Posts tagged Rick Scott
Trump accelerates push to reward loyalty in federal workforce
June 16, 2025 // Vinnie Vernuccio, president of the Institute for the American Worker and member of the transition team for the labor department in Trump’s first term, said that it is costly and time-consuming to try to fire workers, and a new rule to reclassify policy-related positions would make it easier for the administration to ensure their reforms aren’t hindered. “These career employees could throw sand in the gears for policies they don’t like,” Vernuccio said. Vernuccio added that the rule change would affect only career federal employees in policymaking roles, which OPM has estimated is about 50,000 positions, or about two percent of the Federal civilian workforce. “The sky is not going to fall,” Vernuccio said.
Ranking Member Cassidy, Kiley Introduce CRA to Overturn New Biden Regulation Threatening 27 Million American Independent Contractors
March 6, 2024 // Independent contractors, or freelancers, make their own hours to fit their schedule and decide where and how they want to work. The Biden administration rule attempts to restrict the ability of American workers to be an independent contractor and take advantage of the flexibility it provides. The rule creates a non-exhaustive, six-factor litmus test for unelected bureaucrats to interpret and decide who is and who is not classified as an independent contractor. It also casts as large a net as possible and gives less legal certainty to independent contractors impacted by the regulation. “The Biden administration’s priority should not be to do whatever makes it easier to forcibly and coercively unionize workers. It should be to increase individual freedom and opportunity,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This new Biden rule does the opposite, jeopardizing 27 million workers’ ability to make their own hours and make a living without being pressured into joining a union.”
Starbucks, union in legal battle over pro-Palestinian social media post
October 19, 2023 // Starbucks sued Workers United in federal court in Iowa Wednesday, saying a pro-Palestinian social media post from a union account early in the Israel-Hamas war angered hundreds of customers and damaged its reputation. Starbucks is suing for trademark infringement, demanding that Workers United stop using the name "Starbucks Workers United" for the group that is organizing the coffee company's workers. Starbucks also wants the group to stop using a circular green logo that resembles Starbucks' logo. Workers United responded with its own filing, asking a federal court in Pennsylvania to rule that it can continue to use Starbucks' name and a similar logo. Workers United also said Starbucks defamed the union by implying that it supports terrorism and violence.
Randi Weingarten Appointed to DHS School Safety Advisory Council
June 23, 2023 // In the fall of 2020, Weingarten denounced calls to reopen schools as “reckless, callous, cruel.” An AFT affiliate in Chicago similarly condemned then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022, who called her efforts to reopen school “rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.”