| | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller, Nick Niedzwiadek and Shayna Greene | PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Shift won't publish from Monday, Aug. 29 through Monday, Sept. 5. We'll be back in your inbox on Monday, Sept. 12.
| | | PAGING DHS: Texas-based nonprofit Workers Defense Project went public Friday with the details of an unfair labor practice charge it filed with the National Labor Relations Board in February. The case alleges that cleaning company LM Carpet retaliated against immigrant workers who tried to collect unpaid wages — including by threatening to tell the police that they broke a car window or stole tools if they didn't back off. "The fear that was clear there was that even with a sort of a false police report, this is going to expose these workers to potential immigration consequences," Workers Defense's director of employment and legal services, Sean Goldhammer, told Eleanor. "Far too often, this kind of story with these kinds of facts is very common, and workers won't keep pursuing their claims out of the fears of potentially being deported or arrested. But luckily, these workers did reach out to Workers Defense." Here's why it matters: Workers Defense says it's the state's first case in which the NLRB has asked DHS to offer legal protections to the immigrant workers involved. "The NLRB requests immigration relief, including, but not limited to, deferred action or parole, as well as work authorization documentation for workers employed by LM Carpet at any time during the period of July through November 2021, who make a request to USCIS or another DHS component," NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo wrote to USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou in May. "We believe protections are needed for not less than 24 months and should be subject to extension as necessary for completion of the NLRB's investigation and any subsequent litigation, enforcement action, and compliance effort." It came some six months after Abruzzo issued a memo "in which [she] stated that she will seek immigration relief upon request from a charging party or witness to protect workers in the exercise of their statutory rights and allow for vigorous enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act," NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado said in a statement to Weekly Shift. Yet Workers Defense says that DHS has yet to respond to Abruzzo's request about its case — or produce guidance on what kinds of cases they will issue work authorizations and deportation protections for across the country. "DHS has been a lot more opaque in terms of what they're doing" than NLRB or DOL, which published a related FAQ for workers last month , Goldhammer said. "They've made a number of promises, starting back in 2021, that they are going to create this policy; that they are open to providing these forms of relief on a case by case basis. But still, no policy has been officially released." "I do think that there is a desire to have this program," Goldhammer added. "But I think it's running up against a large, bureaucratic organization that historically was not providing this form of relief for workers." That's where the Texas case comes in, Goldhammer said: "Instead of waiting for them to produce the guidance," Workers Defense and other advocates across the country "decided to bring some cases forward. And by bringing these cases forward, we're both going to push the agencies to respond and sort of create the guidance, but also be able to test out [whether] this idea on paper is going to work." DHS declined to comment on the NLRB case or broader requests to coordinate with the agency, but provided general information on its Homeland Security Investigations into labor exploitation, which target employers that employ undocumented workers, and the associated Victim Assistance Program, which serves as a resource to those employers' victims. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, Aug. 22. Welcome back to Weekly Shift, your go-to tipsheet on employment and immigration news, where we wish everyone posting about so-called quiet quitting would just read this. Send feedback, tips, exclusives to emueller@politico.com and nniedzwiadek@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @eleanor_mueller and @nickniedz.
| | | | The Women Rule series brings together rising stars, accomplished professionals, and women at the pinnacle of their careers to inform, empower and connect women across diverse sectors and career levels. Attendance to our quarterly in-person POLITICO Women Rule meetings, is by invitation-only. Join our interest list and learn more here. | | | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories.
| | | REPUBLICANS LAY POST-ELECTION PLANS: Republicans are heavily favored to win back the House in the midterm election — and if they do, cracking down on anything they see as tilting the scales toward organized labor will be one of their first orders of business, Eleanor reports for POLITICOPro subscribers. "I've joked with my colleagues that we will probably be holding two oversight hearings a day, because we're going to be so busy with oversight," Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said with a laugh. "We're going to hold the NLRB and DOL accountable." Foxx confirmed to POLITICO that she is angling for a term-limit waiver that would allow her to command the committee's gavel if her party does take the majority: "That's the track I'm on," she said. "Right now, I have no opposition, and I have a lot of support for it." Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), also a member of the panel, had been rumored to be interested in the job before a news report last week indicated she would instead run again for a House GOP leadership post.
| 
| In the crosshairs: Foxx said the 57 letters she and her colleagues already have sent to various agencies seeking a range of information about labor policy decisions since President Joe Biden took office are guideposts for some of what they will focus on — though not all. There will be "a lot more," she said. On the agenda: potential conflicts of interest at the NLRB; the task force the White House formed to encourage organized labor; and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh's involvement in labor disputes, as well as a wide array of union-related regulations from DOL and memos penned by NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. MORE HILL NEWS: " 'We are in the fight of our lifetimes,' Bernie Sanders tells union partisans at Philly rally," from The Philadelphia Inquirer
| | | BIDEN'S NLRB TORTOISE TURN: Republicans on the National Labor Relations Board issued sweeping decisions at head-spinning velocity when they retook the majority under Donald Trump, and many expected Joe Biden's appointees to act in kind, Nick reports for POLITICOPro subscribers. But nearly a year into the Democratic majority's reign atop the NLRB, businesses and organized labor are still in wait-and-see mode. Last winter, the five-member board solicited briefs on issues ranging from confidentiality clauses in mandatory arbitration agreements to distinguishing independent contractors from employees, and standards for small bargaining units within a larger company. And as of mid-August they're all still pending, to say nothing of other issues that have cropped up in the interim.
| 
| The board's languid pace also differs sharply from the speed at which General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has influenced the agency's direction. And it's a dramatic reversal from the early part of the Trump presidency, when the board handed down several major rulings in relatively quick succession. Board Chair Lauren McFerran defended the board as "an excellent group of extremely dedicated public servants who want to do the business of the Board the right way." "All of this work takes time and resources — made more challenging by the fact that the agency is in the most difficult financial position we've faced in recent history," she said in a statement to Weekly Shift.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | | BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Contract negotiations between West Coast dockworkers and their employers are at a standstill because of a fight over which union handles equipment at the Port of Seattle, The Wall Street Journal's Paul Berger reports. Big picture: "The labor battle is complicating the talks that cover 29 West Coast ports and raises the threat of disruptions at major American gateways for trans-Pacific trade, including the country's busiest container port complex at Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif." The disagreement: "The ILWU, which represents more than 22,000 West Coast dockworkers, wants its next labor contract to ensure that a cargo-handling terminal at Seattle uses ILWU workers to maintain and repair equipment. The Pacific Maritime Association says it can't award that work to the ILWU because the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2020 that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has jurisdiction at the terminal." MORE WORKPLACE NEWS: " Wages are now the hottest inflation signal. Here's what that means for the Federal Reserve and the markets," from CNBC
| | | MENTAL HEALTH WORKER STRIKE GROWS: A strike involving thousands of mental health care workers in Northern California that began last week is set to expand to a second state on Monday. Workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Hawaii are planning to go on strike in an action that does not have a set end date. The union representing the striking workers in both states says that the clinical situation is even more dire in Hawaii than California, but that both are being ill served by the status quo. It follows a smaller strike of several dozen Hawaiian mental health staff back in May. "Through strike activity our members are using their power to make Kaiser stop treating mental health care as a second-class service and start providing care that its paying customers are legally entitled to receive," Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, said in a release. It is the latest in a string of large-scale demonstrations in the health care sector, where employees on the forefront of the pandemic response have begun agitating for better compensation and safety conditions as reports of burnout have spiked. RELATED: " Frontier Communications workers strike over subcontracting," from the Los Angeles Daily News UNIONS TARGET AIRLINE STOCK BUYBACKS: Unions are pressuring airlines to not buy back their own stock — but instead address the issues that caused flight delays and cancellations this summer, The Associated Press' David Koenig reports. Background: "The airlines are currently barred from buying back their own shares as a condition of $54 billion in federal pandemic aid, but that prohibition ends after Sept. 30. Union officials worry that buybacks will come back now that most U.S. airlines have returned to profitability after huge losses in 2020 and 2021." Organized labor "launched a campaign and petition drive that portrays buyouts as a giveaway to Wall Street and a tool for airline executives to boost their own stock-based compensation." They asked airlines to pledge to forgo buybacks "until airlines fix their 'operational meltdowns' and reach new labor contracts [with] substantial wage increases." Nelson at the helm: "We paused the greed in aviation for a little while," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. She blamed "greed that ran rampant before COVID" with leaving airlines understaffed. MORE UNION NEWS: " 2,000 Philadelphia school district workers vote to authorize strike ahead of school year, union says," from CNN
| | | THE STATE(S) OF PAID LEAVE, ILLUSTRATED: Since the Supreme Court's overturn of Roe v. Wade, there has been increased debate about the status of paid leave provided across the country as various states seek to either limit or preserve access to abortion.
| 
| A look at the laws: The map illustrating the legality of abortion was created based on data from July 5. Since then, there have been developments in several states. In Kansas, voters rejected an amendment at the beginning of August that would have allowed the state legislature to ban abortion. Indiana, on the other hand, approved a near-total abortion ban with few exceptions. And a judge in Michigan recently ruled that prosecutors could not enforce the state's abortion ban, which is expected to keep abortion legal throughout the state until the Michigan Supreme Court or voters could decide in the fall.
| 
| As illustrated by the graphic above, Michigan requires paid leave for private sector workers, but neither Kansas nor Indiana do. The U.S. is the only developed nation without federally guaranteed paid leave, an issue exacerbated by Covid-19. Congress' struggles: In December 2021, POLITICO reported that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wanted the benefit out of Democrats' social spending package (recently enacted as the Inflation Reduction Act ) so lawmakers could pursue a bipartisan approach to the issue — yet the two parties have continuously disagreed on how to fund any type of leave program. Most recently, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) released a proposal in June that would allow workers paid family leave by letting them take money from their future social security payments, a suggestion sharply criticized by Democrats and advocates. MORE STATE NEWS: " California Bill Could Make Fast Food Chains Liable for Labor Law Violations," from CalMatters
| | | IMMIGRATION JUDGES' FATEFUL FALL: The next few months are shaping up to be a critical juncture for the union that represents federal immigration judges. At least until very recently, that is. It's been a tumultuous few years for the National Association of Immigration Judges, which clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration and ultimately saw its member judges having their collective bargaining rights yanked from them. Now the group is attempting to claw back its status through a two-track strategy , which involves a lawsuit challenging the validity of the Trump-era Justice Department and Federal Labor Relations Authority actions that resulted in NAIJ's involuntary decertification, as well as restarting the representation process from the beginning. "We're in legal limbo right now," President Mimi Tsankov told Shift. "There's nobody like our situation." Tsankov said the organization is looking to make its case to FLRA — now with a Democratic majority — sometime in September with the parallel court case to proceed later in the fall. "This next month or so — month to month-and-a-half — is going to be critical and pivotal for both pursuits on our part," she said
| | | At noon ET: The RAND Corporation holds a forum on behavioral finance.
| | | — " The remote work revolution is already reshaping America," from The Washington Post — " How Pharmacy Work Stopped Being So Great," from The New York Times — "' A poster child' for diversity in science: Black engineers work to fix long-ignored bias in oxygen readings," from STAT News — " Where the gap between rent and the minimum wage is the widest," from The Washington Post — " Tens of thousands of UK workers strike as inflation crushes wages," from Al Jazeera — Opinion: " California Needs More Housing. Unions Might Stand in the Way," from The New York Times — " 'The paycheck has died': Argentine workers hold funeral for wages," from Reuters THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment