| | | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek and Olivia Olander | | | | | — President Joe Biden has a new point person on auto labor contract talks. — Still no Republican pick for the NLRB. — And top labor committee Republicans speak out against an SEC retirement proposal. GOOD MORNING. It’s Wednesday, July 5. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. You’ll never catch us kiss-and-telling in the office. Send feedback, tips, and exclusives to NNiedzwiadek@politico.com and OOlander@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @nickniedz and @oliviaolanderr.
| | | | A message from UPS: Want the latest updates on UPS-Teamsters negotiations? Learn more here. | | | | | SPERLING REPUTATION: President Joe Biden is putting long-time Democratic adviser Gene Sperling in charge of helping smooth the upcoming labor contract talks between the auto workers’ union and Big Three automakers, our Zack Colman, Tanya Snyder and Holly Otterbein report. “As a White House point person on key issues related to the UAW and Big Three, Sperling will help ensure Administration-wide coordination across interested parties and among White House policymakers,” a White House official said in a statement to POLITICO. “Gene will work hand-in-glove with acting [Labor] Secretary Julie Su on all labor-related issues.” UAW’s collective bargaining agreement with Detroit’s major car companies ends Sept. 14. Should the talks turn acrimonious, a strike could damage the economy and give Republicans fresh ammunition in the 2024 campaign. While auto companies received a taxpayer-funded bailout in 2009, UAW leadership contends workers made huge sacrifices to help the industry recover from the recession. That legacy colors much of what is animating UAW President Shawn Fain, who has taken the labor organization in a more aggressive direction since winning a runoff election in March.
| | | | JOIN 7/11 FOR A TALK ON THE FAA’S FUTURE: Congress is making moves to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act, laying the groundwork for the FAA’s long-term agenda to modernize the aviation sector to meet the challenges of today and innovate for tomorrow. Join POLITICO on July 11 to discuss what will make it into the final reauthorization bill and examine how reauthorization will reshape FAA’s priorities and authorities. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | 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.
| | A NOTABLE OMISSION: The White House on Monday announced a slate of GOP nominees to various government panels designed to be split between Republicans and Democrats. Among those are Henry Kerner to serve on the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles appeals of suspensions and other disciplinary measures against civil service employees, and Amanda Wood Laihow for another term on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Kerner has worked in the Office of Special Counsel since 2017, including on recent high-profile probes such as a (now-former) U.S. attorney for Massachusetts’ alleged leaking of Justice Department information and dinging Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for violating the Hatch Act. He’s also worked on the House Oversight Committee. Laihow was first appointed to the OSHRC in 2020, and her term expired this spring. Not included: A Republican pick to fill the vacancy on the National Labor Relations Board left by John Ring late last year. Biden has already renominated Democrat Gwynne Wilcox, whose term expires in August, and she will likely be paired with the eventual GOP nominee to ease Senate confirmation.
| | FOXX AND CASSIDY VS. SEC: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the top Republican and Republican chair of their respective labor committees, on Wednesday wrote to SEC Chair Gary Gensler against a proposed rule for retirement funds. The SEC’s proposal would tighten safeguards on open-end funds. “However, we are concerned that the harm the Proposal would cause to the retirement savings of American workers far outweighs any benefits,” Cassidy and Foxx wrote. Specifically, the two took issue with the implementation of a daily “hard close” for relevant funds that would prevent late trading of shares. MODERATE REPUBLICANS’ UNION PUSH: A group of New York Republicans led a campaign to GOP leadership against anti-union amendments in legislation, The Washington Post reports. It’s part of a relatively quiet resistance against the more extreme parts of the party, the Post notes. “We’ve made it very clear that voting against organized labor is not something that we intend to do, and I think we’ve done a good job of taking a couple of amendments off the floor,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito told The Post.
| | UPS AND TEAMSTERS LATEST: UPS and Teamsters reached a key tentative agreement over the weekend, the union tweeted. The agreement would end what the union calls a two-tier wage system for workers, among other issues. Still, the union signaled they remain prepared to strike, posting pictures of “practice picket lines.” Teamsters have asked the company to reach an overall deal with them well ahead of their contract expiration at the end of this month, advertising a deadline of July 5, which is today. UPS said Friday they’re encouraged by the progress of the negotiations: “Productive discussions are critical at this stage of the process.” Democratic members of Congress including Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.), Katie Porter (Calif.), and Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) posted in support of workers this week.
| | | | A message from UPS:   | | | | | ‘BLIND SPOTS’: Labor Department payroll data might be misleading us on the economy, The Wall Street Journal reports, possibly due to “quirks” in how the data are calculated. For example: “A major cause of such overestimates is related to jobs created by startups and lost by business closures,” WSJ reports. “The survey has no way of capturing businesses it doesn’t yet know exist, or whether a company that doesn’t respond to the survey is ghosting it, or has closed, until many quarters later, when tax data become available.” More workplace news: “Spain's potential leftist kingmaker courts voters with shorter workweek pledge,” from Reuters.
| | | WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONADE: An Alabama mother came under investigation from the state Labor Department last year after a publicity attempt led to a call from a child labor inspector, The Washington Post reports. The woman, Cristal Johnson, said a job ad for 6- to 10-year-old “apprentices” was a light-hearted attempt to imbue an entrepreneurial mindset to children – like she’s done with her own son, whose lemonade stand had quickly morphed into a viable business. An Alabama labor department spokesperson said that she was never penalized; instead, the issue was that it was a for-profit business, and thus subject to the state’s labor laws. More state news: “From the Docks to Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Workers Are Feeling Emboldened,” from The New York Times.
| | | E-VERIFY CASE STUDY: The Florida agriculture industry braces for a controversial new immigration law that went into effect July 1, our Melissa Martinez reports. The law requires most employers to use E-Verify to confirm potential employees are legally allowed to work in the United States. That could prove tricky for Florida farmers: The Florida Policy Institute, a left-of-center policy research nonprofit, estimates that 47 percent of the state’s agricultural workforce is undocumented. Fear and misinformation about who would be subjected to the background checks have caused many workers and their families to leave the state out of precaution, farmworker advocacy organizations reported this month. And growers and workers worry about the impact the law will have on future harvests — especially if it forces employers to rely more heavily on the H-2A visa program to bring in foreign workers to meet their labor demands. More immigration news: “2024 could be an immigration election in New York,” from Semafor.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | | — “EU Lawmakers Back Plan to Strengthen Remote-Worker Rights,” from Bloomberg. — “Facebook content moderators in Kenya call the work ‘torture.’ Their lawsuit may ripple worldwide,” from The Associated Press. — “Rooftops, cafes and Zoom rooms: Libraries evolve to serve remote workers,” from The Washington Post. — “The Military Recruiting Crisis: Even Veterans Don’t Want Their Families to Join,” from The Wall Street Journal. THAT’S ALL FOR SHIFT!
| | | | A message from UPS: UPS is focused on negotiating a new labor contract that provides wins for our employees, the union, UPS and our customers. Today, full- and part-time union employees at UPS receive industry-leading wages, low-to-no-cost health care, pension benefits, tuition assistance and more. For example, UPS full-time delivery drivers receive average total compensation of $145,000 per year. That includes $0 health care premiums, contributions to a defined-benefit pension plan and up to seven weeks of paid vacation, plus paid time off for holidays, sick leave and option days. Learn more about how UPS is approaching these negotiations. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
