COVID-19
Health and Safety – Governors in New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Oregon, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, and President Biden’s home state of Delaware have announced plans to relax mask mandates and other requirements, even as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky continues to recommend indoor face-coverings in much of the country. The widening gulf between Biden and the governors leaves the president in a tough spot politically as Omicron variant cases and hospitalizations drop and polling points to pandemic fatigue and a desire for some semblance of normalcy. More details.
Wages
One Fair Wage – Service workers and labor community activists rallied with lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol in support of raising the minimum wage for tipped workers. Members of One Fair Wage, donning bright pink hats, called for the U.S. Senate to pass the Raise the Wage Act, which the U.S. House passed last year and would eventually eliminate the tip credit and increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr for all workers. More details.
Paid Leave
California – The governor signed legislation that will once again require employers to provide paid COVID-19 supplemental sick leave. Under the plan, workers at businesses with 26 or more employees who test positive for the virus or have to care for a family member with COVID-19 would get up to two weeks of supplemental leave. It would be retroactive and cover COVID-19 absences from Jan. 1. It will also provide up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave, and another 40 hours if a worker or a family member tests positive. More details.
Maryland – A house committee considered legislation establishing a family and medical leave insurance program that would provide employees with 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave per year. If approved, the program would cover both full and part-time workers and would be funded by both employer and employee contributions. Similar legislation is moving in the senate. More details.
Labor Policy
Federal – President Joe Biden’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment released its long-awaited report which outlines the ways the administration will try to boost membership in private- and public-sector unions. The report, which contains almost 70 recommendations, suggests that certain agencies (namely, Labor Department, Defense Department, Interior Department, Health & Human Services as well as the Office of Management & Budget (OMB)) allow union organizers to talk to workers on federal property (both federal employees as well as employees of federal contractors) about the benefits of joining a union. It also directs federal agencies to ensure that taxpayer funds are not spent on anti-union efforts and directs agencies to begin increasing awareness of workers’ right to organize. The president signed an executive order in April creating the task force as a way to “identify executive branch policies, practices, and programs that could be used, consistent with applicable law, to promote the Administration’s policy of support for worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining.” The task force met more than two dozen times with unions, employers, worker advocates, academics, and former agency officials before releasing the report. The task force is seen as one way that Biden can try to grow union membership without relying on Congress. The group will submit another report in six months detailing its progress in implementing the recommendations and laying out additional ones. More details.
Federal – This week, both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate passed legislation that would forbids mandatory arbitration in cases of sexual harassment. The legislation which has broad bipartisan support was drafted in response to the #MeToo movement. It forbids clauses in employment contracts requiring workers to litigate sexual harassment and abuse cases privately. Advocates have argued that mandatory arbitration clauses protected repeat offenders. More details.
Worker Activism
Seattle – The city council passed a resolution “expressing the council’s support for workers at Starbucks in Seattle who are attempting to form a union.” While only a non-binding resolution, it is a reputational blow to the company which is headquartered in the city. In related news, the council also passed a resolution endorsing “card check” as a way of bypassing long and costly unionization campaigns. More details.
Starbucks – Seven employees at a Memphis store were fired for participating in a television interview in-store, after hours. At issue, the interview was held when the store should have been closed, locked, and inaccessible to any unauthorized workers or the public. The company says significant safety and security protocols were breached. Starbucks Workers United, the group helping Starbucks stores unionize, says the company is retaliating against local leaders that are involved in the unionization effort at that store. A union spokesperson said that Starbucks fired five out of the six union committee leaders and two other workers who are also pro-union. The NLRB’s General Counsel has petitioned the courts to intervene and reinstate the workers. More details.
Sustainability
Hawaii – A house committee advanced legislation establishing an extended producer responsibility program. The bill would require certain producers of consumer goods to register with the state health department and pay an annual fee based on the amount of packaging volume the covered producer places on the market each calendar year. Additionally, the bill provides for the deposit of fees into a special extended producer responsibility fund and some of those monies be allocated toward the creation of a report that assesses the resources needed to reduce the volume of packaging waste sent to landfills. More details.
Misc.
Florida – Legislation targeting “woke” corporate training and critical race theory in Florida schools cleared a third and final hearing in the house with a vote from the full chamber in the coming days. Companion legislation in the senate is likely to advance soon. Opponents of the bill – a priority of the governor – say the bill’s true goal is to stifle potentially difficult classroom and workspace conversation of race, gender identity, and privilege. The legislation is highly likely to become law. More details.
Key Takeaways
- Brands should make themselves familiar with the recommendations of the President’s Task on Worker Organizing and Empowerment particularly with regard to federal contractors and those doing business on federal property namely military bases, airports, and museums, among others. It is unprecedented to encourage federal agencies to be vigorous advocates for public sector unions as well as pressuring federal contractors to do the same. Other recommendations and executive actions will follow and brands need to stay close to this process.
- The movement by many Democratic governors this week to relax masking requirements will be welcome news to many companies. But the conversation around health and safety is far from over. To appease political allies that are disappointed by their actions this week, look for those very same governors to step up efforts around paid leave, and potentially other areas as well. Many states are already pursuing new paid leave requirements, and this week’s developments will likely serve to escalate those efforts.
Podcast
Check out our Working Lunch podcast each week that includes further analysis into these legislative issues, policy, politics and much more. You can find Working Lunch on the Nation’s Restaurant News website, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.