| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | CHANGE GON’ COME: President Joe Biden spent four years going all in for labor unions and progressive workplace policies. But if you fast forward to January 2029, very little of it may remain. Much of Biden’s labor agenda was advanced through regulations, enforcement strategies, and executive orders, rather than being codified into law — meaning it can be reversed, scuttled or altered by president-elect Donald Trump and his appointees to the Labor Department and other agencies. “If there was a message from voters on Tuesday, it’s that this administration has pushed too much ideology and not help for people on Main Street,” said Michael Layman of the International Franchise Association, which regularly clashed with the Biden administration on employment issues. Though Biden’s team worked around-the-clock at the beginning of the year to finalize major regulations in order to shield them from the Congressional Review Act and avoid repeating an Obama-era miscalculation, many rules remain incomplete. Big-ticket items like a workplace heat safety standard out of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are on the chopping block. And a series of court defeats has left signature Biden administration policies like a near-total ban on non-compete agreements in tatters, while also putting the future of independent agencies like the National Labor Relations Board in limbo. Some business groups are already urging Trump to challenge the removal protections afforded to NLRB’s leadership on constitutional grounds. Doing so would allow him to more quickly swing the board’s majority back to the GOP and chip away at decisions issued by the Democratic members (see below) that have shifted the balance of power away from employers in labor disputes. Nick has more for Pro subscribers here. Related: “ What Trump Can Do to Workers’ Biden-Era Gains,” from Bloomberg. “The White House Will Be Shedding Its Union Label,” from The New York Times. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Nov. 11. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye. 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.
| | FEDERAL FRETTING: Many government workers are anxiously examining their careers and futures under a Trump administration 2.0. Everyone’s bracing for a mass exodus of employees, which could deprive agencies of subject-matter experts and those who know how to operate the federal government, according to more than a dozen officials who spoke to POLITICO. “I am glad that I am retiring soon. … EPA is toast,” said a staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency. Other agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration could also be in for major shakeups. And career attorneys at the Justice Department are already considering heading for the exits, terrified of what Trump could do next, our Josh Gerstein reports. Related: “Inside the Federal Work Force That Trump Has Promised to Eviscerate,” from The New York Times. Other transition news: “Trump team expected to accept feds’ help with transition after all,” from our Hailey Fuchs. More agency news: “Navy Contractor's Reprimand Was Illegal, Split NLRB Says,” from Law360.
| | DISTRICT DENIZENS: Residents of Washington, D.C., are in for big changes once Trump returns to office in January, our Michael Schaffer reports. For instance: If Trump chops down the federal workforce or shifts jobs out of Washington, it could cause home prices in and around the D.C. metro area to sag. It’s also unclear how appealing public-sector jobs would be if Trump succeeds in stripping government workers of civil service protections and proceeds with mass firings. On the flip side, the administration will likely be less accommodating to remote work — a move that could juice downtown offices that have yet to return to pre-Covid activity levels. More state news: “Three states had paid leave on the ballot. Voters overwhelmingly approved all of them,” from The 19th.
| | DECISION TIME: The NLRB’s Democratic majority upended a decadeslong precedent that broadly allowed employers to tell workers that unionization could impair their working relationship. The decision , which stems from the organizing push at Starbucks, will make it easier for workers to show that employers’ statements in such cases violate the National Labor Relations Act. It was opposed by the sole Republican appointee on the board. The ruling casts aside the board’s previous standard set in 1985’s Tri-Cast Inc. case, which held that there’s “no threat, either explicit or implicit” in informing employees that unionization could change the dynamic with management. Moving forward such statements would have to be “carefully phrased,” based on objective facts and involve factors outside of the employer’s control in order to be deemed lawful. The 3-member Democratic majority said that in Tri-Cast, the NLRB “erred in deeming categorically lawful nearly any employer statement to employees touching on the impact that unionization would have on the relationship between individual employees and their employer.” GOP board member Marvin Kaplan, in his dissent, said that the majority was misapplying the legal questions raised in the case to get to its desired outcome.” “To my knowledge, the Board has never held that it has the ability to make law, let alone overrule precedent, based on an issue that is inarguably not before it,” he wrote. This latest ruling is one of several that is expected to come out in the next few weeks ahead of Chair Lauren McFerran’s term ending. McFerran could be re-confirmed by the Senate, locking in the Democratic majority until midway through 2026 — unless Trump attempts to remove one or more members (as we referenced above.)
| | | | INJURIES DOWN: The number of workplace injuries and illnesses dropped more than 8 percent in 2023 compared to the prior year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released last week. The decline was tied to a more than 50 percent reduction in illnesses reported by employers, with respiratory illnesses shooting down by nearly 73 percent in 2023. Still there were roughly 2.6 million reported injuries and illnesses. Of those nearly 950,000 were serious enough that they took workers off the job for a day or more, though that was about 20 percent less than in 2022. More workplace news: “ BofA Compels U.S. Staff to Take Workplace Disputes to Arbitration,” from Bloomberg.
| | H-2A HASSELS: A pair of House committee chairs jointly asked the Government Accountability Office to probe the effectiveness of the H-2A temporary farmworker visa program following changes made by the Biden administration. The letter cites the Labor Department’s 2023 revamp of how the so-called adverse effect wage rate is calculated, which led to increased pay and higher costs to employers. “Many have cited the AEWR methodology and overall cost structure as the number one issue facing their farms, thereby preventing them from using the H–2A visa program,” wrote Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). “In light of the challenges facing farmers and of DOL’s requirements in the H-2A visa program, we are interested in learning more about the impact of the AEWR on employers and workers.”
| | WORKING WITHIN THE SYSTEM: Highly skilled workers who have struggled to secure green cards are increasingly seeking alternative pathways to permanently reside in the U.S. that aren’t tied to their job, Bloomberg Law reports . “Securing permanent residency offers foreign-born workers the ability to change jobs without restriction, leading to higher incomes and productivity. Some employers themselves are supporting workers pursuing self-petition options because they offer more certainty on the long-term status of key workers, attorneys say.” More immigration news: “ Judge Tosses Out Biden Program for Undocumented Spouses,” from The New York Times. Even more: “Inside Trump's plan for mass deportations — and who wants to stop him,” from Reuters.
| | | | — “Big Tech’s Hotbeds of Employee Activism Quiet After Trump’s Victory,” from The New York Times. — “An agency-by-agency look at Trump's plan to overhaul government,” from the Government Executive. — “ Progressive donors and funders fear Trump investigations,” from Semafor. — “Australian parliament staff report workplace offenses,” from Reuters. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
