President Trump has announced his new nominee for Labor Secretary and it is Alexander Acosta.  According to the Washington Post Acosta currently serves as Dean of Florida International University, and formerly served as Supreme Court Justice Alito’s law clerk, when Alito sat on the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Acosta previously held the role of assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s civil rights division under President George W. Bush and served for four years as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  The Guardian reports that in his term at the Justice Department Acosta “defended the rights of Muslim Americans, once asking the ….department to intervene on behalf of an Oklahoma teen who had been told to remove her headscarf at school.”  While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Acosta oversaw a number of high profile cases including the prosecution and controversial plea deal made with hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein who was accused of sexually abusing underage girls.

Acosta’s labor experience includes some years of private practice at Kirkland and Ellis and one year on the National Labor Relations Board, where he took part in over 125 cases.  According to Politico, a Democratic NLRB member –Wilma Liebman– who worked with Acosta said “I would say he’s very smart and he’s an independent thinker,” and that “while unions may not ‘be thrilled with every decision he’ll make…they’ll get a good hearing.’”  President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka tweeted a statement that read in part, “Working people changed the game on this nomination. Unlike Andy Puzder, Alexander Acosta’s nomination deserves serious consideration.”  Notably, if confirmed, Acosta would be the first Latinx member of Trump’s cabinet.

In other news, Business Insider reports that yesterday’s “A Day Without Immigrants” protest led to multiple McDonald’s around the country closing, or reducing services for the day. The Day was organized to protest President Trump’s hostility toward immigrant communities, and highlight the extent to which people in the United States rely on labor provided by people who are immigrants.  Some took part by staying home from school or refraining from making purchases, and the Davis Museum at Wellesley College used black cloth to cover all pieces of art that were created or donated by immigrants. “A Day Without Immigrants” demonstrations were held in big cities across the country including Chicago, Austin, New York City, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. On March 8, the organizers of the Women’s March are calling for a similar demonstration, “A Day Without a Woman.”

And a group of over 50 businesses and trade organizations, including the National Restaurant Association and the International Franchise Association, sent a letter to House Education and Workforce Committee this week asking Congress to pass legislation that would override the NLRB’s joint employer standard, which defines those who have even “indirect” and “potential” control over workers’ conditions as joint employers. The group is advocating for a return to the NLRB’s “direct control” standard.