via email last month. Jackson ruled that Dellinger's duties, which include holding executive branch officials accountable for ethics breaches and fielding whistleblower complaints, were meant to be independent from the president, making the position a rare exception to the president's generally vast domain over the executive branch. Dellinger's 'independence is inextricably intertwined with the performance of his duties,' Jackson wrote in a 67-page opinion. 'The elimination of the restrictions on plaintiff's removal would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President: its independence. The Court concludes that they must stand.' INDIRECT BLOW: Ray Limon, a Democratic appointee on the Merit Systems Protection Board, announced his retirement Friday as his term on the three-person panel expired, the agency announced. With Limon gone, the board is down to Democratic Chair Cathy Harris and Republican Henry Kerner, though Trump fired Harris in mid-February and designated Kerner chair in her place. A federal judge quickly reinstated Harris on a temporary basis pending further litigation. MSPB, typically a low-profile agency, hears appeals filed by federal workers challenging adverse employment actions that allegedly violate civil service rules. The board can still rule on cases without a third member, but it opens the door to partisan deadlocks that can leave cases unresolved for extended stretches — a dire prospect for the reams of rank-and-file employees put out of work by the Trump administration seeking to reverse their terminations. And if Trump succeeds in court to oust Harris, the MSPB would be without a quorum until the White House nominates replacements and the Senate confirms them, stymying things even further. CHOPS COME TO SSA: The Social Security Administration said Friday it intends to trim more than 10 percent of its headcount by cutting 7,000 employees from its roughly 57,000 workforce. 'The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,' the agency said in a release, adding that '[r]umor of a 50 percent reduction is false.' It said it would also close six of its 10 regional offices, leaving four. SSA in recent days has also said it would shutter its Office of Transformation, which is labeled 'wasteful,' and the 'duplicative' Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. Staffers in both branches were put on administrative leave as a result. — Related: 'Top Social Security deputies leave amid rumored staff cuts,' from The Government Executive. More agency news: 'Trump Labor Department appeals ruling that blocked Biden overtime pay rule,' from Reuters. On the Hill BURROW CHECK: The head of the House Oversight Committee on Friday opened a probe into dozens of federal agencies to examine hirings that occurred late in the Biden administration, our Hailey Fuchs reports. Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters to 24 departments and other agencies seeking details about all new employees who began between the start of 2024 and Jan. 20 of this year, when President Donald Trump was sworn in, as well as the names of all political appointees during the Biden administration who have remained in the executive branch. 'We are concerned about job postings and hiring surges not based on actual agency mission needs, but based on political goals, including a desire to 'Trump-proof' agency staffs by placing personnel opposed to President Donald Trump's agenda,' Comer wrote in separate letters to current leadership at the various executive branches. Unions The Office of Personnel Management last week instructed agencies to detail the amount of time that shop stewards or others employed by the federal government spent on union-related activities. OPM's memo told agencies to respond by March 14 with the amount of on-the-clock time that was utilized for things like contract negotiation or grievance disputes, as well as other expenses like the use of government office space and information on what jobs within the government that union officials hold and their compensation. The memo issued Thursday goes on to tell agencies to follow up by the start of April with a deeper accounting for the 2024 fiscal year that ran through Sept. 30. Republicans have long looked at ways to reel in federal workers' organizing rights and criticized allowing union officials to tend to labor activities during government business hours as wasteful. More union news: 'Teacher union head taking fight to Elon Musk through Tesla stock,' from The Hill. In the Workplace SPIES LIKE US: The Trump administration's buzzsaw to the federal workforce is creating a cohort of disgruntled former employees that countries like Russia and China are seeking to exploit for their own ends, CNN reports. 'At least two countries have already set up recruitment websites and begun aggressively targeting federal employees on LinkedIn, two of the sources said. … A document produced by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said the intelligence community assessed with 'high confidence' that foreign adversaries were trying to recruit federal employees and 'capitalize' on the Trump administration's plans for mass layoffs, according to a partly redacted copy reviewed by CNN.' More workplace news: 'Goldman Sachs Removes Diversity Goals After Trump DEI Order,' from Bloomberg. Even more: 'Partnership for Public Service lays off dozens of staff,' from The Government Executive. IMMIGRATION COMING CIRCUS: The Democratic mayors of New York City, Boston, Chicago and Denver are set to testify Wednesday before the House about their 'sanctuary city' policies that limit their engagement with federal immigration enforcement authorities, our Hailey Fuchs, Shia Kapos, EMily Ngo and Kelly Garrity report. Comer, the Oversight chair, last week sat down to discuss immigration policy with Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and the architect of some of Trump's most aggressive efforts to curb illegal immigration, according to a person granted anonymity to describe a private meeting. Part of the goal is to emulate the dramatic moments from last year's college antisemitism hearings, which contributed to the ouster of multiple Ivy League presidents. More immigration news: 'Canada Curbed Illegal Migration to the U.S. Now People Are Heading to Canada,' from The New York Times. WHAT WE'RE READING — 'General Services Administration cuts tech unit,' from our Danny Nguyen. — 'In the federal court system, law clerks find little recourse for bullying and abuse,' from NPR. — 'Sean Penn Eyes Trump's Government Overhaul to Escape Labor Case,' from Bloomberg Law. — 'Trump's media company defends its 'diversity and inclusion' policies as his administration dismantles DEI,' from CNN. THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!
Politico
19-02-2025
- Business
- Politico
Your guide to Lori Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation hearing
QUICK FIX — Lori Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation hearing is today. — A federal judge temporarily reinstated Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris. — Trump's pick to lead OSHA oversaw a workplace with dozens of safety violations. GOOD MORNING. It's Wednesday, Feb. 19. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@ and lukenye@ Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories Driving the day TODAY'S THE DAY: Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer will appear before the Senate HELP Committee for her confirmation hearing today — but her path to officially becoming President Donald Trump's Labor secretary is murkier than it was a month ago. Republican lawmakers will undoubtedly press her on her previous support for the PRO Act, a bill championed by Democrats that makes it easier for unions to organize. However, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's push to access sensitive agency data — which a judge cleared last week — is unsettling many Democrats. They'll want to know whether Chavez-DeRemer will follow along with Elon Musk's overhaul. Here are the issues we expect lawmakers will focus on during the hearing. DOGE: With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) planning to oppose Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation within the committee, Democrats have additional leverage to block the nominee, if she plans to gut the Labor Department. Some Democrats already told POLITICO that they plan to vote against Chavez-DeRemer. But others, like ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), said they had positive meetings with her and are waiting to learn more about her plans before passing judgment. Biden-era rules: Democrats will likely press Chavez-DeRemer on whether she plans to carry out and defend many of the Biden administration's proposed regulations, including some that were unveiled shortly before Trump took office, like the proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for disabled workers. Republicans have already tried to unwind some of those rules through Congressional Review Act resolutions last year. But they also may want to hear from Chavez-DeRemer on how she'll approach rulemaking. Who gives a helping hand?: Many confirmation hearings have featured brief moments when Republican lawmakers, looking to bail out one of the president's Cabinet picks after an intense line of attack, ask easier questions or jump in to defend nominees against Democrats. With angst on both sides of the aisle over Chavez-DeRemer's nomination, that role could fall to Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who was key to advancing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She'll also be introduced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has supported her bid to lead DOL despite his initial reservations about her previous pro-union leanings. More on Chavez-DeRemer: 'Trump's Labor pick will need unusual help to get confirmed,' from Semafor. ICYMI: District Judge John Bates on Friday refused to block DOGE's effort to access sensitive information at DOL, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services, ruling that the AFL-CIO and other plaintiffs lacked standing. LOOK WHO'S BACK: A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily reinstated Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris after Trump fired her last week, Nick reported. She'll be able to return to her role until the court rules on her motion for a preliminary injunction. District Judge Rudolph Contreras set a hearing on that issue for March 3. 'Were the President able to displace independent agency heads from their positions for the length of litigation such as this, those officials' independence would shatter,' Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in a 21-page ruling. DOJ did not return a request for comment, and the MSPB declined to comment. Harris' victory could be a positive sign for other Democratic officials whom Trump fired from labor-related panels, some of whom are suing or weighing lawsuits. AROUND THE AGENCIES A FLEETING ESG WIN: A federal judge in Texas on Friday reaffirmed his previous ruling upholding a Biden administration rule permitting so-called ESG considerations in certain investment decisions. Last summer, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals kicked the case back to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, following the Supreme Court's dismantling of so-called Chevron deference, in which the courts gave leeway to federal agencies to fill in the gaps in ambiguous statutes. Kacsmaryk had partially relied upon Chevron in his 2023 ruling upholding DOL's regulation, so the appellate court determined it made sense to have him reassess the case using the rubric outlined by the high court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Ultimately Kacsmaryk ended up in the same place and called the challenge led by a gaggle of GOP attorneys general 'the wooden textualism that courts should endeavor to avoid.' 'The 2022 Rule does not permit a fiduciary to act for other interests than the beneficiaries' or for other purposes than the beneficiaries' financial benefit,' he wrote. The judge's decision stand out as Kacsmaryk was a frequent headache for the Biden administration — most notably in ruling against the validity of federal approval for abortion drug mifepristone, as well issues ranging from firearm background checks to immigration enforcement. Regardless, the case may return to the 5th Circuit for further review and the Trump administration may look to return to a regulation it issued the first go-around that limited fiduciaries to focusing solely on risk and return. NOT A GOOD LOOK: David Keeling, Trump's pick to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, oversaw a workplace with dozens of heat-related injuries while serving as UPS' top safety official, our Ariel Wittenberg reported for POLITICO's E&E News. OSHA in 2019 cited UPS for leaving drivers exposed to temperatures that reached 104 degrees and sought the maximum penalty of $13,260. Why it matters: Keeling will play a role in determining whether OSHA proceeds with its proposed heat safety rule that was crafted during the Biden administration, which requires employers to provide workers with water and rest while working in extreme heat. The Teamsters, which represents UPS drivers and has been critical of how it treats its workers, praised Keeling's nomination and noted his pre-executive experience as an on-the-ground employee for the company. More agency news: ''Good luck with that.' Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing,' from CNN. For whom the bell tolls: 'Dozens of employees at U.S. DOGE Service dismissed,' from Government Executive. Unions BLOWOUT LOSS: Supporters of an effort to unionize an Amazon facility in North Carolina lost decisively over the weekend by a roughly 3-1 margin, The Raleigh News & Observer reports. Nearly 2,500 workers at RDU1 in the town of Garner voted against joining the union, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, versus the 829 who voted in favor of organizing. It is the latest blow for labor organizers to crack into Amazon, with the surprise 2022 upset at JFK8 on Staten Island increasingly an outlier. More on the election: 'After a North Carolina Election Loss, Amazon Union Organizers Must Think Bigger, Bolder,' from The Nation. In the Workplace BUYERS' MARKET: D.C.-area law firms are seeing a flood of interest from government attorneys looking to leave the civil service amid the Trump administration's disruption of the federal workforce, Bloomberg Law reports. The surge of interest is a boon to private firms, particularly as their pay packages are often far more lucrative than what the government can offer and the competition lessens applicants' room to bargain. Fun fact: 'Only the New York metropolitan area has more attorneys than the 48,000 lawyers working in the DC region, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics.' (NOT ACTUALLY) SELLERS' MARKET: The recent culling of the federal workforce is not actually leading to a spike of D.C. home listings, WUSA reports. Local real estate knowers say it's just the natural cyclical fluctuations the capital experiences, particularly whenever presidential administrations change. WHAT WE'RE READING — 'Mass layoffs, court challenges and buyouts: Making sense of Trump's plans to shrink the federal workforce,' from our Andrew Howard. — 'It was the deadliest workplace in America. So why didn't safety regulators shut it down?' from The Washington Post. — 'Republicans are teeing up the next big immigration test for nervous Democrats. Activist groups are watching,' from our Nicholas Wu and Myah Ward. — 'The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory,' from Bloomberg. THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!
Politico
10-02-2025
- Business
- Politico
Courts tap brakes on Trump's plans for federal workers
QUICK FIX THE FRONT LINES: Hundreds of federal workers who are members of the American Federation of Government Employees will be meeting up in downtown D.C. on Monday for the union's annual confab as President Donald Trump has completely upended their lives. The administration — with help from Elon Musk and his compatriots — has already tried to end the U.S. Agency for International Development and Consumer Finance Protection Bureau as we know it, and even the core functions of Cabinet-level agencies like the Department of Education could also be on the chopping block. Government workers have vacillated between dejection and defiance as the Trump administration has called into question their work and value. In some instances, the federal courts have already intervened — as our Kyle Cheney reports — granting several emergency pleas filed by unions and other groups seeking to halt the Trump administration's plans. A Trump-appointed judge on Friday prevented the White House from placing more than 2,000 USAID workers on leave and ordered reinstatement for hundreds of others. And a judge in New York handcuffed DOGE from accessing a crucial Treasury Department payments system — drawing the disdain of Vice President JD Vance. However a Republican-appointed judge in D.C. late Friday opted not to immediately restrict DOGE's access to DOL data, despite his misgivings about the possibility of privacy violations as your host reported. Prior to that ruling, Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, had urged the Trump administration to hash out a deal with a group of labor unions — including AFGE — who filed the lawsuit that would place guardrails on DOGE while still allowing it to proceed in some fashion. The government appeared open to such an agreement, based on testimony Friday, though talks ultimately broke down that afternoon and Bates' ruling that the unions lacked the necessary legal standing to seek a temporary restraining order suggests they may have overplayed their hand. A number of congressional Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. Gerry Connolly(D-Va.),Jamie Raskin(D-Md.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), as well as Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick are scheduled to address the AFGE conference today. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, Feb. 10. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Spoons are apparently the new safety pin. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@ and lukenye@ Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. AROUND THE AGENCIES LCD LIEUTENANT LATEST: Keith Sonderling, a former top Republican official at the OL and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, made tens of thousands of dollars after leaving outside of the government last year. Sonderling, who Trump nominated to serve as deputy Labor secretary under Lori Chavez-DeRemer, reported just over $50,000 in consulting fees according to financial documents and an ethics disclosure released over the weekend by the Office of Government Ethics. He left the EEOC not long after his term expired last summer (agency rules allow commissioners to stay on in so-called holdover status.) Sonderling met with several senators last week in their Capitol Hill offices ahead of a possible springtime confirmation hearing. Chavez-DeRemer will appear before the Senate HELP Committee on Wednesday. More agency news: 'U.S. intelligence, law enforcement candidates face Trump loyalty test,' from The Washington Post. Even more news: 'The Trump Admin Paused a Workplace Safety Council Established Under Federal Law,' from NOTUS. Smash cut: 'Secret Service airing recruitment ad from Hollywood director Michael Bay during Super Bowl,' from CNN. In the Workplace DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS: Working-age immigrants were a key bulwark for the economy under former President Joe Biden, but now economists are fretting what Trump's crackdown means for the job market, our Sam Sutton reports. The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added 143,000 jobs in January, with the jobless rate slipping to 4 percent. The growth in payrolls was lifted by new arrivals whose legal status runs the gamut. The labor force participation rate among foreign-born individuals was 66 percent in January, compared with 61.4 percent among native-born workers, according to the release. 'What happens to net immigration over 2025 is a game changer for what we should expect to see in the payroll employment numbers,' said Wendy Edelberg, a former top economist at the Congressional Budget Office who's now the director of The Hamilton Project and a Brookings Institution senior fellow. 'We should get used to much, much smaller numbers than what we've seen over the last couple of years.' Trump says his sweeping agenda of deregulation, increased oil production and lower taxes will unlock growth and beat back inflation — an argument strongly endorsed by the American people in the election. But a broad-based crackdown on immigrants could slow the economy's expansion and choke off a supply of workers that Kansas City Fed researchers and others say have alleviated staffing shortages and eased wage pressures. More workplace news: 'The D.C. Neighborhood Bearing the Brunt of Government Job Cuts,' from The Wall Street Journal. On the Hill CHASING DOGE'S TAIL: Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, on Friday asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the security of IT systems at a trio of agencies including the Labor Department, our Bianca Quillantan reports for Pro subscribers. 'This is a constitutional emergency,' Scott wrote in a letter. 'Insofar as the Inspectors General of both the Departments of Education and Labor have been fired by President Trump, there is now a void of oversight for a very young and inexperienced team and their leader, the world's richest man who operates with 'autonomy almost no one can control,' as they gain dangerously broad powers.' NOT AS I DO: Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) flouted House rules by having a surrogate cast his vote while he was out of town to appear as a guest on a comedy TV show, Punchbowl reports. Donalds is considered a possible gubernatorial candidate in Florida, though as NOTUS reports he is far from the first member of Congress who has bent the rules against having other people cast a vote for them. One problem: Speaker Mike Johnson has been adamantly against proxy voting — even for members of Congress who have recently given birth, as Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) did last month — in the belief that doing so violates the Constitution. A judge in Texas last year partially invalidated protections for pregnant workers passed as part of the 2022 omnibus package on the grounds that the House vote utilized proxy voting. That case is set to go before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later this month. IN THE STATES ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL: Trump's assault on the federal workforce could upend the Virginia gubernatorial race where many of these workers reside, The Associated Press reports. With Virginia and New Jersey as the only states that pick their governor the year after the presidential elections, the contests are often closely watched as a harbinger of the following year's midterms and a referendum on the early days of a presidency. 'And dating to 1977, every time a new president has been elected, the following year Virginia has voted in a governor from the opposite party,' the AP reports. EMERGENCY (UN-PREPAREDNESS): The Trump administration's federal hiring freeze is hindering efforts to bring in new seasonal firefighters just weeks after the devastation across Southern California, NBC News reports. 'Even though President Donald Trump's Jan. 20 executive order says the freeze does not apply to positions related to 'public safety,' federal firefighters are not exempt, according to a person who works in hiring at the Bureau of Land Management.' Try transit: 'Expect Chaos Monday as Nearly 17,000 Return to Work at US Navy Yard,' from HillRag. Immigration BRAIN DRAIN: Trump's war on immigrants may lead to a sharp drop-off in the number of international students pursuing MBAs at universities in the U.S., Bloomberg reports. 'According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, which conducts an annual survey of business schools, the majority of applicants for the class of 2026 in the US (who enrolled this past fall), 61%, came from abroad. But 20 of the top 30 US schools as ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek reduced the number of foreign students in the enrolled class, an analysis of class profiles and figures provided directly by schools shows.' Such students are helpful for schools seeking to bolster their reputation abroad, as well as providing an important revenue stream for universities. WHAT WE'RE READING — 'Veterans Affairs carves out potentially hundreds of thousands of staffers from 'buyout' offer,' from our Holly Otterbein and Ruth Reader. — 'The government's computing experts say they are terrified,' from the Atlantic. — 'DEI Didn't Change the Workforce All That Much. A Look at 13 Million Jobs,' from The Wall Street Journal. — Opinion: 'I Was a Member of the the NLRB. What Trump's Doing to It Now Is Very Illegal,' from Lauren McFerran for Slate. THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!
