| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | | | | LABOR MOVEMENT TAKES STOCK OF ITS MOMENT: Friday marked the nexus point of two marquee union elections at Amazon facilities, with the do-over vote in Bessemer, Ala., coming to a close and the first of two New York City contests beginning. Results won't be known for weeks, though observers say the pro-unionization camps in each case face an uphill climb, as your Shift host reported for Pros on Friday. Still, unions are confident that even in the event of potential losses at Amazon, the gains they've made of late will endure. "No matter the results of the votes in Alabama and New York, we celebrate what those workers have done, because they've pushed the boundaries on what's possible and changed the conversation about where, how and who union demands are coming from in this country," Mary Kay Henry, head of the Service Employees International Union, told Shift. "I think it will fuel the Starbucks workers, nursing home workers, home care workers [and] other workers that we're backing all across the economy in fueling this uprising." An SEIU affiliate, Workers United, has been key to the ongoing Starbucks unionization campaign that has scored victories from Buffalo to Seattle and become an inspiration for other nascent organizing drives. "We think we're long past the 'Great Resignation,' and that we're now seeing a great reckoning in the face of corporations that for decades have taken advantage of an economy that has favored them and is rigged against workers," Henry said. She said she sees opportunities for SEIU to make additional inroads in areas like airports and home care, as well as longstanding targets like the fast food industry. Ultimately, Henry said, legislation like the PRO Act is needed to cement organized labor's momentum. Spirited campaigns like that at Amazon demonstrate the need for such measures and lay the groundwork for it to eventually pass, she added. "When you look at a history of how laws have been rewritten, they happen after great disruptions and militancy and strikes by workers." GOOD MORNING. It's Monday, March 28, ad a great day to be a Tar Heel. 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.
| | | WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT REAUTHORIZATION IN THE WORKS: The House Education and Labor Committee has started drafting legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which funds the Labor Department's workforce development programs. The draft bill would boost funding to $45.5 billion over six years — enough to serve 1 million Americans annually by 2028, Eleanor reports. That includes $5.9 billion in fiscal 2023 for Title I programs, which is more than double fiscal 2022 funding. State of play: Reauthorizing the landmark bill has long been a priority for Chair Bobby Scott(D-Va.) and ranking member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). Lawmakers hope the effort can remain bipartisan, but there will likely be fault lines surrounding the level of funding. Many Democrats favor an overhaul of the existing system, while Republicans are wary of pouring too much money into an imperfect infrastructure. POLITICO has also obtained the full text of the discussion draft and a section-by-section summary (for Pros). THE OFT-OVERLOOKED CHILD (TAX CREDIT): There's a fat tax break for kids, worth thousands of dollars to their parents, but it's not the one getting all the attention, our Brian Faler reports. "While the Child Tax Credit has dominated the debate in Washington, there's another provision with a similar name that provides an even bigger benefit to some parents, thanks to a major expansion pushed through by Democrats. To the frustration of some lawmakers, though, the Child and Dependent Care Credit hasn't gotten nearly the same notice." "That has prompted more than a little finger pointing, with some Democrats complaining the White House has not done enough to publicize the break." Claim it while you can: "Unless something changes, people will only be able to claim the beefed-up credit this filing season. Democrats only approved the expansion on a temporary basis, and efforts to make it permanent have run aground, along with the rest of their 'reconciliation' agenda." RELATED: " Small businesses face tax headaches on top of pandemic woes," from the Associated Press.
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| | | NLRB RATTLES THE TIN CUP: Funding for the National Labor Relations Board has been held flat for nearly a decade, a stagnation that has contributed to staff attrition and hamstrung its investigative aims, HuffPost's Dave Jamieson reports. "Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB's general counsel, called the situation 'unsustainable,' saying the flatlined funding threatens the agency's mission. … 'We have trouble just making sure that hearings are done in short order, that decisions are being issued in short order, that we're investigating cases as quickly as we possibly can.'" The effect: "Total staffing at the NLRB has fallen 30 percent since 2010, from 1,733 full-time employees to just 1,207, according to the board. And while its overall caseload has dropped over the same period, the agency's staff has been shrinking at a faster clip." SCOTUS SIDES WITH BIDEN ADMIN ON NAVY VACCINES: The Supreme Court ruled that the Navy can take into consideration the vaccination status of roughly three-dozen sailors challenging the military's Covid-19 mandate when determining their duty assignments. "Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that there was a 'simple overarching reason' that he agreed with the court's decision. The Constitution makes the president, 'not any federal judge,' the commander in chief of the armed forces, he wrote, noting that courts have been traditionally 'reluctant to intrude upon the authority of the Executive in military and national security affairs,'" the AP's Jessica Gresko reports. "Three conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — noted that they disagreed with their colleagues' decision and would have sided with the group of SEALs."
| | | WAPO NOTCHES LEGAL WIN OVER ITS OWN STAFFER: A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed against The Washington Post by one of its reporters, Felicia Sonmez, over her claims that the paper illegally discriminated against her as a sexual assault victim when it banned her from reporting on such issues. According to our Josh Gerstein, "D.C. Superior Court Judge Anthony Epstein ruled that Sonmez's suit did not plausibly allege a valid discrimination claim under D.C. law because the Post appeared to have limited her assignments based on concerns about the paper's perceived impartiality rather than based on her gender or the fact she had publicly claimed to be the victim of sexual assault while working for other news outlets in China in 2017." The road not taken: "Epstein rejected an unusual and potentially more sweeping argument from the Post that a law aimed at limiting lawsuits related to issues of public controversy required that Sonmez's suit be thrown out. Sonmez's lawyer contended that the Post's invocation of the so-called anti-SLAPP law amounted to a claim that the newspaper had carte blanche to discriminate against journalists and seek refuge in the speech-protection law."
| | | YET ANOTHER STARBUCKS STORE VOTES TO ORGANIZE: Workers at a Starbucks coffee shop in Mesa, Ariz., voted to unionized Friday — the second store in the area to do so and the eighth nationwide. The latest Mesa vote was 11-3, with one challenged ballot, extending a near-perfect run of elections — eight out of nine — for the upstart union campaign over the past several months. And it comes just days after organizers won a vote in the company's hometown of Seattle. HERSHEY WORKERS SHOOT DOWN UNION: Workers at the second-largest Hershey's plant in the U.S. voted against unionization this past week — a contrast to high-profile victories elsewhere that also highlights the additional complexities of organizing large workplaces. "The Hershey plant, located at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains in Stuarts Draft, Va., has around 1,400 employees and primarily makes products with peanuts, including Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and other candy bars like Almond Joy," Reuters' Praveen Paramasivam reports.
| | | "The preliminary results from the National Labor Relations Board were 79 percent, or 843 votes against a union, and 21 percent, or 225 votes, for a union," per local TV station WHSV.
Immigration KNIVES OUT FOR TITLE 42: Pressure is rising for the Biden administration to end a Trump-era public health order being used to turn away migrants at the U.S. border, as Covid-19 cases drop and pandemic restrictions relax across the country, our Krista Mahr reports. "The pressure campaign comes at a fraught moment for the administration as it juggles a series of competing interests: wanting to signal that America is moving on from the pandemic even as the Omicron BA.2 subvariant spreads, and wanting to avoid an influx of would-be asylum seekers while welcoming refugees from the war in Ukraine." "Nearly two million people have been expelled at the northern and southwest land borders under the controversial order, known as Title 42, on the basis that allowing them into the U.S. immigration system during the pandemic poses a threat to Americans' health."
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | What state street is reading | | — "Tuberville questions reason for second Bessemer Amazon union election," from AL.com. — " She Was a Candidate to Lead Levi's. Then She Started Tweeting," from The New York Times. — " Inside the Capitol Hill Staffers' Effort to Unionize Congress," from TIME. — "The Great Resignation is less important than the workers who don't quit," from Quartz. — "Grocery workers vote to strike if needed in southern California for higer wages," from Reuters. — "South Dakota Hotelier Sued for Trying to Ban All Native Americans," from the Daily Beast. — "Comptroller: New York women in workforce earn 86 cents to every dollar men earn," from the Times Union. — "Job Hunters Take A Stand: We're Not Writing Cover Letters," from The Wall Street Journal. — "NYC Mayor Adams dismisses blowback on COVID vaccination exemption for jocks, performers: 'No double standard'," from the New York Daily News. — "Teachers across the country are demanding better pay and support," from Vox. — " LA Mayor Garcetti Optimistic Port Labor Talks Will Be Resolved," from Bloomberg. — "California grocery workers vote to authorize strike," from the Associated Press. —"There Is No Upside to an 8 A.M. Meeting," from The New York Times. THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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