Debbie Berkowitz
@debbieberkowitz.bsky.social
Worker safety policy expert. Former OSHA COS and Senior Policy Advisor 2009-2015. Fellow at Georgetown’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/c...
Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections
The Biden administration took steps to shield workers from extreme temperatures. The Trump administration is taking a gentler approach with employers.
nytimes.com
Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of our country He has filled the swamp to the brim while selling out Americans to the highest bidder Senate Democrats will be exposing, investigating, and holding him accountable for his brazen self-dealing at the expense of the American taxpayer
Abilene city employee Frank Cortez died on the job July 21. The city provided no details, but reports say his death was "a medical issue & not the job he was performing" Heat related? It was 101 degrees that day but TX public workers aren't covered by OSHA. We may never know. tinyurl.com/mwtcvm52
Heat Related Death? Who Knows? - Confined Space
Did Abilene Public Works employee Frank Cortez die from excessive heat? We may never know, because Texas public employees aren't covered by OSHA.
jordanbarab.com
What are Republicans thinking as they try to kill a federal OSHA heat protection standard that would protect workers from excessive heat? Nothing good and nothing honest. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
Republicans Try to Smother OSHA Heat Standard Under General Duty Clause - Confined Space
Republicans try to kill an OSHA heat standard in favor of misguided reliance on the General Duty Clause.
jordanbarab.com
ICYMI: The rule proposed by the Board of Governors to block undocumented students from FL's public universities undermines legislative intent and would create more barriers to higher ed, notes FPI's Alexis Tsoukalas, PhD. Read FPI's comments below ⬇️ www.floridapolicy.org/posts/fpi-co...
FPI Comments on Proposed Regulation 6.001(10), General Admissions
The Board of Governors has offered no financial estimate of how much this proposed regulation could cost universities and the larger state economy.
floridapolicy.org
Trump's "anti-woke" agenda cripples agency that investigates sexual harassment, gender and race discrimination in federal contractors. Trump unravels anti-discrimination policies enacted more than a half-century ago in response to the civil rights movement. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/19/u...
Trump Gutted Civil Rights Agency, Stifling U.S. Scrutiny of Workplace Bias (Gift Article)
A little-known federal office spent decades investigating potential discrimination by government contractors — until it was stopped by the Trump administration.
nytimes.com
Climate deniers take note—this smoke is the result of your indifference. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/w...
Climate Change Contributes to a Smokier World (Gift Article)
Higher temperatures and drought conditions are contributing to more intense wildfires and extending the summer fire season in North America.
nytimes.com
@cnbc.com poll: Disapproval of Trump on the economy is 24 points higher today than at a similar point in his first midterm election cycle.
In addition to taking care of older Americans, workers with TPS also work in our food industry- assuring Americans have chicken and meat to eat. They work the hardest and most dangerous jobs. Most have been here for decades. Forcing them off the job is totally wrong and insane.
AFL-CIO@aflcio.org · 3w agoImmigrant workers with Temporary Protected Status are our coworkers and union siblings. Forcing them off the job is wrong and makes no sense — it’s bad for our communities, our workplaces and our economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/us/politics/tps-workers-dismissals.html
Immigrant workers with Temporary Protected Status are our coworkers and union siblings. Forcing them off the job is wrong and makes no sense — it’s bad for our communities, our workplaces and our economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/us/politics/tps-workers-dismissals.html
U.S. Employers Told to Dismiss Thousands of Immigrant Workers
Shifting deadlines are confusing businesses as the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and others looms, making them ineligible to live and work in the United States.
nytimes.com
This is a great piece, Anne. Thanks for re-upping. The powerful become complicit with the tyrant because they want to stay powerful. The hacks who could never gain prominence in any other situation become complicit to achieve glory.
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 3w agoLindsey Graham was one of the main subjects of a @theatlantic.com cover story I wrote in 2020, on why people collaborate with regimes they know are immoral. Here's a gift link: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Supreme Court gave President Trump power to fire members of independent government agencies, including potentially those that protect workers’ rights. This is an attack on workers that will embolden bad bosses and big corporations.
‘Chaos Will Follow’ Ruling Allowing Trump Firings, Dissent Predicts
nytimes.com
First (but *not* last) ruling from #SCOTUS today is in Watson v. RNC. For a 5-4 majority (with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, Kavanaugh dissenting), Justice Barrett holds that federal law does *not* bar states from counting late-arriving mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day.
supremecourt.gov
Kalmanovitz practitioner fellow Debbie Berkowitz (@debbieberkowitz.bsky.social) warns recent OSHA decision could send the message "OSHA is giving employers a pass" when "workers are seriously injured" | TIME Magazine time.com/article/2026...
Broken Bones, Lawsuits, and NDAs: Inside the Worker Safety Concerns at Stargate Data Center
A TIME investigation—drawing on government reports, court documents, 911 calls, and worker interviews—uncovers safety concerns at the flagship site of the $500 billion AI infrastructure project.
time.com
“More than 20,000 Haitian TPS holders work as direct caregivers and nursing assistants in the U.S. long-term care industry. Overall, immigrants make up roughly 28% of the nation's long-term care workforce, with over 112,000 Haitian-born individuals employed in the broader healthcare sector.”
Please read and call. Flood the zone.
Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · last mo.I just sent this out to Democracy Docket premium members, but in light of the Postmasters comments this morning threatening voting by mail, I felt it is urgent to post it online for everyone. Please read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/mail...
Scoop: NLRB judge rules Amazon must collectively bargain with @teamsters.bsky.social union at a warehouse in San Francisco. Ruling applies the Biden-era Cemex precedent, which Trump labor board appointees could overturn in this case www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Amazon Ordered to Collectively Bargain at San Francisco Warehouse
A US labor board judge ruled that Amazon.com Inc. must collectively bargain with California warehouse workers, teeing up a legal battle that could end with President Donald Trump’s appointees reversin...
bloomberg.com
I KNEW we'd done a Juneteenth video! Found it, and I think it holds up. (I was determined to get in the "fled to Mexico" line even though it was a bit of a rabbit hole. 🙂 )
What is Juneteenth and Why Does it Matter: A Short History | Journey to American Democracy
YouTube video by Heather Cox Richardson
youtube.com
Cool! I just found this on your YouTube channel. I can watch them all with on click! 🙂
Samuel Adams, as told by his biographer Stacy Schiff. #WeAreHistory250
250 to 250@250to250.bsky.social · 2mo agoPulitzer Prize-winning writer Stacy Schiff chronicles the life of Samuel Adams, the relentless agitator who shaped public opinion and pushed the colonies toward independence. #WeAreAmerica250
Honest to goodness, there was a time not so long ago when this would have been a massive scandal.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 2mo agoNEW: Trump administration officials earlier this year killed a federal criminal investigation into the coal empire owned by Sen. Jim Justice, the Republican former governor of West Virginia and a close ally of the president’s. By @justinelliott.bsky.social @josh-kaplan.bsky.social
"The proposed rules are “just doing the industry’s bidding,” said the KI's Debbie Berkowitz on the new, dangerous rules on increased processing times in meat processing coming from the Trump administration newrepublic.com/article/2102...
New Trump Rules Will Make Meat Processing a Lot Deadlier
The industry spent big to get faster line speeds. Experts say it will increase injuries to workers and make the food you eat less safe.
newrepublic.com
BREAKING NEWS: @lizshuler.bsky.social and Fred Redmond have been re-elected as President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO!
After Amazon gave $1M to Trump's inauguration, Trump installed Amazon's former lawyer to head the NLRB. Now the agency has ended a major case investigating Amazon's mistreatment of its contract drivers with a slap-on-the-wrist settlement. This is what a quid pro quo looks like.
What Trump Delivered for Amazon
The feds were pushing a landmark case about Amazon’s control of its contract drivers. Then the president put Amazon’s former lawyer in charge.
bloomberg.com
New: Citing our reporting, lawmakers today grilled Trump’s NLRB general counsel over her deal to settle a landmark case against Amazon, her former client www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Gift link to that Businessweek investigation: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Trump Labor Prosecutor Grilled Over Amazon Deal in Congressional Hearing
Ilhan Omar pressed Crystal Carey on why she wound down a landmark case that could have held Amazon responsible for contract delivery drivers.
bloomberg.com
Josh Eidelson@josheidelson.bsky.social · 2mo agoNew Businessweek feature: A landmark case was unearthing new revelations about Amazon's intimate, intensive regulation of drivers it claims aren't its employees. Then Trump put Amazon's former lawyer in charge www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... Based on 1000s of pages of records and 50+ interviews
A must read!
Josh Eidelson@josheidelson.bsky.social · 2mo agoNew Businessweek feature: A landmark case was unearthing new revelations about Amazon's intimate, intensive regulation of drivers it claims aren't its employees. Then Trump put Amazon's former lawyer in charge www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... Based on 1000s of pages of records and 50+ interviews
Filmmaker @KenLBurns explores the legacy of Ellis Island, the immigration entry station that processed millions of immigrants coming to America. #WeAreAmerica250
