With help from Daniel Lippman
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— The Trump administration is forcing meat-processing plants to stay open amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it hasn’t made its safety guidance mandatory.
— Absent action from federal regulators, workers are looking to the courts and states to guarantee protections against the virus.
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted that the next round of coronavirus relief could include hazard pay for essential workers.
GOOD MORNING. It’s Wednesday, April 29, and this is Morning Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @RebeccaARainey, @IanKullgren and @TimothyNoah1.
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TRUMP TO ORDER MEAT PLANTS TO STAY OPEN: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order requiring meat-processing plants to continue operating, even though the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said 20 meatpacking workers have died of Covid-19, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton and Gabby Orr report. “Trump will use the Defense Production Act to order the companies to stay open. The government will also provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance,” they report.
“It’s unclear how the executive order will address worker safety as employees must stay on the job,” Liz and Gabby write. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration “has chosen not to impose mandatory safety rules and instead only issued recommendations.”
Late Tuesday night, DOL, in apparent response to criticism that it isn’t protecting meatpackers sufficiently, issued a statement saying “it is vitally important” in light of the president’s pending order that meat, pork, and poultry processors adhere to interim guidance for that industry that it issued last weekend with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which consists of recommendations, not mandates). But DOL also emphasized that it “will take into account good faith attempts” to follow the guidance.
IN RESPONSE… Meatpacking workers and those in other industries are looking beyond the executive branch to keep them safe at work, your host reports with Liz.
A judge this week ordered major meat company Smithfield to follow OSHA safety recommendations at a plant in Missouri, and labor advocates hope to use the lawsuit as a model to force companies in other sectors to protect workers from the virus.
They also want lawmakers to include mandatory safety standards in the next coronavirus relief package. More than 200 workers’ rights, public health and consumer advocacy organizations are pressing lawmakers to pass H.R. 6559 (116), which would require OSHA to issue an emergency standard within seven days that would lay out mandatory protections companies must provide to their workers to prevent exposure to the coronavirus.
In Monroe, New Jersey, workers at a Barnes & Noble distribution center delivered a petition to Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday asking that he close the facility for two weeks after cases of Covid-19 were reported among employees.
In New York City, unions representing roughly 10,000 correction officers, captains and wardens planned to sue the city last week, arguing that it’s putting their health and safety in danger by requiring 24-hour shifts and making them return from sick leave without first getting a negative Covid-19 test.
And in cities throughout the country, dozens of McDonald’s workers organized by the union-backed Fight for $15 have gone on strike over a lack of protective equipment and sick leave.
MORE ON THAT — FIRST IN MORNING SHIFT: Fight for $15 will announce new demands today of McDonald’s, including that it pay for Covid-19 testing and treatment, provide paid sick leave, suspend lobby service and provide protective equipment for all workers. The union-backed group is also requesting that McDonald’s suspend dividend payments to its investors for the remainder of 2020, as dozens of other companies have.
RELATED:
— “Democrats press Trump administration on federal worker safety,” from POLITICO
— “New York Attorney General Scrutinizes Amazon for Firing Warehouse Worker,” from The New York Times
— “IRS providing face masks to recalled employees,” from POLITICO
ICYMI FROM OUR BEN WHITE: “Trump faces the risk of a coronavirus cliff”
PELOSI HINTS AT HAZARD PAY… Pelosi teased forthcoming legislation Tuesday, saying that “hazard pay is very important to us” and there will be “more to say about that later in the week.”
House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) is working with Senate HELP ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) “to see if [Republicans] will have a go on that,” Pelosi said.
…AND AID FOR STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: She also said there could be two new aid packages — one each for state and local governments — though some of the money would be disbursed “over time, even a couple of years.”
“It looks like we’re going to need $500 [million] for the state, and we may need a very big figure also for counties and municipalities,” she said.
HOUSE DROPS PLAN TO RETURN TO HILL NEXT WEEK: The House won’t return to the Hill Monday when the Senate does, leadership announced Tuesday. “The Senate, meanwhile, is still coming back next week, [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell’s office said on Tuesday,” our Hill team reports. “But his office declined to provide more information when asked if the Senate leader consulted with the Capitol physician.”
MORE: “Democrats dismiss McConnell’s ‘sad’ new coronavirus offer,” from POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle
— “Trump ‘looking at’ testing for all international travelers,” from our Anthony Adragna
— “Trump suggests federal bailout for states could hinge on sanctuary city policies,” from our Myah Ward
WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY — Tuesday marked the annual day honoring workers killed or injured on the job.
— “Children of doctors and nurses have kept anguished journals, written parents goodbye letters and created detailed plans in case they never see their moms or dads again,” from The Washington Post
— “Top E.R. Doctor Who Treated Virus Patients Dies by Suicide,” from The New York Times
— “The Grim New Relevance of Workers Memorial Day,” from The New Republic
FEWER OSHA INSPECTORS DURING PANDEMIC: As workers fall ill from the coronavirus, OSHA is operating with a skeleton crew of safety inspectors, according to a new report from the National Employment Law Project.
Data obtained by NELP suggests that OSHA had only 862 inspectors at the start of the year, marking a 45-year low. For comparison, the number of OSHA inspectors fluctuated throughout the Obama administration, ranging from a low of 929 inspectors in 2009 to a high of 1,059 inspectors in 2011. According to NELP, at its current staffing level, “the agency would need 165 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once.”
LAYOFFS AND FURLOUGHS:
— “TripAdvisor slashes nearly a quarter of its staff as the coronavirus stalls travel,” from CNBC
— “Gannett has lots of layoffs, but little transparency,” from Poynter
POLITICO Pro is here to help you navigate these unprecedented times. Check out our new Covid-19 Coverage Roundup, which provides a daily summary of top Covid-19 news coverage from across all 16 federal policy verticals as well as premium content, such as DataPoint graphics. Please sign up at our settings page to receive this unique roundup sent directly to your inbox every weekday afternoon.
UNION HEAD CONDEMNED FOR OFFENSIVE POSTS: James Maravelias, the president of the Delaware AFL-CIO and president of the Delaware Building and Construction Trades Council, apologized over the weekend for Facebook posts that POLITICO first revealed last week. “I now realize that on a handful of instances, my social media posts were hurtful and offensive,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I am sorry if they offended anyone or any group of people.” WDEL reported that the Anti-Defamation League condemned an anti-Semitic Facebook post he made as well, which he has also apologized for.
In an interview with POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman, Raymond M. Pocino, VP and eastern regional manager for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, said he was disappointed in Maravelias, who’s a member of LIUNA.
TEACHERS UNIONS THREATEN CORONAVIRUS STRIKES: Two of the country’s largest teachers unions will consider strikes or protests if U.S. schools reopen against the advice of medical experts, our Nicole Gaudiano reports.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten “said funding is needed for a host of public health measures for schools, including personal protective equipment,” Nicole writes. Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, also didn’t rule out strikes if state leaders move prematurely on a reopening of schools, and she said she believes parents would protest too.
— “Fired in a Pandemic ‘Because We Tried to Start a Union,’ Workers Say,” from The New York Times
— “Companies’ use of thermal cameras to monitor the health of workers and customers worries civil libertarians,” from The Washington Post
— “Businesses Seek Sweeping Shield From Pandemic Liability Before They Reopen,” from The New York Times
— “The unlikely alliance trying to rescue workplace health insurance,” from POLITICO
— “Americans support state restrictions on businesses and halt to immigration during virus outbreak, Post-U. Md. poll finds,” from The Washington Post
— “Illinois and other Dem states pressured to delay minimum-wage hikes,” from Bloomberg
— “DeVos says she followed law in excluding undocumented college students from emergency aid,” from POLITICO
— “Mark Cuban backs $15 minimum wage, federally-guaranteed jobs after coronavirus,” from Yahoo Finance
THAT’S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT!