From the Associated Press:
A group of labor unions are asking a federal court for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk ‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.
The motion for emergency relief was filed late Friday in federal court in Maryland by the legal services group Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions want the court to block DOGE’s access to the vast troves of personal data held by the agency.
Judicial theater
ReplyDeleteCharles, posting this interesting story here: https://apnews.com/article/musk-doge-trump-blame-federal-workers-republicans-2945026366f42b0879087f2e7d4b9d71
ReplyDeleteElon Musk tells Republican lawmakers he's not to blame for federal firings. According to recent news articles Musk is suddenly beginning to lay the blame for government employee firings at the feet of the individual agencies and not himself. Blame shifting even though his fingerprints have been publicly all over these recent actions. Let’s not forget him wielding a chainsaw bragging about firing people and him pointing to bad facts to support DOGE’s actions.
Just speculating, but maybe this richest of zealots is finally realizing he needs to protect his outrageous deep pocketed fortune? Tesla is already taking a hit on its brand because of mr. chainsaw. Maybe he’s also wising up to the risk of massive class action lawsuits against him by aggrieved current and former gov’t employees and contractors for lost jobs and income, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and other legal theories out there.
Regular citizens aren’t always powerless in times like this and do retain the power of the purse in this upside down version of America. It's an encouraging thought to keep in mind.
100% I’ll vote for whoever promises to tar and feather Elon next election cycle.
DeleteJust remember this the next time the coward Gauleiter Dudek tries to tell you he has no choice but to carry out these orders. Elon is now saying the same thing Trump told his cabinet team -- the heads of agencies are in charge of their agencies, not Elon Himmler. They of course have selected agency heads based on the fact they won't challenge the orders. But these are apparently not orders, but recommendations.
DeleteBritain blocking Tesla's self driving software.
Deletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/britain-blocks-launch-elon-musk-140000186.html
Where have the labor unions been the last couple of weeks? An emergency order late Friday? I guess they put the order in between martinis.
ReplyDeleteMillions of Americans could soon feel the impact of the deep staffing cuts being planned at the Social Security Administration, which is undergoing a massive reorganization that the acting commissioner has acknowledged is being steered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of experienced employees who manage Social Security’s fragile and interdependent web of computer systems will likely leave the agency vulnerable to technical outages and, potentially, interrupt the benefit payments that are sent to more than 73 million retirees, people with disabilities and others, Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner under the Biden administration, told CNN.
The working level employees doing the everyday grunt work are being put in a grinder. How can you go from 10 Regions to 4, what is that really saving? The 4 "super Regions" now have a vastly larger service area with highly diverse beneficiary populations. For example the new Northeast Region covers the old Boston Region (serving only smaller offices with a smaller population), the New York Region (covering small, large and mega offices with large population centers in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico) and Philadelphia (covering small, large and mega offices with large population centers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C.). Each of these "old Regions" have unique beneficiary populations with field/payment center/teleservice center and their support staffs having particular knowledge of the geographic areas they supported. For example, it would be counter productive if someone from Boston has to support an employee in the Philadelphia area with no knowledge of the unique Philadelphia area's character. You may now have to pay travel and per-diem costs to make the long-distance support possible.
ReplyDelete1:58 is exactly right. The merging of the regions makes zero sense. They now won’t have effective oversight of the vast network of FOs since it’s not possible due to the hollowing out of RO leadership and support staff.
ReplyDeleteThe only organizational changes that seem logical is taking disability out of the regions and putting it all under ODD. And also putting the PSCs under OCO.
158 may be right about regional consolidation. But I doubt the population in Philly is so much different than Boston that it requires a trip to learn about that Philly character.
DeleteTo 11:40 AM: where are the labor unions? you either have been asleep or are wilfully ignorant. The unions (including AFGE, AFL-CIO, NTEU, AALJ, and more) have been quite active. Litigation Tracker is tracking more than 100 doge/trump lawsuits, many filed by the unions. https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/.
ReplyDeleteThe unions already had the playbook and it was Project 2025 and Agenda 47. The paperwork should already have been assembled from day one of this administration.
DeleteKristi Noem led the way cancelling the TSA bargaining agreement. I fully expect Dudek to follow and cancel the bargaining agreements with AFGE & NTEU.
ReplyDeleteSSA bargaining employees are protected by Title V. TSA employees are not. Unfairly, TSA bargaining employees weren't permanently protected by Congress.
DeleteTo 508: Each beneficiary population of the 3 "old Regions" is without a doubt, unique to their particular geographic area. Boston's smaller offices can not compete with the issues presented to the large offices in Philly or New York. Same goes for those in rural areas vs. urban areas. I have worked in 2 of those 3 "old Regions" and it is as if you are working on different worlds!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69664313/american-federation-of-state-county-and-municipal-employees-afl-cio-v/ Read Exhibit J it's interesting
ReplyDelete