| | | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller | Presented by Fight for $15 | With help from Steven Overly Editor's Note: Weekly Shift is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Employment & Immigration policy newsletter, Morning Shift. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. | | | President Joe Biden will sign an executive order around 3:45 p.m. today that aims to safeguard American manufacturing jobs by ensuring more of the $600 billion in taxpayer money the government spends on procurement contracts annually goes to U.S. companies. In office less than a week, the former veep is moving quickly on efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy, which has been hammered by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — something the Biden administration has acknowledged will be its biggest economic and political challenge. What it would do: The order would instruct the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, which oversees government procurement policy, to revamp its definition of what it means for products to be made in the U.S. and to increase how much of a product's parts must originate in the U.S. to be eligible for the Buy American program. That's a sticky issue for companies that manufacture most of their products abroad, in countries where manufacturing labor is cheaper and more plentiful, but put the final touches on in the U.S. in order to qualify for the program. The executive order also aims to eliminate exemptions that allow federal agencies to circumvent the Buy American program. A new senior official in the Office of Management and Budget will be assigned to oversee all waivers, for instance. Waiver requests will also be published on a public website, to be developed in the coming months, to give U.S. companies an opportunity to compete for contracts that agencies would otherwise award to foreign competitors. The order is part of the "Made in America" plan Biden campaigned on, which he said will create at least 5 million new manufacturing jobs. If realized, that would boost manufacturing jobs to around 17 million, a level not seen in the United States since the early 2000s. It's the latest in a spate of executive actions the president has taken since his inauguration Wednesday. Worker safety: Biden on Thursday directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue stronger guidance on how to protect employees from Covid-19 in the workplace and, along with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, to consider whether it's necessary to establish a national emergency temporary standard for all businesses to follow. If the agency determines that such a standard is essential, it must issue one by March 15. Unemployment insurance: Biden on Friday asked the Labor Department to clarify workers' right to "refuse employment that will jeopardize their health" amid the pandemic and still qualify for unemployment insurance. Federal workforce: Biden also directed agencies Friday to review which government workers earn less than $15 an hour and develop recommendations on how to create a $15 minimum wage for them. And he's seeking to revoke a trio of Trump-era executive orders that put restrictions on federal collective bargaining and eliminate the Trump-created Schedule F, which removed Civil Service protections for many federal workers. Anti-LGBTQ discrimination: On Friday, Biden's Justice Department revoked a Trump administration memorandum that served to narrow the scope of a Supreme Court ruling last year that federal law protects LGBTQ individuals from discrimination at work. He also signed a separate order Wednesday that explicitly prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. RELATED: "The Game-Changing Biden Order You Haven't Heard About ," from HuffPost GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, Jan. 25, and this is Morning Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to emueller@politico.com and rrainey@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey. | | A message from Fight for $15: The federal minimum wage hasn't increased in over ten years. Meanwhile the cost of rent, healthcare, and other necessities have skyrocketed. Support the Raise the Wage Act and give every worker a $15 floor. Learn more. | | | | | | SANDERS SAYS BUDGET RECONCILIATION COULD BE PATH TO COVID AID: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that Senate Democrats will pass Biden's coronavirus response package using the budget reconciliation process "as soon as we possibly can," our Kelly Hooper reports. The process "would allow the package to pass with a simple majority vote rather than with the support of 60 senators. … Sanders [has] previously criticized Republicans' use of reconciliation, saying the process should not be used 'to enact major changes in social policy.' But he defended the decision to use reconciliation now, stating that Americans' need for stimulus aid is emergent, while Republicans in 2017 used reconciliation 'to give tax breaks to billionaires.'" But it may not be so simple: A bipartisan group of senators told White House officials on Sunday that the stimulus spending in Biden's coronavirus relief plan provides too much money to high-income Americans — $1,400 in new direct payments to individuals — which could become yet another setback in congressional negotiations. Biden's plan also includes beefed-up unemployment benefits extended through September and an increase in the federal minimum wage, both ways to boost American incomes through the next few months of the pandemic. Biden also wants Congress to enact mandatory coronavirus workplace safety rules. MEANWHILE… Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday night that the upper chamber will delay President Donald Trump's impeachment trial for two weeks, allowing the Senate to focus on coronavirus relief and confirming Biden's Cabinet. "Under the timeline outlined by Schumer, the House will deliver the article of impeachment Monday evening, senators will be sworn-in Tuesday and the trial will officially begin the week of February 8," our Marianne LeVine and Sarah Ferris report. RELATED: "Dick Durbin calls absolute protection of Senate filibuster 'a non-starter,'" from our Kelly Hooper AND: "Impeachment trial to keep National Guard troops at Capitol," from our Andrew Desiderio, Lara Seligman and Natasha Bertrand | | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST, SPONSORED BY CHEVRON: Check out our daily five-minute brief for the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. For must-know stories and candid insights to analysis from POLITICO's 10-person energy team, don't miss out. Subscribe for free and start listening today. | | | | | | | | EXCLUSIVE — GROUPS DEMANDS PROTECTIONS FOR 'APP-BASED WORKERS': More than 70 unions, advocacy groups and other organizations including the National Employment Law Project, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Teamsters and NAACP will send a letter to Congress today , provided exclusively to Weekly Shift, urging lawmakers to reject legal frameworks like California's Proposition 22, which exempts employers from treating gig workers as full-time employees. "Millions of workers hired and managed by companies via internet apps, such as Instacart and DoorDash delivery workers, Uber drivers, and Handy home service workers, are deprived of basic labor protections that many of us take for granted," they write. "Because their employers insist on unilaterally calling them 'independent contractors,' these workers don't get a minimum wage, overtime pay, workers' compensation, unemployment, state disability insurance, or access to federal protections from discrimination, including sex harassment." "A proposal to supposedly provide limited benefits to some 'independent workers' would threaten our most fundamental understanding of what work ought to provide," they add. "A federal 'Proposition 22'-like scheme would shunt more and more workers to piecework labor, performing jobs here-and-there with neither individual security nor the possibility of collective action." Biden campaigned on reclassifying gig workers as employees, entitled to all the same benefits — but narrow Democratic majorities in both chambers and ideological differences within the party may prevent him from making that a reality. RELATED: "All a Gig-Economy Pioneer Had to Do Was 'Politely Disagree' It Was Violating Federal Law and the Labor Department Walked Away," from ProPublica WHAT DO ALL THOSE MINIMUM WAGE STUDIES REALLY SAY? Most economic research finds that a higher minimum wage has a negative effect on low-skill employment, a literature review out today from the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research found. The authors analyzed every study on the minimum wage from the last three decades and "identified the core estimates that support the conclusions from each study, in most cases relying on responses from the researchers who wrote these papers," they write. The takeaway: Economists may to "decide that in fact the best evidence indicates that minimum wages do not reduce employment of less-skilled workers in the United States," they conclude. "But our analysis shows clearly that most of the evidence indicates the opposite — that minimum wages reduce low-skilled employment. It is incumbent on anyone arguing that research supports the opposite conclusion to explain why most of the studies are wrong." | | | | HAPPENING TUESDAY - DRAWING THE ETHICAL LINE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: As AI becomes increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives, there are concerns about biases in these systems and ethical standards to guide their fair use. Without an international framework or set of principles governing AI, the ethical guidelines for its use vary across countries and cities and sometimes even come down to individual policymakers, elected leaders, the private sector, and grassroots advocates' work. Join POLITICO for a conversation to explore the pace of global AI innovation and development and what it means for the future of ethical standards in this space. The virtual program features an executive conversation between POLITICO CEO Patrick Steel and Workday EVP of corporate affairs Jim Shaughnessy. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | BLS DATA SHOWS RATE OF UNION MEMBERSHIP ROSE IN 2020: The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data Friday that showed union membership rose in 2020 to 10.8 percent, up by 0.5 percent since 2019, despite the fact that 444,000 fewer workers were represented by a union in 2020, compared to 2019. The percentage increase can be attributed to the fact that a lower rate of unionized workers lost their jobs, compared to nonunion workers. In fact, "the percent decline in the number of employed was over three times larger for nonunion workers than for union members," the Center for Economic and Policy Research's Hayley Brown points out. "A similar dynamic emerged in 2007 and 2008, following the financial crisis." Heidi Shierholz of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute attributed the disparity in job loss to two factors : "One is that unionized workers have had a voice in how their employers have navigated the pandemic, and have used this voice for things like negotiating for terms of furloughs or work-share arrangements to save jobs. The other reason is a 'pandemic composition effect.' There has been (on average) more pandemic job losses in industries with lower unionization rates, like leisure and hospitality, and less job loss in sectors with higher unionization rates, like the public sector." | | | | A message from Fight for $15:   | | | | | | MENENDEZ TO RENEW PUSH TO PROTECT VENEZUELANS: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) will launch another effort to offer Venezuelan exiles protection from deportation through Temporary Protected Status — a goal the Biden administration supports, our Sabrina Rodriguez reports. "Menendez will introduce a bill that would allow Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicolás Maduro's government to live and work legally in the U.S. through TPS," she writes. The effort "comes less than a week after Trump, on his last full day in office, used executive power to shield Venezuelans from deportation through the Deferred Enforced Departure program, or DED." | | | BIDEN CONFRONTS BROKEN BUDGET OFFICE: Biden will have to rebuild a demoralized Office of Management and Budget before he can successfully roll out his fiscal and regulatory agenda, our Caitlin Emma reports. "Biden will need to restore trust, reset norms and bolster the ranks at the budget office after Trump stripped civil servants of authority and worker protections while pushing a legally dubious agenda that many at the agency do not support," she writes. | | A message from Fight for $15: Essential workers are risking their lives on the frontlines of the pandemic for a paycheck that isn't enough to put food on the table or support their families. 2 out of 3 Americans support raising the minimum wage to $15/hr. Congress must pass the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 so that working families can live a life of dignity and security. Learn more. | | | | | | — "California's essential workers dying in greater numbers from COVID, study finds," from Fox News — "Amazon's offering to help Biden's vaccine push. There may be a reason why," from POLITICO — " Inside New York City's Food-Supply Chain During the Coronavirus Pandemic," from The New Yorker — "'We must do more': Defense Secretary orders review of sexual assault prevention efforts," from Task and Purpose — "How to know when to quit your job," from The Wall Street Journal — "Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen," from The New York Times — "Sold into Syrian servitude, Filipina workers tell of abuse, rape and imprisonment," from The Washington Post — " New Doc Explores '9to5' Secretaries', Clerical Workers' Movement That Inspired 1980 Film And Still Resonates Today," from Forbes — "NFL surprises health care workers with Super Bowl tickets," from CNN — "Labor Groups Push Biden Administration on Union-Friendly Priorities," from The Wall Street Journal THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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