| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | With help from Daniel Lippman and Lawrence Ukenye
| | SO MANY FRIENDS: Supporters of the Biden administration’s near-total ban on non-compete agreements are urging the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court’s ruling blocking the Federal Trade Commission’s rule. “Non-competes remain pervasive because employers know many workers are ill-informed about the existence or illegality of such provisions, many workers lack the ability to meaningfully bargain with their employer, and variations in state laws result in worker confusion, particularly given the interconnected nature of the modern labor market,” a coalition of Democratic attorneys general wrote in an amicus brief submitted Thursday. The Biden administration sought review from the conservative-leaning appellate court after Ada Brown, a Trump-appointed judge in the Northern District of Texas, sided with a challenge brought by a tax preparation law firm and backed by employer groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable. Brown ruled in August that the FTC exceeded its authority and ignored possible alternatives in issuing its rule — one of the boldest initiatives in the Biden administration’s attempts to bolster workers’ leverage. (Other legal challenges have produced mixed results: a federal judge in Pennsylvania sided with the FTC in July while one in Florida has ruled against the non-compete rule.) Beyond the AGs, groups such as the National Employment Law Project, politicians like New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, and a collection of legal scholars that includes ex-Biden antitrust adviser Tim Wu submitted briefs in support of the non-compete rule. “The FTC has express authority to make competition policy through rulemaking,” the Open Markets Institute wrote in its submission. “Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, the text of the FTC Act clearly and unambiguously grants the FTC the power to write substantive regulations.” The business groups are due to respond by Feb. 3, after the Biden administration outlined its position at the beginning of January. It remains to be seen how the administration of Donald Trump will tackle the issue — or the numerous legal challenges that are ongoing throughout the country — but it could move to drop the appeal initiated under Biden, a possibility that some groups are already working to counteract. Advocacy group Small Business Majority plans to file a motion to intervene Monday in the 5th Circuit case in order to take over the appeal if the Trump administration backs out, a representative told POLITICO. The organization is also looking to do the same in the 11th Circuit, which is taking a look at the Florida decision against the FTC’s rule. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Jan. 13. 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.
| | FIRST IN SHIFT: Talks between the Federal Trade Commission and its new staff union are getting increasingly heated as the union tries to ink an expansive collective bargaining agreement before the end of the Biden administration, two people familiar with the matter told Lawrence and Daniel Lippman. The National Treasury Employees Union has considered protesting Chair Lina Khan during her final week leading the agency as it tries to cement a four-day-a-week telework policy and other employee benefits before the Trump administration takes over, according to one of the people. One labor ally, former Rhode Island state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, emailed friends on Sunday morning with “an urgent request for action from some labor friends,” urging people to contact Khan on Monday to urge her to sign the agreement. But he asked to keep the effort quiet, saying: “Labor leaders stressed that the FTC workers are asking people NOT to make this fight public until they are absolutely ready to, so please keep it to direct contact for now.” The other person familiar with the matter, who is at the union, said on Sunday night that they’re no longer planning to protest. The 80-page agreement proposed in mid-December would be the agency’s first CBA and extend through the end of the Trump administration. Khan recognized the union after elections in September.
| | OUT OF TIME: A group pushing for more college athlete labor rights moved on Friday to drop its NLRB case involving the University of Southern California, as the labor movement enters a defensive crouch ahead of Trump’s inauguration. The National College Players Association on Friday requested to withdraw its case against USC, the Pac-12 Conference that the school competed in until 2024, and the NCAA — the main governing body for college sports, your host reports for Pro subscribers. If granted, the retreat is the second major labor case involving college athletes to hit the eject button in recent weeks. At the end of December, the union supporting the Dartmouth men’s basketball team similarly abandoned its attempt to establish the first union in college sports, despite voting 13-2 in favor of joining SEIU back in March. In its withdrawal request, NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma cited several recent developments that have dramatically altered the dynamic in college sports toward athletes’ favor. “[T]he NCPA believes that it is best to provide adequate time for the college sports industry to transition into this new era before football and basketball players employee status is ruled upon.” USC said in a statement the case had "no merit" and should be dismissed. "The evidence presented during the NLRB hearing confirmed that our student-athletes should not be classified as employees," the university said.
| | CRUNCH TIME: Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be back in Washington for a torrent of meetings with senators as Congress gears up to confirm many of Trump’s top agency heads. She has more than a dozen meetings — including with members of the HELP Committee and Senate leadership in both parties — lined up, according to a transition spokesperson. The pileup is partly due to previous plans getting upended by the D.C. snowstorm that blew through town last week. GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER: A pair of former GOP appointees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are now leading transition efforts for the agency, according to a Trump transition official. They are Janet Dhillon, who chaired the commission under Trump and left in late 2022, and Keith Sonderling, who stepped down in August after his term ended. Familiar hands are also helming things at the National Labor Relations Board, with former General Counsel Peter Robb and his deputy, Alice Stock, back at the agency after being fired by Biden in dramatic fashion at the start of his presidency, Bloomberg Law reports. (The same fate is now expected for the Biden-appointed general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo.) Though it remains to be seen whom Trump will ultimately pick to fill key roles at the EEOC and NLRB, it may be a sign that his second administration may not be as different from his first on workplace issues as some hoped (and others feared.) FILLING OUT: Trump announced an array of deputy secretaries for various Cabinet agencies over the weekend. But not DOL.
| | DOJ ATTORNEYS UNIONIZE: Attorneys at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Environment and Natural Resources Division voted to join the NTEU in a pair of elections held late last week. “Together, these elections show that frontline employees are eager to have a more meaningful voice in their workplace by standing together to bargain collectively and bring about changes that help the agency perform its vital public service missions,” NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement Friday. It is one of a number of moves by public-sector unions and pro-union government workers to lock in gains under the Biden administration before Trump ushers in a far more antagonistic era — particularly at DOJ, which has been at the heart of many of his laments about the so-called “deep state.” More union news: “Starbucks Union Files 34 Federal Complaints, Signaling Renewed Hostilities,” from Bloomberg. Even more: “Providence health care worker strike continues through weekend,” from Oregon Public Broadcasting.
| | | E&W GETS TO WORK: House Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) on Friday rolled out the GOP’s slate of committee members and announced its first meeting this Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. The list includes five new members — Reps. Bob Onder (R-Mo.), Ryan Mackenzie(R-Pa.), Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.), Mark Harris (R-N.C.) and Mark Messmer (R-Ind.). Still to come: Democrats need to finalize their half of the committee, and both need to name their leaders for E&W’s various subcommittees. Return of Medicaid work requirements: “House GOP puts Medicaid, ACA, climate measures on chopping block,” from our Ben Leonard, Meredith Lee Hill and Kelsey Tamborrino. More Hill news: “In Congress, a Push for Proxy Voting for New Parents Draws Bipartisan Support,” from The New York Times.
| | | THE TRILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION: Friday’s jobs numbers show that Biden is handing off a strong job market that most president-elects in modern history would have been envious to inherit, and it will be up to Trump to keep the good times rolling, our Sam Sutton and Victoria Guida report. The Labor Department announced Friday that the economy blew past expectations and added a net 256,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate — already low by historical standards — fell to 4.1 percent. Wages, which have grown 3.9 percent over the past year, are rising faster than inflation. DULLING THE TIP(S): Restaurant tips sunk in the later part of 2024 amid customer frustration with higher prices and other shifts in consumption, The Wall Street Journal reports. “The average tip at full-service restaurants dropped to 19.3% for the three months that ended Sept. 30 and hasn’t budged much since, according to Toast, which operates restaurant payment systems.” That’s the lowest it's been in the past six years, according to the payment processor. Shift sidebar: Fluctuations in tip rates highlights the precarity of working in the service-sector, where it is a key component of overall pay, as Trump made exempting tips from federal income taxes a campaign pledge. Additionally restaurants have cast blame for higher prices on the campaign against the tipped minimum wage that has taken root in D.C. and elsewhere in recent years they say have raised costs. though that would not account for possible declines in tips in places that have not done so. More workplace news: “Trump’s role in port unrest raises bigger questions about his labor policies,” from our Holly Otterbein, Ry Rivard, Sam Ogozalek and your host.
| | GA TRIES PORTABILITY PILOT: Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and DoorDash last week announced a pilot program to allow workers to put aside money for retirement and other benefits. The pilot is open to DoorDash workers who make at least $1,000 in the first three months of 2025 and will run through July. The company will provide participants with 4 percent of their pre-tip earnings in their savings account for the duration of the pilot. The initiative follows a similar trial run launched last year in Pennsylvania with support of Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. About 4,400 workers participated in that pilot, according to an analysis conducted by NDP Analytics released in December. More state news: “Minimum wages are increasing in nearly half the states this year,” from Stateline.
| | | TPS EXTENSIONS: The Biden administration issued 18-month extensions to hundreds of thousands of expats from four countries, rather than leave the decision to immigration hawks under Trump. The four are: El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela. Temporary Protected Status for each was set to expire in 2025, though the extension only applies to those currently in the program. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the extensions allow 234,000 Salvadorans, 600,000 Venezuelans, 1,900 Sudanese and nearly 104,000 Ukranians to re-register for TPS and stay in the U.S. More immigration news: “At least 100 workers at NYC's Tin Building lose jobs after employment authorization check,” Gothamist.
| | | — “ESG Opponents Get Novel Win in American Airlines 401(k) Suit,” from Bloomberg. — “Anti-Contractor ABC Test Results In Less Employment Says Study,” from Forbes. — “Immigration drives the nation’s healthy post-pandemic population growth, new census data show,” from Brookings. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
