| | | | |  | | By Lawrence Ukenye | With help from Nick Niedzwiadek
| | RTO RIFT: President Donald Trump’s flurry of workforce-related executive orders — from mandating employees back into the office full-time to slashing federal agencies’ diversity initiatives — have D.C.-area lawmakers split on just how they can help their constituents. The DMV is highly dependent on Washington’s political structure, with Maryland leading the nation in federal jobs per capita. Although some unions representing federal employees secured teleworking provisions before Trump returned to the White House, many workers lack such protections and are even more likely to be forced back in-person work. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin have both called for robust return-to-office policies in the hopes that in-person work would boost the region’s economy, which has lagged since the Covid-19 pandemic. Bowser, a Democrat, even met with Trump to discuss the issue shortly after his victory in November. Lawmakers in Congress, however, are fiercely pushing back. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), who most recently served as county executive in neighboring Prince George’s County, said Trump’s orders take away from efforts to “lower the cost of housing or prescription medications.” “This is an attack on all the federal workers, but more importantly, it’s an attack on the service that federal workers render to the American people,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said of Trump’s onslaught of directives, which also includes calling for a hiring freeze and revoking a decades-old executive order that protected government employees from discrimination. “Federal workers are there to deliver our mail, to make sure people get their Social Security checks, to make sure that the food that we eat is clean and pure [and] to promote medical and scientific research,” Raskin said. Virginia Democrats like Sen. Mark Warner have also come out against some of Trump's plans for reshuffling the nation's intelligence agencies, concerned that efforts to relocate personnel could be a threat to national security. “It makes no sense,” Warner told Shift. “On top of that, some of his ludicrous ideas about splitting up the intelligence community and spreading it around the country — that wouldn't help our national security.” Alsobrooks, Raskin and Warner said they’ve all been in communication with their state delegations on how to confront the White House’s orders. And several groups — including the National Treasury Employees Union — have already filed lawsuits to challenge the legality of Trump’s plans. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Jan. 27. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Your office might soon be visited (tormented? by an improv comedian. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
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| | WATCHDOGS ON THE OUTS: Trump fired multiple inspectors general across federal agencies, including Larry Turner, who has been at the Department of Labor since 2021. The move will likely kick off a fierce legal battle for the Trump administration and will leave DOL without a watchdog for the early days of Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure at the department, should she be confirmed. While serving as IG, Turner found the U.S. lost more than $45 billion due to pandemic-era unemployment insurance fraud and had most recently begun fielding inquiries from House Education and the Workforce Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) on the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s info-sharing agreement with law firms. Our Megan Messerly, Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney and Nahal Toosi have more. DEI IN THE DUSTBIN: Acting Labor Secretary Vincent Micone on Friday evening ordered a complete halt of all anti-discrimination enforcement activity at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The move follows Trump’s executive order targeting all things diversity, equity and inclusion-related in the federal government — which also revoked a landmark 1965 order promoting fair hiring practices among contractors. “DOL no longer has any authority under the rescinded Executive Order 11246,” Micone’s order states. “This includes all pending cases, conciliation agreements, investigations, complaints, and any other enforcement-related or investigative activity.” SPEAKING OF MICONE: The acting secretary’s appointment under Trump caused a bit of a dustup among D.C.’s LGBTQ+ community. The Washington Blade reported Friday that Micone resigned from the board of the Capital Pride Alliance, which he had served on since 2010. But CPA Board President Ashley Smith said on social media the article’s framing was “misleading” and defended Micone as a dutiful career civil servant. “This decision weighed very heavily on him as his passion for our community is relentless,” Smith said of Micone’s resignation. “This work is bigger than any one individual — it is a collective effort grounded in love, solidarity and resilience.” More on executive orders: "Trump’s executive actions have more muscle this time around, but many are just posturing," from our Irie Sentner and Megan Messerly. News Blogs you can use: “Which Federal Reserve Banks Have Coke Freestyle Machines?” from The Soda Fountain.
| | | FIRST IN SHIFT: Progressive legal group Democracy Forward is sending two separate letters to Trump’s Cabinet picks calling for them to enforce the Biden administration’s overtime and independent contractor rules. “If the Trump administration breaks its promise to working Americans and chooses not to fully defend the rule, we will,” the group wrote. “One or more of our clients or their members will seek to intervene to defend the rule and protect the interests of American workers.” The letters, sent to Pam Bondi and Chavez-DeRemer, who are being vetted to lead the Justice Department and Labor Department respectively, were sent on behalf of the Service Employees International Union, National Employment Law Project, Economic Policy Institute, and Restaurant Opportunity Centers United. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: New York City mayoral candidate Scott Stringer’s consulting firm worked with both the American Federation of Teachers and a group opposing federal transparency laws, our Joe Anuta and Jeff Coltin reported. The dynamic creates an awkward political overlap for Stringer, who will rely on the United Federation of Teachers — a chapter within AFT — for his canvassing operation, should the union choose to endorse him. UFT told POLITICO they have yet to begin their endorsement process. A super PAC funded by the UFT and AFT spent $4 million boosting Stringer’s campaign for city comptroller in 2021.
| | VIBES, NOT GREAT: Federal employees are anxiously contemplating their next moves following Trump’s wave of workforce-related executive orders, our Liz Crampton, Nick Niedzwiadek, Kevin Bogardus, Nahal Toosi and Alice Miranda Ollstein reported. Some workers are preparing to file grievances with their unions or planning to move their communications to more secure channels like Signal. Others are debating whether they should leave public-sector work entirely. And several employees, worried they’ll be rolled into Trump’s workforce order targeting diversity, are leaving their names off of memos and documents they worry could be labeled as DEI-adjacent. “I would love to leave, but I don't know where I'd go, and I am terrified of not being able to pay rent and not having health care,” one State Department staffer said. THANKS BUT NO THANKS: Costco shareholders rejected a proposal from the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research that urged the wholesale club to reevaluate its diversity, equity and inclusion practices, HuffPost reported. The think tank, which made a similar pitch to Apple, argued that Costco’s DEI initiatives hold “litigation, reputational and financial risks to the company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders.” The proposal comes as several U.S. companies — including Walmart and Target — retreat from their DEI policies. However, Costco’s board voted unanimously to ask shareholders to reject the motion, saying it believes “our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary. The report requested by this proposal would not provide meaningful additional information.” Related: “Target Drops DEI Goals and Ends Program to Boost Black Suppliers,” from The Wall Street Journal. More on DEI: "How Trump’s Assault on DEI Will Ripple Across Corporate America," from The Wall Street Journal. More workplace news: “Construction worker shortage persists as Trump eyes mass deportations,” from Lawrence Ukenye.
| | | NOEM SAILS THROUGH: The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security, giving Trump a key ally to help lead his immigration crackdown, our Myah Ward reported. Although the former South Dakota governor has no law enforcement experience, she secured the backing of the president’s border czar Tom Homan and former Trump campaign official Corey Lewandowski. Homan is likely to take the lead on detention efforts, but Noem could play a significant role in the administration’s rulemaking on employment-related visas. Shortly before Trump took office, DHS finalized two new rules that reclassified workers under the H-1B program and sought to bolster the efficiency of the H-2 visa system.
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