| | | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller | With help from Rebecca Rainey 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. | | | A closely watched union election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., is coming to a close today. More than 5,800 workers at the fulfillment center are voting on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. If the union drive is successful, the Bessemer facility would become the e-commerce giant's first union shop in the U.S. But the stakes in this battle go far beyond Bessemer, as our Rebecca Rainey wrote from the city on Friday . "If the push in red-state Alabama is successful, it could galvanize more organizing efforts at Amazon and other large retailers across the country. If it fails, it could become a lightning rod for Democrats' efforts to push through one of the broadest expansions of collective bargaining rights in nearly a century — yet, at the same time, embolden a triumphal business community to harden its stance against organized labor." MORE: " 'We Not Human At All.' Why the Fight to Unionize an Alabama Amazon Warehouse Could Spur a Labor Union Resurgence," from TIME AND: "Why the Amazon union vote is bigger than Amazon," from The Verge | 
Getty Images | The National Labor Relations Board will start processing the ballots on Tuesday, but we most likely won't know the results until late this week or next — if things go smoothly. If the company or the union raise issues with how the election was carried out, that could take a lot longer. The NLRB election process can be a bit confusing, so here's what to expect: On Tuesday, both the RWDSU and representatives from Amazon will begin reviewing the ballots, and either the union or the company can object to specific ballots. A given voter could be ineligible for any of a number of reasons, such as their job classification or the period of time they've been employed by Amazon. The challenged ballots are then set aside, and the remainder of the vote is tallied. If a large enough share of the ballots are challenged, the NLRB will have to hold a hearing to decide whether the ballots at issue should be added back into the full count. Once the NLRB calls the election, both the company and the union will have time to object to the results. The board may then hold a hearing on those objections — and could ultimately rule to set the results aside if it finds "conduct by the employer or the union created an atmosphere of confusion or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice." RELATED: " Amazon hit with lawsuit over claims that it failed to provide employees with required 30-minute lunch breaks," from Business Insider GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, March 29, 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. | | | | JOIN THE CONVERSATION, SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" Power dynamics are shifting in Washington, and more people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. "The Recast" is a new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear from new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out on our latest newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | OH, BABY: Biden will push for investments in child care, among other things, in the next Covid-19 response package he plans to start unveiling Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal's Catherine Lucey and Tarini Parti report. "Officials said Biden's $775 billion campaign proposal on caregiving would likely serve as a blueprint for that section of the plan," they write, which "included free prekindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds, child-care tax credits for low- and middle-income families, subsidies for child-care and after-school programs, and pay increases for child-care workers. [Biden] also called for resources for elderly care, including attempting to eliminate the waiting list for home and community services under Medicaid. The campaign proposed paying for it by rolling back tax breaks for real-estate investors with incomes of more than $400,000 annually." SENATE DEMOCRATS PLAN ACTION ON ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES: The Senate will vote when it returns from its two-week recess on a Democratic bill that would appoint a DOJ official to help expedite the review of Covid-related hate crimes, our Nicholas Wu and Marianne LeVine report. "Unlike immigration or voting rights, hate crime is an issue with few obvious political pitfalls — and the discriminatory violence against Asian Americans that's increased during the coronavirus pandemic has raised its national profile. Yet Congress is still confronting a dynamic that recalls its long-running inability to respond to rising gun violence: While lawmakers in both parties are quick to condemn wrongdoing after mass shootings and other tragic events, enacting a law that addresses them is once again proving elusive." "Republicans expressed skepticism about the need for additional legislation while saying they had yet to review the Democrats' bill." WATCH: "All roads lead back to the filibuster," from POLITICO | | | COULD $15 AN HOUR HURT TEEN EMPLOYMENT? Some economists say raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour could make it harder for many teens to get or keep jobs particularly in the wake of the Covid pandemic, The Wall Street Journal's Allison Prang reports. "The unemployment rate for those between 16- and 19-years old hit almost 32% in April 2020 — more than double a pandemic-peak for an overall unemployment rate of 14.8%. Both rates have eased, but teen unemployment remained well elevated at 13.9% in February compared with an overall jobless rate of 6.2%." "A $15-an-hour minimum wage could further harm teens' job prospects because some employers would either cut back on staff or opt to hire someone with more experience," an economist told Prang. OP-ED: "The $15 minimum wage isn't the only way to raise worker pay," from POLITICO | | | CONDÉ NAST UNIONS AUTHORIZE STRIKE: Ninety-eight percent of the New Yorker Union, Pitchfork Union and Ars Technica Union voted Friday to walk off the job if they cannot reach agreement on a contract. "We are now in our third year of bargaining with Condé Nast, and the company has not negotiated in good faith," the unions said in a statement. "From Day One, management has delayed and undermined the bargaining process by refusing to respond to proposals and information requests for months at a time (or at all), and showing up to our sessions late and unprepared. … We will not contribute to the lowering of standards in the media industry, and we are disappointed that our managers are so committed to this race to the bottom." MORE: "Secretly Group Recognizes New Union. Could More Music Unions Follow?" from Billboard | | | REPUBLICAN AGS WANT PUBLIC CHARGE RULE TO GET ITS DAY IN COURT: More than a dozen GOP state attorneys general have asked the Supreme Court to let them defend a Trump-era rule that penalized immigrants for accessing government benefits, Reuters' Lawrence Hurley reports. The Biden administration "decided to drop the government's legal defense of the regulation. As a result, the Supreme Court on March 9 dismissed two appeals launched before [President Donald] Trump left office that sought to preserve the rule after lower courts ruled against it. The Republican attorneys general said that the Biden administration's change of position and refusal to defend the rule were an attempt to evade the normal and lengthy process of unraveling a federal regulation." POLL FINDS BIDEN'S IMMIGRATION POLICY LAGGING WITH VOTERS: Roughly 4 in 10 Americans approve of how Biden is handling an influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll found. "Republicans are seizing on the flow of migrants at the southern border as a 'crisis' — a term that White House aides have refused to invoke while also acknowledging the troubling circumstances — and accusing the current administration's hasty rollback of tough immigration policies implemented by [Trump] as the cause," ABC News' Kendall Karson reports . "A majority of Americans (54%) call the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a crisis. … The issue of immigration is one of the most polarizing among those included in the poll, with clear majorities of Republicans (89%) and independents (54%) disapproving of Biden, while one-third of Democrats say the same." MORE: " Black Immigrants Are Facing Rampant Racism In Mexico While Waiting For U.S. Asylum: 'We Have No Choice,''" from BuzzFeed News | | | | THE LATEST FROM INSIDE THE WEST WING : A lot happened in the first two months of the Biden presidency. From a growing crisis at the border to increased mass shootings across the country while navigating the pandemic and ongoing economic challenges. Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads to find out what actions are on the table and the internal state of play inside the West Wing and across the administration. Track the people, policies and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don't miss out. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — "Under Biden, Diplomacy Is an Attractive Career Again," from The New York Times — "Will the U.S. continue its employment rebound?" from Financial Times — " Marriott CEO says jobs 'absolutely' coming back, company 'actively hiring' in select markets," from Fox Business — "Did Your Job Description Go Out the Window During the Pandemic?" from The Wall Street Journal — "'A huge, huge toll': For households reliant on two incomes, Covid job loss changed everything ," from NBC — "Netflix and Amazon gave daring Indian filmmakers hope. Now that's turning to fear," from CNN Business — "Google Aims to Be the Anti-Amazon of E-Commerce. It Has a Long Way to Go," from The New York Times — " Poland plans pensions for dogs, horses in state employment," from Associated Press THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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