| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | With help from Eleanor Mueller
| | FUTURE LAW JOURNAL CASE STUDY: The Supreme Court ruling last week in Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters may have created an unusual conflict that could put it on a collision course with the National Labor Relations Board. That’s because the court, in an 8-1 decision, ruled that the Washington Supreme Court erred in dismissing a concrete company’s lawsuit against the union for damages incurred by a 2017 strike and ordered the court to reconsider the case. But last year prosecutors at the NLRB, under General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, alleged that Glacier Northwest’s lawsuit was one of several unlawful retaliatory actions against union members. That case is pending before an administrative law judge at the agency. Employment law experts say that it is rare for the NLRB to police a party’s use of the legal system. “There are lots of lawsuits that are brought in good faith and get dismissed,” attorney Jack Sullivan of Dorsey & Whitney told POLITICO. “That doesn't mean that the fact that it was brought in the first place means it was for an improper purpose or an inappropriate purpose.” As recently as mid-May, an agency judge sided with NLRB prosecutors’ arguments that Starbucks violated labor law through its use of subpoenas in one of the myriad cases it is battling over its counter unionization efforts. What’s unique in this instance is that the Supreme Court’s Glacier decision, in one sense, essentially said the company’s case against the Teamsters can and should be allowed to move forward. The NLRB’s treatment of litigation by parties locked in labor disputes has bubbled up to the Supreme Court a couple of times over the decades, and this case has the potential to as well depending on how things shake out given the messiness that put it on this term’s docket in the first place. Justice Samuel Alito said as much, calling it “a good candidate for a quick return trip” in a footnote responding to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent. And that has some left-leaning legal observers on edge, given the court’s conservative majority. “We’ve seen a bunch of times where the justices chip away at workers’ rights and leave the door open for future challenges,” said Cathy Ruckelshaus of the National Employment Law Project. “That's worrisome, and it seems to be a pattern with this current Supreme Court.” GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, June 5. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Color us skeptical of workplace k-holes. Send feedback, tips, and exclusives to NNiedzwiadek@politico.com and OOlander@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @nickniedz and @oliviaolanderr.
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| | FIRST IN SHIFT: Advocacy group Care in Action will launch a seven-figure campaign today aimed at elevating paid leave, child care, home care and other so-called care policies ahead of the 2024 election, our Eleanor Mueller reports. The goal? To “upend the narrative that the care crisis is a women's issue,” Care in Action’s executive director, Hillary Holley, said in a statement. “It's a societal issue straining individuals, families, and communities in every corner of this country — including those who hold the power to make a difference.” The money will go to a campaign video, voter outreach, and constituent polling on “how a robust care agenda will impact their future,” according to a press release. The group will spend five figures on a series of targeted digital ads in the D.C. area as part of the launch. Earlier this year, the group convened care workers in D.C. as part of its effort to reinvigorate the push for investing in care policies. During the pandemic, Congress passed various relief packages that temporarily bolstered paid leave, child care and more — and congressional Democrats sought to enshrine those efforts with their party-line reconciliation package. But the efforts eventually collapsed amid pushback from moderates over the cost. “The pandemic actually opened up this conversation,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said at a Senate HELP Committee hearing on child care last week. “I will tell you everywhere I go in my state, people talk about the fact that they do want to go get that job, but they cannot because they’re 200th on a waiting list.”
| | BIDEN RENOMINATES NLRB’S WILCOX: The White House announced Friday plans to nominate Gwynne Wilcox to serve an additional term on the NLRB. Wilcox was nominated by President Joe Biden in May 2021 and confirmed that July. Her existing term expires in August. If confirmed, Wilcox could serve until 2028. Wilcox’s seat is important, as she is one of the three Democratic appointees — making her critical for any partisan vote on the five-person board. If Wilcox’s term were to expire before she is reconfirmed, it could muck up the NLRB’s operations; historically the board refrains from making major precedential decisions without at least three votes in support. One of the two spots reserved for Republican appointees has sat vacant since John Ring left late last year, and a successor has not yet been named. Oftentimes the Senate will strike a deal to move a Democratic and Republican nominee together as a way to grease the confirmation process. More agency news: “NIH Fellows Hope Union Bid Will Bolster Pay and Protections,” from Government Executive.
| | | STAFFING SURVEYS: The House Office of Diversity and Inclusion will soon begin work on a pair of surveys examining staffer pay and diversity, Punchbowl News reports. “Just 18% of top House non-custodial employees are people of color, an October 2022 study from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found. In offices of white Democratic lawmakers, 14.8% of top staff are racial minorities. Republicans have a longer way to go — just 5.1% of top GOP staffers are people of color.” Senate Democrats are preparing to release demographic data of their own in July.
| | DOCKS ON THE ROCKS: Negotiations between unionized dockworkers and West Coast port operators appear to have taken a step back, as the terminal leaders allege employees are purposely impeding operations. “Shipping industry officials said dockworkers failed to show up for work and slowed operations at the ports starting Thursday evening and continuing into Friday morning,” The Wall Street Journal reports. The situation got bad enough that the Port of Oakland temporarily closed Friday, though the International Longshore and Warehouse Union issued a statement disputing that talks have broken down. — Throwback to May 12: “White House Envoy Optimistic Port Talks to Produce Deal Soon.”
| | DIRECTORS GUILD REACHES DEAL: The Directors Guild of America announced a tentative agreement with the major Hollywood studios. The three-year deal, which still needs to be voted on by members, comes as the Writers Guild strike enters its second month and the union representing actors sees its contract expire at the end of June. The DGA agreement includes pay increases, a major 76 percent increase for foreign streaming residuals, and guarantees against certain uses of artificial intelligence technologies — a key concern for other guilds as well. Here is a breakdown of provisions the DGA is highlighting to its members. More union news: “Amazon Fired Another Alabama Union Organizer, Union Says,” from Bloomberg.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW. | | | | | | | | | TEXAS BENDS TO WFH REALITY: Companies that allowed employees to work remotely had to miss out on a combined $20 million in Texas tax breaks tied to in-person job creation. That prompted the legislature to pass a bill revising those requirements to be more accommodating of the post-pandemic paradigm, Bloomberg reports. “The bill, which has passed the state House and Senate, would allow companies to receive state incentives for employees who work from home more than half of the time — as long as the workers live in Texas, within 25 miles of the office.” More state news: “California Moves Toward the Next College Sports Disruption: Sharing Revenue With Athletes,” from The Wall Street Journal.
| | | BOXED IN: The health care system brings in thousands of nurses and other workers annually to meet their staffing needs, but many of those immigrants say that they are treated poorly and face costly limits on their ability to change jobs, NBC News reports. “Some of the tactics used to keep nurses in their jobs have been alleged to be illegal by the Labor Department. … But the employment practices have continued, falling into a regulatory gray area, and stand to become even more prevalent given the shortage of Americans willing to work in a growing number of health care jobs with harsh conditions and relatively low pay, said labor and nursing advocates.” More immigration news: “The GOP battle to show who’s tougher on immigration,” from Axios.
|  | what we're reading | | — “Semi-Retirees Know the Key to Work-Life Balance,” from The Atlantic. — “Know any airplane mechanics? A wave of retirements is leaving some US industries desperate to hire,” from The Associated Press. — “A Strong Summer Job Market for Teenagers,” from The New York Times. — “Dollar General Is Still Putting Workers in Harm’s Way,” from Jacobin. THAT’S ALL FOR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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