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What overturning ‘Chevron’ would mean for workers — and other labor news [1]
['Max Nesterak', 'More From Author', '- January']
Date: 2024-01-19
Welcome to the Break Room, our weekly round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: What ‘Chevron’ means for workers; the fight over a Minneapolis labor standards board; court interpreters strike reaches second week; trade unions celebrate bonding proposal; pet store fined for firing pregnant worker; Planned Parenthood workers ratify first labor contract; Minnesota posts sixth straight month of job growth; and Washington County probation officers threaten strike over Juneteenth.
What ‘Chevron deference’ means for workers
The conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to overturn a little-known, yet highly consequential precedent once celebrated by Republicans like former President Ronald Reagan. Labor experts fear such a break from precedent would hurt workers by hobbling the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board and other executive agencies’ ability to enforce important rules regulating workplaces.
For four decades, the high court’s ruling in a case called Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council has empowered executive agencies overseeing the workplace, the environment, the stock market and other parts of American life. Under the “Chevron deference” principle, judges must defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretation of ambiguous laws.
Perhaps nowhere has that been more necessary than in labor, where federal authorities must routinely interpret two sparsely written laws from nearly a century ago: the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which protects workers’ right to organize; and the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938, which created the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week and banned child labor.
The Biden administration has wielded “Chevron deference” in support of unions and rank-and-file workers when deciding, for example, what counts as “protected concerted” activity when workers push for higher wages or complain about working conditions. Without Chevron deference, judges will have more power to decide these questions, while executive agencies may be less willing to issue certain regulations in the first place.
Getting rid of this principle will likely reduce the vast swings in policy from one presidential administration to another workers are subjected to. After all, the Reagan administration supported the Chevron decision because it allowed his agencies to pursue deregulation with less interference from liberal judges.
But the rightward shift of the federal courts over the past 40 years and the limited expertise of judges when it comes to complex labor issues will likely be worse for workers on the whole, according to University of Minnesota law professor Charlotte Garden.
“If you think about the backgrounds of federal judges, relatively few of them have much experience with labor unions or even low-paid jobs,” Garden said. “On balance, getting rid of Chevron deference will be worse for workers … even though we’ll probably be able to point to some examples where it’s been good.”
The brewing battle over a Minneapolis Labor Standards Board
Mayor Jacob Frey, a majority of City Council members and labor advocates proposed the creation of a labor standards board more than a year and a half ago, but they still haven’t offered up an actual ordinance. The fight over the seemingly stalled proposal has heated up recently with an ad campaign from a hospitality group saying it would kill small businesses, and a news conference this week with city and labor leaders reaffirming their support.
“This is now an opportunity to do things differently … not just creating policy from the council dais, not just having one individual mayor or council member bring an idea forward that hasn’t been fully vetted by both businesses and labor, but to do it together,” Frey said at the Wednesday news conference.
The news conference was pitched by SEIU Local 26 as an effort to “revitalize downtown Minneapolis” — fresh branding to garner more media attention and public support for low-paid workers’ wages and benefits. The four-point plan includes improving pay for service workers; creating a labor standards board; converting empty office space into affordable housing (with union labor); and investing in more training for security guards who are the first point of contact for many safety and livability concerns.
When asked what the sticking point was in introducing an ordinance, Council President Elliot Payne cited “time” and “relationships.”
“We want to make sure that we’re going into this in good faith with really strong relationships across all these various stakeholder groups,” Payne said.
The unspoken challenge for the council is the power they would cede in creating a labor standards board, as proposed by unions and labor advocates. The board — made up of workers, business representatives and community members — would create industry specific boards to draft proposed ordinances. For instance, a minimum wage for janitors, additional training for security guards or disciplinary protections for Uber and Lyft drivers.
Those proposals would be recommendations in the sense that the City Council could reject them, but labor advocates want the board’s recommendations to be subject only to an up or down vote. That means city leaders wouldn’t have the power to tweak ordinances under pressure from various interest groups, giving unions an advantage in the specifics of policies. Council members who generally support a recommendation but not every detail would face immense pressure to vote for it over their objections.
Labor standards boards have become a holy grail for unions and labor advocates, especially those aiming to improve conditions in hard-to-unionize sectors like fast food and agriculture. Such boards allow them to side-step having to organize individual workplaces in order to win minimum pay and benefits across an entire industry.
Minnesota lawmakers created a Nursing Home Standards Board earlier this year, which will have the power to set wages and benefits at nursing homes across the state. New York and California have boards with more limited authority to set wages for farm laborers and fast food workers, respectively. A half-dozen other states and cities have created similar boards to make recommendations on specific sectors including agriculture and home care.
Court interpreters strike reaches two weeks
Scores of non-union contracted court interpreters continue to reject work from the Minnesota Judicial Branch in protest over pay, forcing Minnesota courts to postpone some hearings and turn to a costly phone interpretation service.
A Minnesota Judicial Branch spokeswoman said while “low priority” cases are being postponed, the strike is “not causing any major delays,” though she could not provide an exact number of cases that have been affected. The court system also employs 12 staff interpreters, who continue to work.
Contract interpreters, however, are confident their strike that began Jan. 8 is putting pressure on the justice system based on reports they’re hearing from judicial staff and attorneys like Erica Davis.
Davis, a criminal defense attorney who represents mostly Spanish-speaking clients, said she showed up to court on Wednesday only to find no interpreter. The hearing was pushed back a month. At a hearing last week, Davis said the court offered to use the phone service LanguageLine, which she declined because of “egregious” errors the service has made with previous clients. In one case, she said a LanguageLine interpreter said her client admitted to a crime even though he did not.
“I was not comfortable having my client do anything sensitive on the record with LanguageLine,” Davis said.
The interpreters, who are independent contractors, say they’re prepared to withhold their labor until they see significant pay increases. In 1997, they made $50 an hour. That would be over $96 an hour in today’s dollars. Certified interpreters made $55 an hour until Jan. 8 when the new rates increased their pay to $65 an hour.
Under the new rates, interpreters don’t receive premium pay for remote hearings or pay for the time they spend driving more than 35 miles to court. Instead, they are only promised the mileage reimbursement rate set by the federal government.
“The rates are extremely low,” said Esperanza López-Domínguez, a certified state and federal court interpreter for 24 years.
López-Domínguez says the low pay has already pushed her and other highly skilled interpreters to seek work elsewhere, leaving the courts to turn to non-certified interpreters who are not as competent in simultaneous interpreting, sight interpreting documents or American legal terminology.
“It seems like they’re okay now with anybody who’s got Lopez for a last name to go to court and start interpreting,” López-Domínguez said. “Being bilingual does not make you an interpreter.”
Without quality interpreters, López-Domínguez said non-English speakers cannot be guaranteed equal access to justice.
State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba told interpreters before the strike that the courts haven’t been given enough money by the Legislature to pay for raises, but that the Judicial Branch will ask for $1.5 million in additional funding this year. That could increase payment rates to $75 an hour for certified language interpreters. Interpreters say Shorba has the resources, and latitude, to meet their demands sooner.
The two sides have not met to discuss the standoff, however. Court spokeswoman Kim Pleticha noted the group organizing the protest “is neither a union nor a trade organization, so we do not know who its leadership or members are.”
Sen. Ron Latz, a Democrat from St. Louis Park and chair of the Senate judiciary committee, sent a letter to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Jan. 11 voicing his support for the interpreters’ “invaluable work” and saying he plans to hold an informational hearing in the coming weeks on the issue.
Trade unions rally behind infrastructure proposal
Trade unions cheered Gov. Tim Walz’s proposal for a $982 million infrastructure package since their members will be the ones to pave roads, build government offices and repair water mains. Trade union support is important since the package will largely be paid for through general obligation bonds, which need Republican votes since they must be passed with a supermajority.
“Minnesotans are counting on bipartisan support to improve public safety and health with modernized transportation, water, and housing infrastructure. These critical investments will put thousands of workers, including LIUNA members, to work in good-paying construction jobs rebuilding our state’s assets,” Kris Fredson, director of public affairs for LIUNA Minnesota & North Dakota, said in a statement.
Last year, lawmakers approved the largest infrastructure package in state history with $2.6 billion for projects across the state.
Pet store fined for rescinding job offer to pregnant worker
A Minnesota pet store must pay a worker about $22,000 for firing her after learning she was pregnant, as part of a settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The owner of Pet Ranch, which operates Four Paws and a Tail in Blaine, offered Hannah Grell a job in September 2022. Grell then received a uniform and shift assignment from the general manager, whom she told that she was pregnant. About an hour later, the owner left a voicemail for Grell terminating her employment. The Department of Human Rights determined that Grell was fired for being pregnant, in violation of state law. As part of the settlement, the company will also have to create an anti-discrimination policy. In a settlement with the state agency last year, a dental office was required to pay a woman $97,000 for firing her for being pregnant.
Planned Parenthood workers ratify first labor contract
Planned Parenthood workers across five Midwestern states including Minnesota voted to ratify their first labor agreement, about 18 months after unionizing with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa. The first contract was approved with 84% support, according to the union, and covers about 430 workers at Planned Parenthood North Central States, which operates in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Not all bargaining members were satisfied with the contract after 37 negotiating sessions with the non-profit, but union leaders say it’s a solid foundation. Workers will receive 11.75% raises over three years, with the lowest-paid employees receiving a 17% pay bump in the first year. The contract also gives workers facing disciplinary action a grievance and arbitration procedure.
Minnesota posts sixth straight month of job growth
Minnesota gained 800 jobs in December in the sixth straight month of job growth, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development. The biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality; trade, transportation and utilities; and construction. Unemployment decreased slightly to 2.9%, and is nearly a full percentage point lower than the nation (3.7%). The labor force participation rate also decreased slightly to 68.1% but remains significantly higher than the national rate of 62.5%.
Washington County probation officers vote to strike
Washington County probation officers voted 39-1 on Wednesday to authorize a strike after rejecting the county’s final offer, which did not include Juneteenth as a paid holiday. The county has offered workers paid time off for Juneteenth and a floating holiday if they agree to give up Christmas Eve, but probation officers — unionized with Teamsters Local 320 — rejected that proposal. Washington County’s director of human resources said that holiday package was accepted by more than 80% of county employees, according to the Pioneer Press.
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