‘ON FIRE’: Blowout jobs report shows Trump's economy has held up under Iran pressures - POLITI

Measures of economic growth have also signaled a slowdown, and many economists expect high prices at the pump to eat away at consumer spending in the months ahead. Consumer sentiment is at a record low, according to a closely watched University of Michigan survey, and nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the president’s performance, according to CNN’s polling tracker…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/05/may-jobs-report-trump-economy-iran-00951591

 

Staff decry ‘constant turbulence’ under Trump’s labor secretary, as she blames ‘deep state’ in resignation

“Secretary Chavez-DeRemer advanced the administration’s anti-worker agenda, facing removal only for the scandals she was involved in, and not the decisions she made that reduced oversight of workplace safety and enforcement of labor laws, leaving workers more vulnerable to injury, wage theft and exploitation,” said the congressional members in a statement. “Her tenure leaves workers with less protections and greater economic insecurity.”…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/25/lori-chavez-deremer-resign-trump-labor-secretary-staff 

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer out amid misconduct investigation : NPR

In January, the New York Post first reported that the Labor Department's inspector general was looking into complaints that Chavez-DeRemer was having an affair with a subordinate, drinking alcohol on the job and using taxpayer-funded travel to visit with friends and family members...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/04/20/nx-s1-5739251/labor-secretary-trump-chavez-deremer

The U.S. Dept. of Labor must cancel its "Prayer Service"

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ew9XwOON07U

 

The Education Department gave another agency power to distribute its money. It hasn't gone well. - POLITICO

"Labor is not positioned to do this work," said Amy Loyd, the Education Department's former assistant secretary of career, technical, and adult education during the Biden administration. 

"This is not their core purpose and their core mission. And they may have a crush of smart ED people coming over, but I can't imagine that this is going to be something that is going to improve student outcomes by any stretch," added Loyd, who leads the All4Ed education policy advocacy organization. "This is going to do net harm to our states, to our locals, and to our kids."

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/24/the-education-department-gave-another-agency-power-to-distribute-money-it-hasnt-gone-smoothly-00663976

United Farm Workers sues to block Trump from lowering farmworker pay - The Washington Post

A new Labor Department rule that makes it cheaper for farmers to hire foreign guest-workers illegally drives down wages for U.S. citizen farmworkers, the union said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/21/united-farm-workers-trump-lawsuit/

Labor statistics chief fired by Trump sounds alarm over White House’s ‘dangerous’ interference

"Markets have to trust the data are not manipulated," said Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the Bureau Labor of Statistics, in her first remarks since her firing. "Firing your chief statisticians for releasing data you do not like, it has serious economic consequences."…

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/17/labor-statistics-chief-trump-erika-mcentarfer

 

Trump BUSTED As Disastrous Federal Worker Truth Exposed By Cabinet Meeting fact check

Donald Trump and his Labor Secretary's insane lies about him being supportive of American workers get blown apart by fact-check and reports exposing his attacks on unions, mass federal worker layoffs, unemployment crisis and more. John Iadarola and Sharon Reed break it down on The Damage Report.

Read more here:

Trump told his ‘big, beautiful face’ now hangs on a banner from the Department of Labor -  https://www.the-independent.com/tv/news/trump-banner-labor-department-b2814493.html

"Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary lavished praise on her boss as she announced a banner featuring his ‘big, beautiful face’ now hangs from her departmental headquarters. 

During a cabinet meeting which ran for more than two hours and featured department heads lavishing praise on the President, Lori Chavez-DeRemer encouraged Trump to stop by her offices and see his portrait displayed outside the building. 

"Mr President, I invite you see your big beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor because you are really the transformational president of the American worker,” Chavez-DeRemer said. The effusive praise from cabinet members and the Trump banner have drawn comparisons to North Korea from online critics."

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/ieDPBGmqkB4?si=x0IXVFVbkevvqs74

Trump to cut protections for home health aides, migrant farmworkers - The Washington Post

The U.S. Labor Department announced plans this week to slash more than 60 regulations — including eliminating overtime and minimum wage protections for home health care workers and union organizing rights for migrant farmworkers...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/02/trump-labor-department/

 

Biden DOL Praised for Historic Suit Over Using Debt Threat to Stop Workers From Quitting

Workers' rights advocates are applauding the Biden administration this week for filing a historic lawsuit against a Brooklyn-based healthcare staffing agency for coercive contracts that allegedly violate federal labor law…

https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-labor-advanced-care-staffing

Last-Minute Trump Admin Law Will Let Restaurant Owners Pull Wait Staffers’ Tips, Says Report

 One of the final pieces of legislation rolled out by the Trump administration will reportedly allow restaurant bosses to save money by taking tips away from serving staff to help pay cooks and dishwashers in the back. According to Business Insider, the new rule was published Tuesday by the Department of Labor. It would reportedly allow restaurants to pay backroom staff using tips given to front-of-house staff—effectively taking that expense away from business owners and placing it on workers.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/waiters-tips-can-be-pulled-by-restaurant-owners-in-last-minute-trump-admin-law-says-report

How Labor Secretary Scalia Played Chicken With Meatpacking Workers’ Lives – Mother Jones

A typical poultry, pork, or beef plant employs hundreds of people—by and large immigrants, refugees, and people of color—toiling shoulder to shoulder to dismember and break down carcasses moving down the kill line at rates as high as 390 cattle, 1,295 pigs, or 10,500 birds per hour. Meatpacking workers have always faced hazardous conditions and high injury rates, and their tight working conditions make them highly susceptible to viral pathogens. What spreads inside a meat factory doesn’t stay within its walls: By late May, rural counties that had meatpacking plants with COVID-19 outbreaks had average infection rates five times higher than the rest of rural America. As of mid-July, at least 168 meatpacking workers had died from the disease.

“It’s a terrible experiment in achieving herd immunity,” says David Michaels, a professor of occupational health at George Washington University who led the the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under Obama. By the time the pandemic runs its course, he predicts, “everyone will have become infected” at meatpacking plants. ....
https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/07/labor-eugene-scalia-meatpacking-osha-stress-carpal-tunnel-coronavirus-covid/

Trump administration makes it harder for franchise employees to sue over wages | TheHill

The Department of Labor issued a rule on Sunday that makes it harder to prove that companies are responsible when individual franchise owners or contractors violate wage laws. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement that the rule responds to the president’s aim to reduce regulations that limit economic growth.....
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/478037-trump-administration-makes-it-harder-for-franchise-employees-to-sue-over-wages

Trump math — here’s how the president arrived at a ‘303,000’ jobs number when the government reported 128,000 new jobs - MarketWatch

Markets and economists got an “October surprise” on Friday when the government reported a better-than-expected jobs figure. But, in a tweet that turned heads, President Donald Trump put a particularly rosy spin on those numbers. Trump said the U.S. could have seen 303,000 jobs added in October, more than double the 128,000 reported by the Labor Department. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-math-heres-how-the-president-arrived-at-a-303000-jobs-number-when-the-government-reported-128000-new-jobs-2019-11-01

Trump's Labor Department wants to 'weaponize' right-wing discrimination and bigotry - Raw Story

Just in case you wanted to believe that the Trump administration isn't on a campaign to trample rights for Americans, here comes the Labor Department to shove a grapefruit in your face. Labor officials have made public a new rule—no Congress, needed, thank you—to allow companies contracting with the federal government who are "religion-exercising organizations" to ignore federal laws protecting the rights of gays, transsexuals, and who knows who else in hiring or workplace practices.....
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/trumps-labor-department-wants-to-weaponize-right-wing-discrimination-and-bigotry/

From Gavin Grimm to Jeffrey Epstein (Opening Arguments podcast OA306)

Today’s episode combines some very, very good news regarding young trans advocate Gavin Grimm… to some rather less good news regarding a proposed rule at the Department of Labor… to some truly bizarre news and a plea for sanity given the ever-changing circumstances surrounding Jeffrey Epstein.

We begin with what looks like the close of a saga that began more than five years ago, when a Virginia public school board — at the instigation of bigots in the larger community — forced Gavin Grimm into “separate but hardly equal” accomodations in his high school. Today, at least, it looks like Grimm has finally won, as we break down a truly monumental decision from the Eastern District of Columbia.

Then, it’s time to look at proposed rulemaking from the Department of Labor that would modify one of the most important Executive Orders of all time: EO 11246, in which Lyndon Johnson required government contractors not to discriminate in their hiring practices. What does Trump propose to do to this EO? Listen and find out… and maybe someday you’ll worship at the Church of Chick-Fil-A. (Seriously!)

After that, it’s time to check in with the conspiracy theories that abound in the world of Jeffrey Epstein. Is there really a sinister motive to think that someone had Epstein killed? Will documents continue to come out that will shed light on what really happened? (Yes.)

We end, as always, with a brand new #T3BE… and yes, it’s another dreaded real property question. If you sell property you don’t own, and later come to own it, have you merely foolishly squandered your tomato juice? Listen and find out!
Interview:
https://openargs.com/oa306-from-gavin-grimm-to-jeffrey-epstein/

Trump Winery petitions to hire more foreign workers - The Hill

The Trump Winery in Virginia is attempting to hire six more foreign guest workers, according to a petition filed with the Department of Labor Thursday. ....
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/420302-trump-winery-petitions-to-hire-more-foreign-workers

The Trump administration says global slavery and child labor are bad — for American businesses - Vox

They give an "unfair advantage" to US competitors, according to the US Labor Department. ....
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/21/17886464/trump-labor-department-forced-labor-slavery

Behind Trump’s Plan to Overhaul the Government: Scaling Back the Safety Net - The New York Times

A small army of conservatives have produced dozens of initiatives like the cabinet reshuffle proposal, with the goal of dismantling the social welfare system. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/trump-government-overhaul-safety-net.html

Trump's Labor Department wants to let employers pocket workers' tips

Donald Trump’s Department of Labor has found a way to make tipped jobs worse. In case the routine sexual harassment tipped workers endure and the low pay aren’t bad enough, Trump’s people want to allow bosses to steal tips.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/4/1721012/-Trump-s-Labor-Department-wants-to-let-employers-pocket-workers-tips