| | | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller | | | | IT'S HAPPENING: The bulk of President Joe Biden's regulation directing businesses with 100 or more workers to require their employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 — or agree to weekly testing and wear a mask around the workplace — is slated to take effect today. Employers will have until Feb. 9 to develop and launch their testing strategies. The Supreme Court heard arguments for and against halting the rule, along with another one requiring staffers at Medicare and Medicaid facilities to get vaccinated, on Friday. "Most of the conservative justices sounded sympathetic to business interests and Republican-led states trying to block the broadest rule, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard covering firms with more than 100 employees, but liberal justices sounded flabbergasted at the arguments that the rules should be halted amid the latest, huge wave of infection," our Josh Gerstein and your host report . "The impact of that wave was evident at Friday's hearing, which featured remote participation by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who a court spokesperson said was 'not ill,' as well as attorneys arguing against the vaccination mandates." Reading the tea leaves: "Among the six Republican-appointed justices, only Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by President George W. Bush, sounded open to allowing the OSHA rule to take effect. But as the arguments progressed, Roberts seemed more skeptical about the Biden administration's power to act without specific legislation from Congress. The chief justice said he doubted that the creation of OSHA in 1970 contemplated broad vaccine mandates." "By the end of the three-and-a-half-hour session, the high court's Republican-appointed majority sounded likely to block the large-workplaces rule, but inclined to side with the Biden administration at least for now on its claim of power to impose vaccine requirements on workers in the health care field. Both liberal and conservative justices noted that the health-care-worker rule wasn't a direct mandate, but issued as a condition of federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid." Your host went on CBS News Saturday to talk about the rules and the challenges they face. Check it out. OPINION: "The Vaccine Mandate 'Work-Around' May Run Aground," from The Wall Street Journal GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, Jan. 10. Welcome back to Weekly Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news, where we promise to never dump tens of thousands of pennies on your lawn. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to emueller@politico.com. Follow me on Twitter at @eleanor_mueller. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | 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. | | | VAX CRACKDOWN: Agencies are taking "increasingly harsh steps" against unvaccinated employees as they implement Biden's vaccine mandate for federal workers, The Hill's Alex Gangitano and Morgan Chalfant report. "The White House in November told agencies to hold off on harsher penalties until after the new year and to focus on education and counseling for those who had not complied with the mandate. Now, OMB says agencies can move forward with stricter measures at their discretion." "Some agencies plan to send letters warning of possible suspensions to employees who have not complied with the mandate. Many are also prepared to fire employees who don't follow the rule, though such moves would be further down the road." "The rate of compliance is high across the federal government, and agencies say they do not expect the suspensions or firings to cause disruptions." MORE AGENCY NEWS: "Labor Board Moves to Scrap Rulings Over Ex-Member's Conflict," from Bloomberg
| | | UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS: The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Breaking even? That's comparable to the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5 percent. "Overall, the report pointed to a still-solid job market," the Associated Press reports. "Consumer spending and business purchases of machinery and equipment likely propelled the economy to a robust annual growth rate of roughly 7 percent in the final three months of 2021." And yet: "Hiring slowed significantly at the end of last year, a stark indication that employers are struggling to fill positions even as the United States remains millions of jobs short of prepandemic levels," The New York Times' Sydney Ember and Jeanna Smialek report. An important qualifier: The unemployment rate for Black workers remained significantly higher at 7.1 percent. Their labor force participation rate was also lower: 60.8 percent compared to 61.7 percent. Money, honey: The report also revealed that hourly wages rose by $0.19, bringing the average hourly earnings for all non-farm payroll workers to $31.31. "Perhaps most starkly, wages have risen by 4.7 percent in just the last twelve months — 0.5 percent higher than economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecasted," Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Andy Kiersz report. "That officially marks 2021 as a year of blockbuster wage growth. It also shows some of the structural changes that the post-vaccine labor market has forced on the economy, as low-wage roles have been the hardest to fill during a historic labor shortage." Your host caught up with our economics reporter, Victoria Guida, on Twitter Spaces Friday afternoon to talk about all the above and more. In case you missed it. RELATED: "What do minimum wage hikes mean for businesses and customers?" from NPR AND: "U.S. Treasury Yields Rise as Wage Growth Backs Bets on March Fed Hike," from Bloomberg WAR OF THE WORKPLACE: A Stanford University professor who studies remote work anticipates "huge battles" between employers and employees about working from home, CNBC's Morgan Smith reports. "If you look at who the decision makers at the big firms are, they are usually older, non-minority men who have no young kids in the house," Nicholas Bloom said. "If you're a 55-year-old man that's a CEO, it might be hard for you to understand how many of your employees really need hybrid/remote work." By the numbers: "A June 2021 report from Deloitte shows that white men make up about 62 percent of the boards of Fortune 500 companies," Morgan writes. "Other research — including a May 2021 report from Future Forum, Slack's research consortium — has shown that white men are the most enthusiastic group to return to the office." NO SICK DAYS? NO LUCK: Omicron is forcing millions of workers whose jobs don't provide paid sick days to choose between their health and their paycheck, the AP's Anne D'Innocenzio and Dee-Ann Durbin report. Recipe for disaster? "While many companies instituted more robust sick leave policies at the beginning of the pandemic, some of those have since been scaled back with the rollout of the vaccines, even though omicron has managed to evade the shots. Meanwhile, the current labor shortage is adding to the pressure of workers having to decide whether to show up to their job sick if they can't afford to stay home." RELATED: " Amazon shortens COVID isolation, paid leave for U.S. workers," from Reuters
| | | CHICAGO MAYOR HOPES FOR DEAL WITH TEACHERS UNION: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday she remains "hopeful" a deal can be reached to get children back into their classrooms this week, our Jordan Wolman reports. ICYMI: "The teachers union for the nation's third-largest school district voted last week to shutter classes in a Covid-related labor dispute," Jordan explains. Lightfoot said the city has responded to the union's concerns over testing for children, telling NBC's Chuck Todd, "We think we can get agreement there." She noted that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced he would provide 350,000 additional tests to the school district. FIRST IN SHIFT: Kim Cordova, UFCW Local 7 president and UFCW International vice president, will hold a press conference at 5 p.m. Eastern today ahead of a planned work stoppage later this week in Colorado over pay, benefits and worker safety. "King Soopers union members plan to walk off the job to protest unfair labor practices on Wednesday because negotiations on a new contract have failed to reach a resolution," The Colorado Sun's Tamara Chuang reports. "The strike will affect 87 grocery stores mostly in the Front Range and approximately 8,400 Colorado workers." "We think our associates should have a right to vote on the comprehensive best offer to settle, because ultimately it impacts their pockets, as does a strike," Joe Kelley, president of King Soopers, said in a statement on Friday. "We know that a work stoppage creates a troubling position that often leads to financial hardships for our associates." NLRB LINES UP ANOTHER STARBUCKS ELECTION: The National Labor Relations Board greenlit an election to form a union at an Arizona Starbucks store, Bloomberg's Josh Eidelson reports. Big picture: The vote "could expand the new unionized foothold at the retail coffee chain, rejecting the company's arguments against holding store-by-store votes," Josh writes. What's next: The agency's "regional director ordered that ballots be mailed out Jan. 14 to employees at a store in Mesa, Ariz., who will have until Jan. 28 to return them." MORE UNION NEWS: "Student Workers at Columbia End 10-Week Strike After Reaching a Deal," from The New York Times AND: "Amazon workers were 'heartbroken' after AOC bails on promise to march with them," from the New York Post
| | | At 2 p.m. Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program holds a virtual discussion on the Economic Development Administration's regional Build Back Better programs. Assistant Commerce Secretary for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo, among others, participates. | | | | DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | — "The rise of performative work," from The Economist — "No More Working for Jerks!" from The New York Times — Listen: " Single parents are balancing work and child care, all while dealing with uncertainty," from NPR — "'I'm barely clinging onto work': Exhausted parents face another wave of school shutdowns," from The Washington Post — "Europe's Workers See Living Costs Rise, but Pay Isn't Keeping Pace ," from The Wall Street Journal — "Your Head of H.R. Is Now Basically the School Nurse," from The New York Times — "A new study says knowledge is money: If workers knew how much they could make elsewhere, even more would quit their jobs — and low-wage roles would be forced to pay more," from Insider — " The Revolution Against Low-Wage Work," from The Nation — "These Workers Wanted to Quit Their Jobs. They Got Promoted Instead," from The Wall Street Journal — Opinion: "In many states, workers still earn only $7.25 an hour. If we want to fix the 'labor shortage,' it should start with raising wages ," from Insider — "Employers, Investors Take Notice of AI Tools to Speed Job Recruitment," from The Wall Street Journal — "Kemp proposes $5,000 pay raise as employee turnover hits record high," from Axios — " Many tech workers in San Francisco have a new side hustle: Local politics," from NBC News — "What to Do When All Your Employees Want to Leave," from The Wall Street Journal THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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