News: Southern Republicans strike back against unionization

Monday, May 20, 2024

Southern Republicans strike back against unionization

May 20, 2024

With help from Nick Niedzwiadek

QUICK FIX

NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT: Southern Republican lawmakers are devising additional policy levers to stymie unionization efforts in the region in light of a resurgence of organized labor that recently resulted in a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee gaining representation.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill last week to revoke economic benefits for companies that voluntarily recognize unions, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a similar bill last month. Tennessee led the way on the strategy last year, and the pressure point could make its way to other GOP-controlled states in the future.

Ivey escaped the same fate as Gov. Bill Lee, as workers at a Mercedes plant in Alabama rejected an organizing bid Friday.

“The workers in Vance have spoken, and they have spoken clearly! Alabama is not Michigan, and we are not the Sweet Home to the UAW,” Ivey said in a statement.

However, the moves highlight how union-friendly workers in a historically hostile region are beginning to meet resistance from state governments in light of growing unionization in the U.S.

“In America, we respect our workforce and we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch,” Ivey warned last month along with five other Southern governors.

Critics of voluntary recognition and so-called card check say that they do not always accurately reflect union support among workers, and that elections are a better measure.

Still, left-leaning experts don’t believe that the cudgel against employers will put a lid on the growth of organized labor in the region — due to potential conflicts with federal law.

"Federal labor law still applies to every worker in these states who's in a private sector job, and workers are organizing actively, despite these new state laws and will continue to do so," Jennifer Sherer, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s State Worker Power Initiative, told Lawrence.

Sherer believes the bills could be preempted by lawsuits from workers who believe the new laws interfere with their rights or from businesses who feel the legislation unfairly threatens their access to subsidies they otherwise qualify for.

For example, in 1986, the Supreme Court struck down a Wisconsin law that barred companies from doing business with the state if they violated the National Labor Relations Act multiple times. The court ruled that the Wisconsin law was preempted by the NLRA and conflicted with the federal statute.

“There may come a time when there are instances of those companies beginning to think twice because they don't want to be in a state that's going to try to block that choice,” Sherer said.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, May 20. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Finding out your team is part of an investigation for receiving $100,000 bonuses is a tough way to start your season. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.

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Driving the day

TIME’S A-CHANGING: The Service Employees International Union is expected to formally elect April Verrett to succeed Mary Kay Henry as the politically powerful organization’s top leader Monday at its convention.

Verrett, SEIU’s secretary-treasurer and former head of the California-based Local 2015, will be the union’s first Black president. Henry announced in February she would not seek another term at the position she’s held since 2010. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to address conventiongoers Tuesday, NBC reports.

Also Monday, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is kicking off its Board of directors convention in Atlanta, where they are set to take up a measure to institute a “one-member, one-vote” policy that’s backed by AFA President Sara Nelson. Nelson has long advocated for the idea, but it has repeatedly been pushed aside at prior conventions. She spoke with labor journalist Hamilton Nolan about why unions should not be so resistant to such small-d democratic reforms.

AROUND THE AGENCIES

PERKINS BUILDING PERCOLATING: The Biden administration has already spent much of the year Trump-proofing major regulatory policy, as Nick and a bunch of other POLITICO reporters wrote for Pro subscribers this weekend. But the Labor Department has kept plugging away at other rules outside of the spotlight.

That includes a tweak to the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Abandoned Plan Program, which attempts to step in when a company goes belly up or otherwise neglects its retirement obligations, to allow trustees in Chapter 7 bankruptcies to make use of the program. DOL says that the interim final rule will speed up the process of distributing 401(k) money and other retirement savings back to workers and their families.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration likewise published stricter requirements on labeling toxic chemicals and hazardous products used in the workplace, Bloomberg Law reports. The rule goes into effect July 19.

In other agency news: “TSA and AFGE ink their first contract under expanded collective bargaining rules,” from Government Executive.

In the Workplace

HONK IF YOU’RE FUMING: The American Trucking Associations is warning that the Biden administration’s bid to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III from Schedule I could jeopardize industry safety, our Morning Transportation colleagues report.

“If the trucking and broader transportation industries’ ability to conduct drug testing is restricted, the risk of impaired drivers operating on our nation’s roadway undetected would increase, endangering all who share the road,” ATA wrote in a letter to the heads of DOJ, DOT and HHS.

More workplace news: "Truck Driver Is Killed in Episode at TSMC’s Arizona Semiconductor Plant," The New York Times.

On the Hill

HOORAY FOR THE CRA: The Coalition for Workplace Safety penned a letter to lawmakers in support of Rep. Mary Miller’s (R-Ill.) Congressional Review Act resolution to unwind an OSHA rule that would allow workers to choose who they want to represent them during safety inspections.

The Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process, which was published in the Federal Register last month but has yet to take effect, has drawn criticism from business groups over concerns that it would allow union organizers to participate in inspections and urge other workers to join.

IN THE STATES

CHECK ROKU CITY: The push to end unpaid internships and the decline of in-person work is taking its toll on D.C.'s intern culture, with more young professionals wanting work but not enough jobs to go around, our Michael Schaffer writes.

Enhanced competition from the rise of virtual programs also means that while organizations are able to tap applicants from across the country, fewer are making the trek to Washington and opting to work remotely, sometimes for more than once office at a time.

AI EVENT HORIZON: California’s Civil Rights Department, which enforces laws against discrimination in housing and employment, unveiled proposed regulations on Friday that would largely deem it illegal for employers to use automatic decision-making tools that harm applicants based on protected characteristics like race, our Jeremy B. White reports.

The regulations also lay out employers’ civil rights obligations if they use automated decision-making systems.

DON’T MISS POLITICO’S ENERGY SUMMIT: The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit on June 5 as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter. REGISTER HERE.

IMMIGRATION

THE DRAWING BOARD: Former President Donald Trump’s allies are preparing executive orders and policy plans for how his administration would crack down on undocumented immigrants if he returns to the White House, The Wall Street Journal reports.

They are discussing ways to “expedite migrants’ asylum hearings to make them more quickly eligible for deportation; rescind deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants created by the Biden administration; and force countries across the globe to accept back more of their deported citizens.”

WHAT WE'RE READING

— "The New Workplace Power Symbols," from The Atlantic.
— "The C.E.O.s Who Just Won’t Quit," from The New York Times Magazine.
— "Exploiting Kids Isn’t the Way to Fix the Labor Shortage," from Bloomberg.

THAT’S YOUR SHIFT!

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