| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | |  | Quick Fix | | — DOL is revamping rules governing Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements for federal construction projects. — Immunocompromised people and other vulnerable groups are facing the difficult decision of whether to put their lives or livelihoods at risk as mask mandates and other pandemic precautions are lifted. — The CDC is ending a Trump-era deportation policy for unaccompanied minors, as key Democrats continue to push for the policy's termination. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, March 14. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to emueller@politico.com and nniedzwiadek@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @eleanor_mueller and @nickniedz.
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| | | BIDEN ADMIN TARGETS PREVAILING WAGE: The Labor Department on Friday moved to revamp the regulations that govern wage standards for federally funded construction projects, in what the agency says would be the most comprehensive update since the early 1980s, your Shift host reports. The proposal includes a number of changes to how the department enforces the 1931 law that mandated the "prevailing wage" be paid on applicable projects, known as Davis-Bacon. The details: Chief among the alterations is a proposed reversion to a prior definition of "prevailing wage" that was in place for nearly 50 years, until 1983. The new rules would revert to a three-tier system used to calculate what that rate should be. How it works: Since the Reagan administration, DOL calculates the prevailing wage through surveys and assigns a rate based on the pay earned by more than half of workers in a designated area. The department formulates a "blended rate" if the responses are insufficient to make that determination using a weighted average. The proposal would create an intermediate step between those two stages that would allow the prevailing wage benchmark to be set at the rate at which 30 percent or more workers doing a particular job in that area are paid. What's else is in there: DOL is also seeking to more frequently update local wage rates in between official surveys, in an effort to give contractors and prospective bidders a more up-to-date and accurate estimate of the prevailing wage for a given project. It's also introducing anti-retaliation protections for workers on projects covered by Davis-Bacon, a point of emphasis for the department's Wage and Hour Division. It's a big swing: The Wall Street Journal reports that DOL has "more than 100,000 prevailing wage rates for every type of construction work across counties in the U.S." and notes that a 2019 inspector general report found that many of the surveys take years to complete — often becoming out-of-date in the process — or, in some instances, have not been revised in decades. What's next? The proposed rulemaking is expected to be published in the Federal Register sometime this week, triggering a 60-day notice and comment period.
| | | TOP DEMS BLAST BIDEN ADMIN'S TITLE 42 MOVE: A cadre of prominent Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, expressed frustration at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to end a Trump-era deportation policy for unaccompanied minors — rather than terminating use of Title 42 entirely. "We are deeply disappointed in the Biden administration's decision to maintain Title 42," Schumer and Sens. Robert Martinez, Cory Booker and Alex Padilla wrote in a joint statement. "While we recognize that the administration made the right choice to prevent unaccompanied children from being expelled, it is wrong that they made the decision to continue sending families with minor children back to persecution and torture." The CDC announced the move late Friday, calling it a response to a recent court ruling barring the Biden administration from using its previous workaround to shield unaccompanied minors from expulsion under Title 42. The agency says it made the shift due to declining nationwide Covid cases and determined "that expulsion of unaccompanied noncitizen children is not warranted to protect the public health." — In any event, Title 42 may not be around for much longer. BuzzFeed News reported Thursday that plans are in the works to move away from the policy, possibly as soon as April.
| | | FIRST IN SHIFT: Members of the House's Labor Caucus are scheduled to meet Wednesday with representatives of the Starbucks unionization effort. Among the expected attendees is Jaz Brisack, the Rhodes scholar and Western New York barista who has become a prominent voice of the organizing push. "It's really been transformational that people are going to look a bit harder at needing a voice at work," caucus co-chair Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) told Weekly Shift. "The opinion of labor and unions has completely changed" during the pandemic, he said.. Norcross said the caucus has previously invited other worker groups for similar confabs , though the Starbucks drive has garnered particular notice for its recent string of successful union elections, rapid expansion in stores throughout the country and the company's hardball opposition. "Every time they fight this, they make it worse for themselves, because they unite their employees," Norcross said, adding that he's personally started to boycott the company. Where the organizing efforts stand: Last week, three additional stores in the Buffalo area voted to unionize — bringing the total to six out of seven contests — and additional elections in the cities of Seattle, Boston, Rochester, N.Y., and Knoxville, Tenn., are on the horizon.
| | | LOOSER MASK POLICIES WEIGH ON VULNERABLE GROUPS: The Biden administration wants to move past Covid-19 , state health officials are ending mask requirements in schools and public buildings, and employers across the country are bringing employees back to the office. But for millions of Americans, many of whom have chronic conditions or disabilities that make them especially vulnerable to Covid-19, the pandemic is far from over, our Rachael Levy reports. "They call the Biden administration's decision to roll back mask recommendations shortsighted and dangerous, inconsiderate of those who don't want to risk potential disability or death from an infection. They, too, must go to grocery stores, schools, work and doctor appointments. Several advocacy groups raised these concerns in recent meetings with the Biden administration but have grown frustrated by the tenor of the discussions." — More workplace news: " Ventilation, Vaccination Key to Suppressing Covid-19 as People Head Back Indoors," from The Wall Street Journal.
| | | INVESTOR VISA PROGRAM GETS REVAMP: The recently passed omnibus spending package included a reauthorization for the EB-5 visa program, which lapsed last year as lawmakers were at loggerheads over how to rework the criteria for wealthy foreign investors. The program claims to have incentivized tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment in U.S. businesses, but it has long been beset by rural-urban tensions and the potential to be abused. Critics deride the visas as a way for the wealthy to buy legal residency. The changes: Foreign investors will now be required to spend more than $1 million, or $800,000 in a high-unemployment area, up from $500,000 previously. It also strengthens the federal government's ability to prevent localities from gaming the system by stringing together low-income areas with more attractive ones in order to bolster certain projects — with New York City's Hudson Yards development the poster-child for such a scheme. The legislation also strengthens reporting requirements surrounding these types of projects and applications. The renewed visa program will be authorized for five years, through 2027. DEPORTATIONS DOWN IN BIDEN'S FIRST YEAR: Deportations were down considerably last year even as border crossings surged. "During the 2021 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE recorded 59,011 deportations, down from 185,884 in 2020. The lower numbers were partly the result of enforcement changes triggered by the coronavirus pandemic that have allowed U.S. agents to rapidly expel unlawful border crossers under the Title 42 public health code, a procedure that does not count as a formal deportation," The Washington Post's Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report.
| | | | DON'T MISS POLITICO'S INAUGURAL HEALTH CARE SUMMIT ON 3/31: Join POLITICO for a discussion with health care providers, policymakers, federal regulators, patient representatives, and industry leaders to better understand the latest policy and industry solutions in place as we enter year three of the pandemic. Panelists will discuss the latest proposals to overcome long-standing health care challenges in the U.S., such as expanding access to care, affordability, and prescription drug prices. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | — "Marty Walsh's inside baseball," from West Wing Playbook. — " AME Church Halts Retiree Payouts Amid Probe Into Missing Funds," from The Wall Street Journal. — Opinion: " If You Already Hate Your New Job, It's Fine to Quit ," from Bloomberg. — "New employment policy raises 'loyalty' oath concerns at BYU," from the Salt Lake Tribune. — "Public sector's slower job recovery is hurting Black employment," from Yahoo Money. — " JPMorgan says labor shortage requires unconventional hiring, including people with criminal records," from CNBC. — "Russia's war idles some European mills as energy costs soar," from the Associated Press. — "The Labor Department wants to investigate crypto in retirement plans," from The New York Times. — "This Is How Starbucks Workers Won a Union in Mesa, Arizona," from In These Times. — " Residents sue Maryland Department of Labor over unpaid unemployment benefits dating to the beginning of the pandemic," from the Baltimore Sun. — " D.C. board rules that officer who committed suicide after Jan. 6 died in line of duty," from Reuters. THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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