Unions wade gingerly into abortion after SCOTUS ruling

Jun 27, 2022

Quick Fix

A NEW AGE FOR UNIONS: The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Friday has thrust unions' newly expanded bully pulpit into even greater relief.

Once wary of weighing in on issues not strictly related to the workplace, organized labor is now beginning to speak up on a broader range of issues — including, in this case, abortion.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler put out a statement Friday describing the decision as "a devastating blow to working women and families across this country."

"We strongly believe that everyone should have control over their own bodies, including decisions over their personal reproductive health care," Shuler said. "At a time when we should be focused on expanding equity for all working people, particularly for marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, this ruling will only deepen racial and economic disparities."

And SEIU President Mary Kay Henry dubbed it a "reckless decision" that "is yet another example of the nation's highest court jettisoning its own precedent to cater to powerful right-wing and corporate interests while rolling back the rights of working people."

"We are angered and disgusted," Henry said. "Working women are already struggling in poverty-wage jobs without paid leave and many are also shouldering the caregiving responsibilities for their families, typically unpaid."

Even some local union officials whose national leaders are staying quiet went on the record condemning the ruling and urging organized labor to "take a critical stand" against it.

"Every woman in our country will be impacted in some way with low-paid working women bearing the brunt of it," Brenda Wiest, vice president and legislative director of Washington state's Teamsters Local 117, wrote in a blog post. "The impacts of the decision will be felt in almost every worksite across the country."

"Earnings, retirement, promotions, healthcare, vacation, sick leave – these all are covered by our Union contracts," Wiest said. "The decision whether and when to have a child has a tremendous impact on a working family's earnings, retirement, healthcare, and leave."

It's a first glimpse into a possible rift between national and local unions over the reproductive rights battle.

Anti-abortion groups, for their part, say unions that weigh in are overstepping.

"The union was not formed to promote abortion," National Right to Life Committee Executive Director David O'Steen told Eleanor last month. "You got rank-and-file union members who had their dues being taken, and their leadership is speaking out for abortion."

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On the Hill

UNIONS, GREEN GROUPS BACK LEVIN IN MICHIGAN: Environmental groups Sunrise Movement and Clean Water Action endorsed Democratic Rep. Andy Levin in his Michigan primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.

Sunrise Movement cited Levin's history as a union organizer as well as his support for the Green New Deal and opposition to the state's Line 5 project. Several national unions like IAM have also thrown their weight behind Levin, who spearheaded the House-side push to enable staffers to unionize.

"The labor movement taught me that solidarity is our most powerful tool for change," Levin said in a statement to Morning Shift. "Corporate interests benefit from pitting workers against environmentalists, and they stand in the way of the urgent action we need to take. I became an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal so that I could ensure impacted workers were at the very center of the transition policies that affect them. I'm proud to have national and local unions and environmental groups like Sunrise Movement joining together to support my reelection."

Local unions like the Pipefitters, Steamfitters, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Service Local 636 that represent workers that would staff the Line 5 project have endorsed Stevens, The Intercept reports.

GOP KNOCKS STATE STAFFING RULE: A pair of Republican members of congress urged Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to back off a proposed rule requiring all states to employ so-called merit staff to provide services funded by the Wagner Peyser Act.

Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) wrote in a letter Friday the "one-size fits-all approach" would impede local governments' ability to meet the needs of job seekers and prospective employers.

"We urge you to withdraw this proposed rule so that states and localities can maintain their current flexibility to deliver employment services under the staffing model that best meets the needs of their unique economies."

The DOL proposal would curtail the ability of a handful of states — namely Colorado, Michigan and Massachusetts — who currently have waivers from these requirements to continue to do so, as well as cut off the opportunity for others to circumvent these strictures.

The issue came up a number of times during Walsh's recent ventures to Capitol Hill, even from some Democratic lawmakers in the affected states who said they were vexed by the move and argued that these alternative models were providing services effectively and did not need to be fixed.

Around the Agencies

WHAT'S ON ABRUZZO'S MIND: The Associated Press on Sunday published a profile of National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and her attempts to shake up the agency at a time of resurgent pro-union sentiment.

In it Abruzzo, a former attorney for the Communications Workers of America, makes clear her philosophical orientation. "In the past, there has been a focus on employer rights or employer interests. And I do not believe that comports with our congressional mandate," she told the AP.

She's drawn cheers from progressives and others on the left , while rankling Republicans, employer groups and right-to-work advocates for her ambitious attempts to rework several long-standing legal doctrines. However, it's still too early to evaluate many of her initiatives, given that the agency's board has yet to take up and formally rule on the issues she's raised.

In the Workplace

ENVIRO GROUP A WITHERING PLACE TO WORK: Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group best known for its work protecting wolves and other wild animals, has gained a reputation as a rough place to work, Robin Bravender of POLITICO's E&E News reports.

More than 120 people have quit or been fired since 2019 — a quarter of whom have left in 2020 alone, with more on the way — according to data compiled by the organization's nascent union.

"Staffers referred to it as a 'nightmare' workplace and a 'motorized revolving door.' Multiple current staffers said they're looking for new jobs. And one current employee said, 'I don't know anyone who's happy at Defenders.'"

— The report tracks with the type of sentiment detailed in a recent, much-discussed Intercept article about the generational and ideological divides that have fissured a number of lef-tleaning organizations and sapped energy and enthusiasm.

Unions

FIRST IN SHIFT: SEIU's executive board voted unanimously Friday to elect California officials April Verrett as secretary-treasurer and Joseph Bryant as executive vice president after their predecessors announced their retirements earlier this month.

"We've reached a moment of great reckoning in our country, where our communities are under constant attack from white supremacist violence, jobs that don't pay us enough to live, healthcare we can't access and can't afford, underfunded schools, and unaffordable housing," Henry said. "April and Joseph's rich life and professional experiences provide them with the foundation to be the next generation of leaders that help SEIU meet this moment."

Verrett leads the 385,000-member SEIU Local 2015 — the nation's largest long-term care workers' union, according to SEIU — and chairs SEIU's National Home Care Council. Bryant is the first Asian American Pacific Islander president of the 60,000-worker SEIU 1021.

— More union news: "Amazon workers in Maryland say they were fired for union organizing," from the Washington Post.

— Even more union news: "ICE officers demand freedom from AFL-CIO over mismanagement, 'defund the police' stance," from the Washington Times.

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Immigration

COURT FORCES BIDEN'S HAND ON DEPORTATION: The Biden administration had sought to have immigration authorities focus on those in the country illegally who posed a threat to public safety.

However, a federal judge's order blocking that discretionary policy went into effect after an appellate court chose to not weigh in, the New York Times reports.

"The Department of Homeland Security said it effectively had no discretion under the ruling to set priorities for how its agents enforced the nation's immigrant-removal laws. …This leaves nearly all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country theoretically open to arrest and deportation, though exactly who would be targeted and how is unclear."

TITLE 42: House appropriators approved via voice vote last week an amendment offered by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) effectively requiring the Department of Homeland Security to continue the Trump-era policy of summarily expeling asylum seekers under the guise of public health. The measure would require DHS to keep enforcing the policy until 180 days after the expiration of the public health emergency for Covid-19.

— The amendment's adoption does not mean it will necessarily go into law, but it does signal some Democrats' deep reservations about fueling GOP attacks over the Biden administration's handling of the Southern border.

What We're Reading

— "How Elon Musk Helped Lift the Ceiling on C.E.O. Pay," from The New York Times.

— "If You're Too Old for an Internship, Try a Returnship Instead," from Bloomberg.

— " U.S. to give some 'Havana syndrome' victims six-figure compensation," from the Washington Post.

— "Did corporate greed fuel inflation? It's not biggest culprit," from the Associated Press.

— "Disney, other U.S. companies offer abortion travel benefit after Roe decision," from Reuters.

THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT!

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