Posts tagged Elon Musk
Thousands of Federal Employees Land Work-From-Home Deal Ahead of Trump
December 5, 2024 // Unions have been pushing the outgoing Biden administration to extend existing collective bargaining agreements with federal workers in advance of Trump's inauguration next month, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Some union leaders are urging the current White House team to issue an executive order calling for such moves.
Comer highlights bill challenging work from home deal for federal employees
December 4, 2024 // The protections target tens of thousands of Social Security staff and are part of several efforts in anticipation of Trump’s plan to reshape America’s workforce, Bloomberg first reported. The outlet noted that the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing more than 40,000 employees, reached an agreement with the Social Security Administration (SSA) last week.
Commentary: Labor unions prepare for battle against Trump’s federal workforce plans
November 25, 2024 // Federal unions will be a favorite target, as they were previously. In 2018, Trump issued three executive orders that nearly blew away the ability of federal employees — notably, not just union members — to be fully represented by labor organizations, particularly in grievance procedures. President Joe Biden revoked those orders shortly after taking office. Beyond what Trump did before, what he might do next has union leaders ready for a fight

US federal workers hope Republicans will curb Trump, Musk firings
November 22, 2024 // The U.S. government is the country's largest employer. While workers are concentrated in Washington, D.C., and nearby Maryland and northern Virginia, some of the greatest concentrations of federal workers can be found in areas like southern Oklahoma and northern Alabama, which are represented by Republicans in the House. The biggest federal employees' union, the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 750,000 federal workers, is also looking to Congress, said Jacqueline Simon, the AFGE's policy director.
Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX challenge labor agency’s constitutionality in federal court
November 20, 2024 // Attorneys for Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX argued in a federal appeals court Monday that the National Labor Relations Board’s structure is unconstitutional, advancing a legal fight that may last into the Trump administration where Musk is expected to oversee bureaucratic cost-cutting. A panel of three judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard separate oral arguments in the SpaceX and Amazon lawsuits, which the two companies initiated after the labor agency filed complaints against them in disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing.

US labor board bans mandatory anti-union meetings in ruling against Amazon
November 13, 2024 // The decision could also be overturned by the board when it gains a Republican majority, as the agency often reverses itself after changes in leadership. President-elect Donald Trump could have a Republican-led board in place as soon as next year. At least 10 U.S. states including New York, California, and most recently Alaska have banned captive audience meetings or prohibited employers from disciplining workers who do not attend them. The NLRB said its decision would only be applied moving forward and not to pending cases.
‘Feeling of dread’ spreads across federal workforce as second Trump term looms
November 13, 2024 // Out of the more than 2 million federal employees working in the US and abroad, Schedule F could have a profound impact on the DC-Maryland-Virginia metro area, where nearly 449,000 federal workers live, according to a 2024 report. The District of Columbia itself has the largest individual chunk of federal workers in any state or territory, with more than 162,000.

Musk Wins Appeal Over Tweet He Had to Delete About Union Push
October 28, 2024 // Friday’s ruling arose from an incident in 2017 when Mr. Ortiz was involved in an effort to unionize the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif. As part of the campaign, he posted screen shots of co-workers who opposed unionization on a private Facebook page. When an investigator for Tesla questioned Mr. Ortiz about the photos, he said he couldn’t remember where he had gotten them, which he later acknowledged was a lie. Tesla then fired him, with lying cited as the cause. A labor board investigation found that Mr. Ortiz had been fired because of his unionization campaign, not because of his false statement.
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su Criticizes Donald Trump’s Labor Record at IOP
October 22, 2024 // Though Su declined to address the former president by name, she argued that “hypothetically,” opposition to overtime pay, sexual harassment, and support for Elon Musk are incompatible with a “pro-worker” position. “I don’t care how many McDonald’s drive-throughs you pretend to work at,” Su said, referencing Trump’s Sunday visit to a Philadelphia McDonald’s where he served fries and answered questions through the drive-through window. Su was joined by Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO to discuss the future of the American Labor Movement. Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of “UNION”— a documentary film that followed the unionization of Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York — were also on the panel.
Unions face a moment of truth in Michigan in this year’s presidential race
October 18, 2024 // Union leaders have said his first term was far from worker-friendly, citing unfavorable rulings from the nation’s top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as unfulfilled promises of automotive jobs. They emphasize Democratic achievements in states like Michigan, including the recent repeal of a union-restricting right-to-work law enacted over a decade ago by a Republican-controlled legislature. With membership dwindling in states like Michigan, Fain will need to attract more than just union workers to secure a victory for Harris, who has campaigned in the state alongside him. If the union president cannot deliver Michigan after all these efforts, it could raise questions about his union's political influence in future elections.