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Delivered every Monday by 10 a.m., Weekly Shift examines the latest news in employment, labor and immigration politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller | Editor’s Note: Weekly Shift is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro’s daily Employment & Immigration policy newsletter, Morning Shift. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. | | | 'WHATEVER IT TAKES': Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is vowing to make sure that workers in GOP-controlled states continue receiving federally supplemented unemployment insurance — even if that means changing the law, he told Shift. Of course, there is the small matter of having to get a legal change through Congress. But Wyden’s comments to your host underline how some two dozen governors’ refusal to distribute extra benefits — including an extra $300 a week for workers, payments to gig workers, and extended state benefits — to unemployed residents has touched a nerve among Democrats. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that people are not going to be forced into destitution,” he said. Senate Democrats are “talking to [the Labor Department] constantly” to determine next steps, he added. “We originally thought they had the authority to make sure that the people would get their benefits. Now, they say they don't. If it takes changing the law, I'll change the law.” Though the agency had initially planned to release a formal decision on just what authority it has to force states to pay out UI benefits, an official later told your host it would not. Instead, staffers have been reaching out to lawmakers and advocates to decide how to proceed. “We're going to be ready for both options,” Wyden said. “We're going to be ready, if [DOL says it does] have legal authority, to find ways to strengthen it, and then make sure that Republican governors can’t unravel it, because I suspect they probably will. And if they don't have the legal authority, we will act legislatively.” “I’m going to let the lawyers keep going at it,” he added. “But my guess is, it will need strengthening, and it may take legislation and I'm committed.” MORE: “Workers Should Have the Power to Say ‘No,’” from The Atlantic OPINION: “ Those $300 pandemic checks aren’t the only reason restaurant employees might not want to go back to work,” from The Washington Post GOOD MORNING. It’s Wednesday, June 2, and this is Morning Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to emueller@politico.com and rrainey@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey. | | | CLINGING ON: President Joe Biden is not giving up hope of a bipartisan agreement on infrastructure, our Chris Cadelago reports — at least, not yet. “The president still has faith in his ability to win over reluctant Senate Republicans and advisers see benefits — reputationally and politically — in working across the aisle,” he writes. “But Biden and officials insist they aren’t going to let the negotiations go on for very long.” “The president’s advisers anticipate drawing harder lines in public over what should be in the plan and how to pay for it as Biden prepares to meet with the Senate GOP’s lead negotiator this week. Inside the White House, aides are eyeing other possible avenues to pass the infrastructure bill and are pointing to June 9, when a House committee dives into a surface transportation bill, as a crucial factor in their overall timing.” IN THE PIPELINE: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 7 (117), the Paycheck Fairness Act, with a vote expected on whether to advance the bill next week. Recap: The House passed the Paycheck Fairness Act by a 217-210 vote in April. MUST-READ: “32 years old and making $31,000: Capitol Hill staffers are venting about unlivable pay, working side hustles to survive, and leaving government for lobbying jobs,” from Insider | | | | JOIN TUESDAY FOR A TALK ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY AFTER COVID-19: The U.S. economy is picking up speed, sparking fears of inflation and financial bubbles even as millions are still out of work following the Covid recession. Join us for an interview with Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles to discuss the U.S. economic outlook, how the nation's banks are holding up, and what to expect from the Fed on interest rates and regulations. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | WALSH VERSUS WHITE: Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White said in a sworn statement that he personally told former mayor and now Labor Secretary Marty Walsh that he had been the subject of a restraining order when he was accused of threatening to shoot his former wife, The Boston Globe’s Andrew Ryan and Danny McDonald report. “White’s claim directly contradicted statements issued by Walsh, who … has maintained for months that he was unaware of the allegations when he appointed White commissioner. The sworn statement was released as an hour-long video of White being interviewed by his attorney.” Walsh is expected to travel to Pennsylvania today to promote Biden’s infrastructure plan. On the agenda: visiting Lehigh Heavy Forge, Cafe the Lodge, and Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pa.; holding a Service Employees International Union news conference in Allentown, Pa.; and visiting Piling Solutions and Kirby Memorial Health Center’s vaccination site in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. ICYMI: “ Walsh allies hope uproar over Boston top cop appointment will quickly fade,” from POLITICO AMAZON WORKERS INJURED AT SKY-HIGH RATES: An analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration data shows Amazon’s serious injury rates are nearly double those at warehouses run by its competitors, The Washington Post’s Jay Greene and Chris Alcantara report. “In 2020, for every 200,000 hours worked at an Amazon warehouse in the United States — the equivalent of 100 employees working full time for a year — there were 5.9 serious incidents,” they write. “In comparison, Walmart, the largest private U.S. employer and one of Amazon’s competitors, reported 2.5 serious cases per 100 workers at its facilities in 2020.” “The data did not detail causes for the incidents, but some former OSHA officials, union representatives and Amazon workers place the blame on productivity pressures. The e-commerce giant pushes many of its warehouse staff — particularly those at fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations — to meet hourly rates to stow, pick and pack items. Critics say those metrics are too onerous and lead to injuries.” Amazon wrote in a blog post later on Tuesday that it was revising its “Time off Task” policy meant to boost productivity. | | | CHAMBER RE-UPS WARNINGS OF WORKER SHORTAGES: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a new initiative Tuesday aiming at addressing employers’ reports of a labor shortage. “As we stand on the cusp of what could be a great American resurgence, a worker shortage is holding back job creators across the country,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne Clark said. The initiative includes an expansion of the Chamber Foundation’s workforce programs as well as policy recommendations, like doubling the cap on employment-based visas, increasing federal investment in employer-led education and training programs and expanding access to child care. Along with the announcement, the Chamber released a data analysis that found there are now half as many available workers for every open job across the country (1.4 available workers per opening) as there have been on average over the past 20 years (2.8). Ninety-one percent of state and local chambers of commerce say worker shortages are holding back their economies. MORE: “These 5 states hit hardest by labor shortage,” from Fox Business BRING ON THE LAWSUITS: Amazon recently — and quietly — changed its terms of service to allow customers to file lawsuits rather than making them go through “secretive arbitration proceedings that typically don’t allow plaintiffs to team up and extract big-money payments,” The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Randazzo reports. “The retail giant made the change after plaintiffs’ lawyers flooded Amazon with more than 75,000 individual arbitration demands on behalf of Echo users. That move triggered a bill for tens of millions of dollars in filing fees, according to lawyers involved, payable by Amazon under its own policies,” she writes. It’s “the starkest example yet of how companies are responding to plaintiffs’ lawyers pushing the arbitration system to its limits.” NOTHING LASTS FOREVER: Moody’s Investors Service expects inflation to rise temporarily but ultimately settle slightly above 2 percent, according to an analysis out Tuesday. “Strong wage growth amid a tight labor market is often the primary driver of accelerating inflation,” analysts wrote. “Labor shortages in sectors that are opening up could lift wages in specific sectors, but it is too early to conclude that wage growth and inflation will permanently rise.” RELATED: “One way companies are concealing higher prices: Smaller packages,” from The New York Times NOT-SO-GOODYEAR? Tire manufacturer Goodyear is facing allegations of labor abuse in Malaysia, Reuters’ A. Ananthalakshmi and Mei Chu report. “Six current and former foreign workers, and officials with Malaysia's labour department, say Goodyear made wrongful salary deductions, required excessive hours and denied workers full access to their passports,” they write. The charges first surfaced “when 185 foreign workers filed three complaints against Goodyear Malaysia in the country's industrial court, two in 2019 and one in 2020, over non-compliance with a collective labour agreement.” | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — “Employees Are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Working From Home,” from Bloomberg — “How the World Ran Out of Everything,” from The New York Times — “ A Day With New York’s Bird Paramedics,” from New York Magazine — “U.S. cities hire specialists to counter climate change as impacts worsen,” from Reuters — “The Luckiest Workers in America? Teenagers,” from The New York Times — “ ‘It cannot be this way’: What is period poverty and how to solve it,” from The 19th — “Our Digital Pasts Weren’t Supposed to Be Weaponized Like This,” from The New York Times — “In post-pandemic Europe, migrants will face digital fortress,” from Associated Press — “Restaurants nationwide raise prices amid soaring costs, labor shortage,” from The New York Post — “Long Before She Was C.E.O., She Cleaned Toilets. ‘How Wonderful Is That?,’” from The New York Times THAT’S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
