| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | With help from Lawrence Ukenye
| | TURF WAR: Late Friday night, the United Auto Workers scored one of organized labor’s biggest victories in the South in years, if not decades. The nearly 3-1 landslide vote of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, may well reverberate to other auto plants across the U.S. and embolden other unions to try to expand into areas where right-to-work laws have long hampered organizing. It was the third time in a decade that workers at the plant had voted on whether to unionize, with UAW twice losing tight contests. Each time it was Republican lawmakers and outside groups, rather than VW itself, at the front lines of the opposition arguing that unionization could hamper future corporate investment into Tennessee and intrude on workers' freedoms. The GOP also tried to tie UAW to President Joe Biden, whose reelection the union endorsed earlier this year, betting that doing so would sway workers in a state where former President Donald Trump beat him by 23 points four years ago. Friday’s vote is a sign that such messaging may not be as potent as it has been in the past, while raising the stakes in UAW’s next target: roughly 5,200 Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama, who are scheduled to vote May 13-17. “It’s coming before you know it,” UAW President Shawn Fain said of the Mercedes election during a speech Sunday at the Labor Notes conference in Illinois. “It's not a CEO that's going to save us. It's not a president that's going to save us. … It's us, and a united working class is how we're going to win,” he added. Both UAW and anti-union politicians are aware of the momentum that back-to-back victories could carry, which could make the fight in Alabama even more heated than Chattanooga’s. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has for months been beating the drum that UAW is antithetical to the “Alabama model for economic success” and denouncing the union as an outside special interest group that makes false promises to workers. Ivey and Fain have already begun jousting, with the union president calling her out by name this month at a rally with UAW members in North Carolina. “Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey recently dared to say that the economic model of the South is under attack,” Fain said, AL.com reported. “She’s damn right it is! It’s under attack because workers are fed up with getting screwed.” More on the Chattanooga vote here. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, April 22. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. The Caesar salad was born perfect, there’s no need to zhuzh it up. 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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| | STEAMING SHOT OF SCOTUS: The Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to hear oral arguments in a case brought by Starbucks that takes aim at one of the National Labor Relations Board’s most-potent tools. At issue is the legal threshold the NLRB needs to meet to obtain a so-called 10(j) injunction from a federal court, an expedited process that allows the agency to reinstate illegally fired workers or other remedies that it typically reserves for the most egregious or time-sensitive cases. Starbucks is seeking to neutralize an injunction levied against it for allegedly firing seven pro-union workers in Memphis due to their organizing support. The company has argued that the judge in the case relied on an overly lax standard, and should have instead applied a more-stringent test used in other parts of the country. Lawyers for Starbucks have claimed that the situation creates uncertainty for employers who operate throughout the U.S. and that the question of whether a judge grants or denies an injunction can hinge on which test is used. However, a Bloomberg Law analysis from January showed that the NLRB has a high success rate regardless of which standard is applied — indicating that the practical effect of the Supreme Court’s eventual ruling may be limited. Related: The NLRB is preparing to file for an injunction against the the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where news staff has been on strike for more than a year-and-a-half, HuffPost reports. “An administrative law judge at the NLRB ruled last year that the Post-Gazette failed to bargain in good faith, and that it illegally imposed work conditions on the newsroom’s union, an affiliate of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America. The union says the company left workers with significantly higher health care costs, less vacation time and weaker job protections.” Disclosure: Journalists at POLITICO are also represented by the NewsGuild. More agency news: “Child Labor Violators’ Profits in Labor Solicitor’s Crosshairs,” Bloomberg Law.
| | | NON-COMPETES ON CHOPPING BLOCK: The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday is scheduled to consider the Biden administration’s plan to drastically curb use of non-compete agreements. The FTC’s initial draft, released in January 2023, would have prohibited non-compete clauses and other types of restrictive legal covenants except in very limited circumstances. The move has sparked anxiety among employer groups, who have pressed the FTC to back down or, at minimum, make some of its strictures less onerous. Once finalized, the rule will be closely scrutinized by businesses, as well as workers subject to these types of restrictions who may soon be free to join competitors, and is sure to quickly face court challenges. More workplace news: “Federal Workers Are Fleeing Washington. Can College Students Replace Them?” from our Michael Schaffer.
| | | INTERNAL STRIFE: Rank-and-file members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union International are suing their leadership over what they say is a lack of democratic representation on key issues like a major grocery merger and a decline in organizing expenditures as other unions invest in organizing campaigns at growing rates, our Marcia Brown and Nick report. The case, filed in D.C. District Court, argues that reform to UFCW’s delegate system at its conventions will allow members more direct control over their union. Some of UFCW’s 1.2 million members have become increasingly incensed at an international leadership they view as overpaid and inimical to their interests. They point to growing union assets even as membership has declined — evidence that leadership is failing to adequately invest in organizing new members and other efforts that represent the rank and file. More union news: “Biden Is the Most Pro-Labor President Since F.D.R. Will It Matter in November?” from The New Yorker.
| | | NEWS NEWS CAN USE: New York lawmakers tacked on a tax incentive for hiring journalists as part of a state budget agreement hatched over the weekend, our Joseph Spector reports. The $30 million program, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, provides eligible outlets to receive a 50 percent refundable credit for the first $50,000 of a journalist’s salary, up to a total of $300,000 per outlet. The money is largely focused on independently owned publications, but also can cover hiring journalists in print media outlets that “demonstrate a reduction in circulation or in the number of full-time equivalent employees of at least 20 percent over the previous five years.” More state news: “Amazon HQ2 was supposed to add jobs last year. It shed them instead,” from The Washington Post.
| | | BLUE-SKY THINKING: A behind-the-scenes effort to extend preferential treatment to lawmakers and other special groups is tripping up FAA reauthorization talks, our Oriana Pawlyk reports for Pro subscribers. The effort, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has raised concerns about the cost and logistical strain on the airport security staff to grant designated VIPs an escort to and from their flight. Using TSA employees could run an estimated $11 million to $55 million annually, while bringing in air marshals could cost about 10 times as much.
| | THE POWER OF PULL FACTORS: Georgia lawmakers have routinely tightened laws in an effort to deter illegal immigration. But the surfeit of job openings continues to make the state an appealing destination, The Wall Street Journal reports. “There is some tension in the community between new arrivals and people who came in years past, often from Mexico or Central America, and hold many of the jobs in poultry plants. Venezuelans typically have more education but do some of the most menial jobs in the area because they don’t have work authorizations or connections at the plants,” the Journal reports. More immigration news: “Golden Visa Programs, Once a Boon, Lose Their Luster,” from The New York Times.
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today. | | | | | | | | | — “The Paradox of the American Labor Movement,” from The Atlantic. — “Bankers Hit With Millions in Breakup Fees for Ditching New Jobs,” from Bloomberg. — "DEI ‘lives on’ after Supreme Court ruling, but critics see an opening," from The Washington Post. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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