Subject: Morning Shift, presented by The International Franchise Association: NY labor leader likely next CWA prez — Grover plans next union-busting ground game
From: "Morning Shift" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 07:26:00 -0600

By Brian Mahoney   

With help from Timothy Noah and Mike Elk   

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EXCLUSIVE: NY LABOR LEADER LIKELY NEXT CWA PREZ: The Communications Workers of America, one of the country's largest unions, may have found a replacement for its outgoing president Larry Cohen. Christopher Shelton, who is Vice President
 of the northeastern CWA District 1, will run for president of the union next spring.  And he appears already to have locked up enough support to win.   

Previously Shelton led CWA's largest district through a three week 45,000-worker Verizon strike in 2011. He also oversaw organizing drives at Cablevision and among 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a4e4ba76dd362b91c923200415513fa763f0438de77d7c64b9016fe1624c38d0 
Verizon
 retail workers . 

CWA represents more than 700,000 workers, largely in telecom but also in the public sector, airlines,  media, and manufacturing. Cohen, along with United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard, has occupied
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ccacaa615e7cf72f11b200bc721ea72b4e083bede65c9f9732edd79f4eeecffd 
 the
 left flank  of the AFL-CIO's Executive Council, and pushed it to take 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ccacaa615e7cf72fd74f007e9da07630de050740d8ac41509ac29458d7098a85 
more aggressive action on filibuster reform .  

GROVER PLANS NEXT UNION-BUSTING GROUND GAME: Conservative advocate and 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ccacaa615e7cf72fe27672957b9948dcd75c8e81dc03c0f9febd713caaacc025 
Burning Man attendee  Grover Norquist spoke with Morning Shift yesterday
 about what's next for his organization Americans for Tax Reform and its union-busting affiliate, the Center for Worker Freedom. 

Norquist advised Morning Shift to keep an eye on the South as the United Automobile Workers and European labor unions become more vocal about organizing in Alabama and elsewhere. "If nobody's looking out for the worker's rights, I think we'll try to see
 if we've got the time and the bandwidth to play a role," Norquist said. 

Translation: If European companies want another automotive labor battle like last year's 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=498d64908bb6738888a180dae6587269cd062d9df34d96819a3d78bc9feb5b3a 
at Volkswagen , they've got one. We'll have
 more from our talk with Norquist later this month.  

GOOD MORNING and welcome to Morning Shift, POLITICO Pro's new tipsheet on labor and employment policy. Ignore us at your peril! Email scoops, extravagant praise, bitter complaints and simple corrections - but especially scoops - to

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ProMorningShift 

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NLRB UPDATE Much Republican furor over the National Labor Relations Board arises from its decision to consider naming McDonalds a "joint employer" of its franchisees' burger-flippers, rendering the corporation liable for labor law violations. If the NLRB rules against McDonald's, the
 corporation could be on the hook for infractions committed by its (seldom deep-pocketed) franchisees.  

So what's happening right now? A whole lot of waiting. NLRB general counsel Richard F. Griffin issued a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ccacaa615e7cf72f5b637bcb3d89f32fab375642819901f86bad789f15f990d5 
controversial
 finding  in July naming McDonald's a joint employer in 43 cases before the NLRB. The NLRB must now decide whether to uphold its general counsel's decision.  

But the true bellwether may be a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801d15a1835cd112011ebd67b2342988235c9577e45208d796e0 
case  involving not franchising but subcontracting. Browning-Ferris Industries has a subcontractor, Leadpoint, that employs workers at a Browning-Ferris recycling plant. Is
 Browning-Ferris a joint employer? The board 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dd361c93a6b44e716db282ce1c9cb74a01f72da4a996203e1 
invited  labor groups and businesses to offer guidance. An NLRB ruling in the Browning-Ferris case is expected well before the NLRB takes up
 the McDonalds case. 

JOB OPENING AT THE WHITE HOUSE - LABOR LIAISON: White House staffer Carri Twigg left the job in August to become special assistant to the president and director of public engagement for Joe Biden. Her successor could be you! Send resume
 and job references to Valerie Jarrett, White House Office of Public Engagement, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20500. Tell her Morning Shift sent ya!

Be warned, though, the job is a relatively junior one. Labor leaders have long wanted a senior policy adviser in the White House who has access to Obama's inner circle. The closest they ever got was Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economic adviser, who left
 three years ago-and (through no particular fault of his own) couldn't deliver much. The White House has been more attentive to labor in Obama's second term, but unions still lack a strong voice in the White House.

DISABILITY ADVOCATES BLAST DOL: The groups are riled that the U.S. Department of Labor didn't go further on Tuesday when it agreed to delay enforcement of its new minimum wage and overtime rule for home health workers. They say a plan to
 exercise "prosecutorial discretion" in 2015 leaves the door open to private lawsuits from individual home health care workers.   

"Agreeing not to enforce a law is not the same as delaying the implementation of a law," said Stephanie Woodward,  a disability rights attorney and ADAPT activist in Rochester, NY.  "The law is still in effect." 

But former deputy Labor secretary  Seth D. Harris 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dc04e4cdf5c6edba0b7425cf9332668c46404bbe1488ec0d3 
predicts on his blog  that such lawsuits will be rare because "the amounts of money involved are small.... Home health employers covered by the Wage & Hour Administration's
 non-enforcement policy and the state Medicaid agencies that fund many of them may risk [getting sued] and refuse to change their pay practices in the hope that no one will sue."   

ADMINISTRATION'S POSITION ON WORKER CASE DECISIVE?: We reported yesterday that the Obama administration sided with employees suing an Amazon subcontractor over unpaid time spent queuing in security lines. At oral arguments yesterday, at
 least one justice suggested the government's decision to side with Amazon might be significant enough to decide the case. From the New York Times' Adam Liptak:  

"Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the questions in the case were difficult and close but that he was inclined to side with the agency that enforces the labor laws," Liptak writes. More here:

http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dff193b9940bcbe2ece965f9f31eca519cf2e7d1a026dcedc 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dff193b9940bcbe2ece965f9f31eca519cf2e7d1a026dcedc 

"I'm in the situation, probably, I'd say go with the Labor Department," Justice Breyer said, according to the 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801db4a5bd6a1e18cbeb4917ca17f1fc444b2cff7f745231cb7b 
argument transcript . "They are the ones who are in
 charge of this. And they are saying you lose." 

VETERAN AT THE BAR: Paul Clement of Bancroft PLLC - who argued on behalf of Amazon contractor Integrity Staffing Solutions - appeared before the court for his 75th time yesterday, according to 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801de6202496caf92d32aa10844bdef8fe046b069efb9ac4c81a 
SCOTUSblog? .   

You may hear more from Clement on these pages. He is 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dd1a691e24e4414857e872c2e98912885f74847990bfe0217 
representing  the International Franchise Association in its fight against Seattle's $15 minimum
 wage law.     

DC TAXIS MAKE NOISE OVER UBER, LYFT: Morning Shift was speeding to lunch in a Virginia-based cab when it stumbled into the middle of an actual labor protest. Dozens of D.C. taxis 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801d183513b8615b1af973835e3db82831a07ba496e38987b4ca 
clogged
 the streets  in front of the John A. Wilson Building, the District's city hall. The drivers, many of them 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dcafd42ce456da2ab62bd14ebc113759edb860082b9b8cd39 
Teamsters , were voicing opposition
 to letting Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar operate permanently in the nation's capital, as D.C. is currently proposing.   

We take no side in this dispute. But Morning Shift had a lunch to get to -  with, as it happens, a key source in the labor movement. So we hopped out of our cab and hoofed it. Time's Maya Rhodan on the protests: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dc980ed493e905bb480b6288d968d12553049a50f19003251 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4f4030dd34c9801dc980ed493e905bb480b6288d968d12553049a50f19003251    

WHITE HOUSE REPORT SEES HARD TIMES AHEAD FOR MILLENNIALS: The generation born during the quarter-century after 1980, which represents one-third of the U.S. population, may suffer long-term aftereffects from the 2007-2009 recession, says
 a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d69674747c9cd5975bfab3e7fa6a63ff43b063504d43c089add8f9487 
new study  from the Council of Economic Advisers released in advance of a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747478372d226f5144c5db0a7d25b6f987d059caa9428ebe81c0d 
millennial-focused
 Obama event  today in Los Angeles. 

"Research shows that entering the labor market during a recession can result in substantial earnings losses that persist for more than a decade," the report says, "with negative effects lasting longer for college graduates. Workers who start
 their careers in a recession earn 2.5 to 9 percent less per year than those who do not for at least 15 years after starting a career." That's partly because these new entrants are more likely to start their careers in jobs that don't fit particularly well,
 the study explains.

But all is not lost. The study also notes that education is "perhaps the single most important determinant of a person's income." And the millennials are "the most educated generation in history." 

Maybe they should consider moving to Norway, Denmark, or Sweden. According to a global index to be released this morning at the Norwegian ambassador's residence in Washington, those three Scandinavian countries offer workers "the greatest employment opportunities,
 equality, and social security" among 148 countries ranked. The U.S. placed 16th, behind France, Germany, and Canada, but well ahead of China (52) and India (139). In a separate ranking of 41 countries that factors in access to union representation, the U.S.
 falls to the bottom half, at 22nd. The report was compiled by the JustJobs Network, a nonprofit founded by John Podesta, currently counselor to the president, with seed funding from ... huh. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d6967474763082b861c4378949ad69123ce63852aa28948bbb638bd67 
The Norwegian Ministry
 of Foreign Affairs . Morning Shift demands a recount!

Americans, incidentally, are uniquely unwilling to work abroad, the Washington Post 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747473696c39bfc626a15419d737a40e9650a6d7011c3bf986835 
reports , citing a Boston Consulting Group 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747472db8859f2ac9081e29b91ea6165caf562e945f4b62bffa4f 
survey.  Only
 35 percent said they'd consider it, the lowest percentage among the 189 countries surveyed. 

DAIMLER RETALIATED AGAINST HARASSED WORKER, EEOC ALLEGES: The commission sued Daimler Trucks North America in North Carolina federal court alleging the company fired a female employee after she complained about sexual harassment. A spokesperson for
 Daimler declined comment. You can read the EEOC's allegations here: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747470af69cd8857a38acd691a9a1ad516a8e5cc4353bb9b74dd9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747470af69cd8857a38acd691a9a1ad516a8e5cc4353bb9b74dd9   

APPEALS COURT RULES AGAINST OCCUPY: Occupy Nashville protestors can't sue city officials over their arrests during their 2011 protest, a federal appeals court in Ohio ruled on Wednesday. The protestors - who had occupied a city plaza to
 protest wealth disparities in the U.S. - filed their lawsuit  after they were arrested in 2011 for violating a city curfew. "We hold that the state officials are protected by qualified immunity because, ... the protesters' claimed First Amendment right to unrestricted
 24-hour access to the Plaza is not clearly established," the ruling said. Read the opinion here: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d6967474715e09a7984dda72d83c20dc46296d2ca761d3f1b4def1726 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d6967474715e09a7984dda72d83c20dc46296d2ca761d3f1b4def1726    

COFFEE BREAK    

The Wall Street Journal reports that factory wages rose 6.3 percent this past summer over last summer in Texas, compared to 4.4 percent in Washington state, 4 percent in Oregon, 3.1 percent in Indiana-and 2.3 percent nationwide.

http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d69674747217df9c2a6dc6e2c8e48f14664c561085e861c894cc55541 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d69674747217df9c2a6dc6e2c8e48f14664c561085e861c894cc55541 

Democratic Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor took money and support from teachers unions while raising money for an anti-union Democratic committee, according to Mother Jones' Andy Kroll 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747473e661e310131d37b27d8d8aadf75c11824dd2d7571aa8fbf 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d696747473e661e310131d37b27d8d8aadf75c11824dd2d7571aa8fbf    

McClatchy Newspapers & ProPublica win October's "Sidney" Award (named for New Deal labor leader Sidney Hillman) for an expose about worker misclassification.  
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d69674747db372473b6af82751cd3afc46579d0ae23d2a7a3cd635cfd 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a90c3f6d69674747db372473b6af82751cd3afc46579d0ae23d2a7a3cd635cfd    

Law360's Natalie Rodriguez reports that hotel and restaurant groups challenging minimum wage laws in New York and Los Angeles will have a tough legal slog: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=498d64908bb6738883f65dd38ffc496a812e8f7ced8f4741b9720667a091e0a9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=498d64908bb6738883f65dd38ffc496a812e8f7ced8f4741b9720667a091e0a9    

Casino workers in Atlantic City blocked traffic last night to protest contract givebacks made to keep the Trump Taj Mahal alive, the Associate Press writes: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=498d64908bb673882507f6ab23bcd821536ea7f63cab4eeeb87c36be03003a38 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=498d64908bb673882507f6ab23bcd821536ea7f63cab4eeeb87c36be03003a38 

THAT ENDS ANOTHER EDITION OF MORNING SHIFT. Now get off your duff and earn an honest day's pay!

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 more information about how the franchise business model works, visit 
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www.franchisefacts.org . **