Trump Pissed as Virginia Attorney General Creates New Unit to Protect Workers Abandoned by the Feds

0:00Michael Popok:Welcome to a special edition of Legal AF. As we watch the federal government under Donald Trump shrink from its responsibilities to the American people and basically mothball and chloroform what had been robust protections for workers, for employees, not just people who are members of labor unions, but overall in our society to make sure there's a level playing field, to make sure that employees are protected. There used to be entities in the federal government like the National Labor Relations Board or the EEOC or the Department of Labor doing its job or elements of the Department of Justice that are investigating in these issues.

0:44Michael Popok:And because they've abdicated all responsibility and rolled back all protections for workers because, frankly, they don't care about people who aren't the owners of the capital. If you're an owner of capital, then you get to sit at the big table with Donald Trump. But if you're not, which is the vast majority of Americans, then you're left to the devices of companies who are out of control and aren't regulated. But the states are stepping forward. And one state in particular has this sort of landmark new unit as part of its attorney's general office in Virginia. And I want to bring in Attorney General Jay Jones of Virginia to talk about his new worker protection unit as we head in to Labor Day weekend.

1:28Michael Popok:Hi, Attorney General Jones. Hey, man. Thank you for having me back. It's great to see you again and happy to be with you as we do approach Labor Day, one of the best holidays of the year. Yeah. And we're going to see each other when I and Legal AF get on the road and go to the Democratic Attorneys General Conference, the DAGA Conference this year in Detroit, right after Labor Day. In fact, I'm traveling Labor Day night, laboring for our channel. But in a normal era, would Virginia have to set up a worker protection unit as part of your office for civil enforcement to protect workers and union members?

2:08Well, it feels like we have been in an era that has been anything but normal for the last 10 years or so. But in the age of Donald Trump, in the age of the empowerment of big corporations and the disempowerment of workers, the unit that we've set up is needed now more than ever. And as the first union member to be Attorney General of Virginia, this is something that has been deeply close to my heart for quite some time and something that I've talked about for many years now. And for those who have heard my story, they know that I only sit here in large part because of the benefits and values of union membership.

2:46My grandmother on my paternal side was a homemaker. She was raising three boys. My grandfather was a civil rights leader. He was the first black school board member in Norfolk, Virginia, where my family is from. And he was really dedicated to the cause, dedicated to advancing civil rights in Virginia. But he passed away at a very early age, at the age of 52. And my grandmother had to go back to work because she had to raise my dad and his two brothers. And she became a teacher. And she joined the teachers union here in Norfolk. And that allowed her to help provide for our family, to make sure that my father and my uncles went to college and were able to flourish.

3:23And I trace this moment all the way back to that, which has been decades in the making and certainly something that I will hang my hat on as Attorney General, but it's been overdue. And it's something that we have worked really hard to make a reality here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And it's going to impact real people, working families, working people, the folks who are just trying to put food on the table, put a roof over their heads and pay their electric bill.

3:49Michael Popok:Talk about Attorney General Jones, what this unit, let's unpack it. You've got wage and hour violations or theft of wages, meaning somebody's made to work off the books or beyond the time they're being paid. And therefore, it's theft of service, right? You're being asked to work without getting paid. And some of these numbers can be astronomical and employers try to get away with it because they don't think anybody, you know, it's hard for employees to get together and they have to go find private counsel. And there is private counsel out there that handle wage and hour violations, but you're focused on that.

4:26Michael Popok:You're focused on things that normally you would be looking to the federal government to step in and balance that playing field, right? Talk about so that both our audience and as a model for the nation, what this unit is doing on a day-to-day basis? Well, first, let me say that in an era when the traditional functions of the federal government to protect employees have been hollowed out, right? It's been a methodical approach that the Trump administrations, right, plural, have taken. We have to step in and fill the vacuum. And it's not just in worker protection. It's pretty much everywhere at this particular moment.

5:04But for me, this is something that I learned when I was an assistant attorney general in the District of Columbia, working as a line attorney doing consumer protection. You know, we got to work in conjunction with the worker protection unit there. And I saw the value that it provided for the folks in D.C. and surrounding areas. And it really spoke to me that as I took over on this job that I needed to, you know, sort of take a page from that playbook so that we could protect our folks here in Virginia. You mentioned the misclassification. You mentioned the wage theft. There are so many different sort of areas where employers have taken advantage of employees because of the longstanding power imbalance that has really sort of been in perpetuity for far too long, where folks feel like they don't have someone who's got their back, that it's too expensive for them to go to court on their own dime, that they don't have people in their corner who are fighting for them.

5:56And for me, this is a message to the folks at Virginia that we are here to help and we are here to fight on your behalf so that you get the money that you're owed, that you are not being classified as something that you are not so that you can be paid less. When you work, you're supposed to be paid. And so that's something that we're committed to. And then, you know, it goes beyond that. Obviously, workplace safety, enforcing those sort of basic conditions that people are supposed to be provided under the color of law, that is really important, too. And so, you know, we're really excited to stand this up, to get this off the ground, to work with our administration here in Virginia to make sure that everybody knows that this unit exists and is cooking with gas and moving in the right direction and running at full steam ahead.

6:38So, you know, I think this is a monumental moment for our Commonwealth, for workers here and for future generations to come. Yeah.

6:46Michael Popok:Is there even an OSHA any longer under Donald Trump? I couldn't tell you who the head of OSHA is that's allegedly supposed to be protecting people in industries, dangerous industries or otherwise, from unsafe workplace conditions. Are you, Attorney General Jones, are you enforcing federal law, new state law? Like what's in your toolbox? So we're focused on state law at this particular moment. And I'll tell you, it's pretty fascinating. I was a member of our General Assembly. I was a state representative for four years. And in 2020 and 2021, when Democrats had full control here in the Commonwealth, we passed a slate of, you know, I think groundbreaking laws that put workers first to provide for safe working conditions to combat wage theft and worker misclassification.

7:34And then unfortunately, we lost the AG's office and my predecessor had no interest in protecting workers. He would do quite the opposite, in fact, and prioritize the big folks at the expense of the little guy. And that's something that I campaigned on last year. And so to be able to finally use these laws in the way that they were intended to after five years, six years, I think is really, really important. And it's powerful. And I think it sends a message that this is a state that protects its workers, that cares about its workers, that wants to make sure that the workforce is provided for. And I think with that backstop, you're going to see a lot more folks across Virginia who have the confidence to speak up and speak out.

8:13You know, you hear so many stories about folks who have been silenced, who have been, you know, afraid to say anything because of the, again, imbalance that has existed for far too long. And, you know, this is a moment when we are finally changing how we think about it here in this Commonwealth. And, you know, I hope to usher in a paradigm shift so that we prioritize working people for generations to come. And to me, that will set the stage not just for our success economically, but to really be able to provide for people in this moment during this cost crisis. No longer will you be shorted on your paychecks.

8:47No longer will you be taken advantage of because we're here to help.

8:50Michael Popok:And the Republicans in MAGA, because they're kind of intellectually exhausted, their main talking point whenever moderates or progressives talk about these things is they, oh, it's socialism. See, they're pro-workers, so they must be anti-capitalism, or they must be talking about the state takeover of businesses. The only businesses that are being taken over, apparently, are the ones by the federal government who are constantly taking stakes in businesses with taxpayer dollars. This isn't out of the socialist playbook, right? Not at all. And look, if you take Virginia as an example, we are repeatedly ranked as one of the best states for business here.

9:34By CNBC, we've moved up in the rankings this year, which is certainly something to be applauded. But we also are a great state for workers. And I don't think that those two ideas, being pro-worker and pro-business, are mutually exclusive. And I would tell you that there are so many business owners across Virginia who said, look, I play by the rules. And there are people down the street who aren't. And that is giving them an advantage that is not supposed to happen under the scheme that we have in place. And so for us, we are merely just enforcing the laws that are on the books. And if everybody wants to compete, which again, you're a conservative, you're pro-competition, you're pro-marketplace, you should want people to have to play by the rules as opposed to cutting corners, as opposed to taking that shortcut.

10:15And so for us, this is just a natural extension out of the scheme that's existed for several years now. And to be able to put the weight and energy and time and resources behind it is something that I'm incredibly proud of. And again, this goes all the way back to my sort of origin story, you know, on my father's side, you know, union membership is really important. And even the fact that I was a member of AFGE Local 1403 out of Washington, D.C., when I was an assistant attorney general, is something that I will carry with me forever. But not everybody in Virginia has the opportunity to organize, to unionize.

10:47And so this office really is, I think, a hallmark, you know, sort of opportunity for us to prioritize everybody in the workforce, no matter who you are, where you're working, and what you're doing.

10:58Michael Popok:I assume there's both an investigative arm of the unit, but also taking in tips or individual complaints. And we'll put it in notes. How can people contact this new unit of yours if they have a personal issue that they think should be investigated and they need the state to weigh in on their side? Yeah, please go to our website online. It's oag.virginia.state.us. You know, and you can go to the Worker Protection tab. It sits within our Public Advocacy Division, which is something that I created when I took over in January. All of our affirmative work sits there under our deputy, Helen Hardiman, and her talented group of attorneys who are dealing with voting rights and housing and now worker protection and fraud and scam and all of those things.

11:46And so we're really excited about it. So if you just go visit our website, you will find all the tools that you need and we will get you situated. And if it's not the right place for you to be, we will get you to where you're supposed to be. because one of the things that I've just been so adamant about with my folks in our office now is that we want to be problem solvers and we want to get to yes. I think reflexively people in government and prior administrations have said no. It doesn't matter what the question is. The answer is no. We want to get people out of the gray. We want to get people to yes.

12:15And I think this is just one of those initiatives that's really going to have some deeply impactful results that I think people will be satisfied with and proud of knowing that we're in there doing the work on their behalf every single day, fighting for their paychecks, fighting for their livelihoods.

12:30Michael Popok:And within the AG's office, you also established the Federal Accountability Unit to hold the Trump administration accountable when it exceeds their constitutional power. And it holds funding hostage, state funding hostage, to protect elections and voting on health care, could be tariffs and consumer protection. The number one thing that my audience is concerned about, if they had to rank it, is their sacred right to vote and making sure that they're able to vote. You know, I think about those other countries where the first time when they became democracies or had free elections and they had like purple ink on their fingers because they just voted and they were so excited to vote.

13:18Michael Popok:And like, that's how Americans feel, you know, about the right to, but we shouldn't feel like we have to have purple ink on our fingers, but we want to vote. And talk a little bit about the Federal Accountability Unit and why within the AG's office you established that. Well, I want to talk about your voting piece for a second, because I have lived that. My mother-in-law, my father-in-law, they are immigrants. My mother-in-law is from Eastern Europe. My father-in-law is from Africa. But every time my mother-in-law goes to vote here in Virginia, and they've lived here for over 35 years, she gets a little emotional.

13:52and the first couple of times I saw this, I was very confused. I said, what are you doing? We're just going to vote. This is something we do in Virginia every six months, every year, because we have even and odd year elections here. And she said, Jay, you have no idea what it's like to be able to go to the polls and to cast your ballot, and you don't know what the outcome of the election is going to be, right? In Eastern Europe, right, it's predetermined, right? They're not really free and fair elections, but that's what makes us special here in Virginia and in this country is that we were founded as this republic on the idea that you should be able to go and use your voice at the polls.

14:28And so for me to sit before you and hold this role as the Attorney General of Virginia, who was supposed to make sure that our elections continue to run safely, fairly, effectively, it's very powerful, not just because of my mother-in-law's story, but because of my story as the descendant of slaves. I sit across the dinner table from people who are denied the right to vote just because of the color of their skin. It wasn't that long ago. It was just a generation ago. And, you know, I hope people don't lose sight of that. And that's why we have to protect that right so fiercely. And it's why I care so deeply about this.

15:00And, you know, it's one of the many reasons why we established the Federal Accountability Unit in our office to really coordinate and streamline the work. As we see these unprecedented attacks from the Trump administration, it feels like every day there is something else that is coming down from Washington that is putting Virginia on the back foot that is not in our best interest, whether it be these terrorists, whether it be these restrictions or attempts to restrict the right to vote. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And I think people here in Virginia are just sick and tired of it, not only because we've rejected Donald Trump every time he's run for president in 1620 and 24 resoundingly, but because it has put us in such a horrible position, whether it's in our pocketbooks because of these terrorists that have cost the average Virginia family$1 ,700 a year, whether it's because of these attacks on people's health care, whether it's because of our attacks on our education system.

15:50I mean, you know, maybe because we are just across the Potomac, we seem to draw their ire constantly. But, you know, this is a moment where Virginia is going to step up and we're going to live our values and we're going to speak truth to power about what this country is and what Virginia is and what we are definitely not, which is what they're trying to do and where they're trying to take us. And so it's, you know, certainly something that we continue to prioritize. It's, I think, long overdue. You know, I ran last year in large part because my predecessor failed to hold the administration accountable a single time since Donald Trump came back into office.

16:21And we were able to lay out the case, I think, pretty eloquently about what the difference would be. And this is us delivering on yet another campaign promise, which, again, is obviously very,

16:32Michael Popok:you know, sort of exciting for me. But it's going to have real results for Virginians. And we're really sort of proud to be able to step up and stand this thing up and fight for everybody here in this commonwealth. And as part of that fight, another place where the federal government has abdicated its responsibility in regulating businesses and companies, we just saw it play out in the announced settlement involving Meta, Facebook, and YouTube, with a group of attorneys general and states such as Virginia announced a over$17 billion settlement. More importantly, major changes to the business model and the algorithms of how Facebook and YouTube were getting children addicted and exploiting children as part of their business model, but getting them addicted to their content, either through the algorithm, through reminders, through streams, and all sorts of other things.

17:30Michael Popok:And in 130-page proposed settlement agreement, you brought Facebook to its knees in a way that the federal government would never do. I mean, let's be frank. When Zuckerberg and Bezos and Tim Cook all sat behind Donald Trump at the inauguration because he doesn't have any family, so he has the tech bros sitting behind them, they thought they bought a presidency. And they thought they bought peace from being regulated and they could do whatever they wanted. and the attorneys general, including you, bound together and brought them to their knees. And you get a big chunk of that in Virginia. Talk about that settlement.

18:06You know, this is a historic settlement. You know, we took on the biggest tech company on the planet as a bipartisan group. I want everybody to understand that this was 47 states, the District of Columbia, and a couple of territories. It was a big effort. And it's something that was shared by both Democrats and Republicans in terms of our passion and our energy and our conviction to make sure that this would happen. I think when this started five years ago, our office began an investigation back under my Democratic predecessor, Mark Herring, and then the suit was initiated. And then we sought this through for over five years now.

18:44The outcome that we were able to achieve is beyond what those folks could have imagined back then. And the money is tremendous, right? Virginia shares over 350 million over 10 years, and that will have meaningful impacts in remediating these issues that Facebook has and Instagram have sort of put forth over the course of many, many years. But what we were able to secure in terms of the sort of behavioral changes, I think, are to be celebrated and to be recognized as landmark achievements. Restrictions on when the notifications will go to our children, time limits on how much that they can use this app, making sure the content that they are being exposed to is appropriate and not something that we would all be ashamed of.

19:29Making sure that parents have more control over these accounts. The list goes on and on. that is unheard of. And frankly, I think a real sort of springboard for us to go and make sure that the rest of these tech companies are playing by the same rules. Virginia, we've drawn our line in the sand, and this is just the beginning. And so, you know, I commend all of my colleagues who were able to help bring this home because it really was a group effort. But this is going to have, you know, massive ramifications for a long, long time. And, you know, we talk about our children before the camera starts rolling and my boys are four and two, so they are not yet exposed to social media, but it is inevitable that they will be.

20:08But I can rest a little bit easier at night knowing that the scheme that we have been able to enact will protect them and children across Virginia and children across this country in a much better and stronger and aggressive way.

20:20Michael Popok:Yeah. No, it's fantastic. As you and I share an overlapping child age in there, My wife and I always say, well, the one good thing about this era is our daughter will only learn about Donald Trump in a history book. But I don't want her to turn to me and say, what happened with this Trump guy? And what did you do about it, Daddy? What did you do to protect civil liberties and civil rights and women's rights and all of that? And I want to be able to look my daughter in the eye, as you do, your children in the eye, and say, I fought for democracy to protect our constitutional republic. The best way that I could.

20:55So it's the only way to sort of carry on and power through in this moment to think about, you know, in the 250th year of this country, right, as we celebrate 250, you know, the founders never could have envisioned a moment like this. But I will tell you that they designed a system that they knew was not perfect. And it was designed to bend and not break, right? We've been through some deep bends over the course of the history of this country. you think about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, you know, the segregation and the Civil Rights Movement and, you know, many other points in between when our institutions and our values have been tested, but we have never broken.

21:32And I will say confidently that we haven't broken in this era of Donald Trump because of Democratic Attorneys General. And so I am so proud to be a part of this coalition that has been holding the line and making sure that this country remains what we all learned that it was and that it is. And as we make it better, right, we know that it's an experiment that has room for improvement, but we aren't going backward because of the work that we're doing. And so it's a remarkable sort of honor to be amongst my 23 other Democratic colleagues. And we're hopeful to add some more to our ranks this fall and then hopefully get Congress back so that we can have a little bit more of our time and energy back from holding the president accountable when we know that a democratic Congress will do that.

22:17And so it's why we have all been so invested in making sure that we not only win more AG seats, but that we take back the House of Representatives, we take back the United States Senate, and that we can really, you know, prosecute the case against the president for these last two years of his term when, you know, we expect the craziness to only increase.

22:34Michael Popok:Well, if you're staring at a ballot and you wonder, is the attorney general really important in my state? Is that something that I have to educate myself on and vote for the right person. I think Attorney General Jay Jones of Virginia just answered that question. Look at the energy, the vitality, the new thinking that he brings to his job as the latest in a long line of Democratic attorneys general. So honored to have you on here and briefing our audience about new and novel things and your fight in Virginia. And I look forward to seeing you next week. Speaking of Labor Day, I'll be traveling on Labor Day night to join you in Detroit for the DAGA conference.