Could ‘Labor for Bernie’ tip Iowa? Presented by DoorDash

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Quick Fix

— “Labor for Bernie” activists have barnstormed Iowa in recent weeks, hoping to clinch a win for Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in today’s caucuses.

— Former Vice President Joe Biden scored a major endorsement from the Amalgamated Transit Union.

— President Donald Trump expanded his travel ban Friday to six more countries.

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GOOD MORNING! It’s Monday, Feb. 3, 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.

Driving the Day

COULD ‘LABOR FOR BERNIE’ TIP IOWA?: Volunteers have been quietly working for weeks to turn out supporters for Sanders in Iowa — and might see their efforts pay off today.

In December, Labor for Bernie launched a network of about 100 volunteers to drum up support for Sanders in union circles. According to organizers, each volunteer agreed to “adopt” 50 people with the goal of getting them to caucus for Sanders. And with Sanders narrowly leading in the Iowa polls heading into caucus day, Labor for Bernie’s network of 5,000 likely supporters could be enough to peel working-class support away from Biden and ensure a victory there. (In 2016, Hillary Clinton bested Sanders in Iowa by one quarter of one percentage point in the delegate count.)

Many of the Labor For Bernie volunteers are rank-and-file union members. Organizers say they are targeting a wide range of low-wage workers who supported Sanders in 2016 or expressed interest in the political action group he founded, Our Revolution.

“I was here in ‘16 and we weren’t as organized as we are now,” Joe Lawrence, one of Labor for Bernie’s chief organizers in Iowa, told Morning Shift. “People are more amped up and ready to go.”

According to the group’s own figures, four national unions and 12 local chapters have endorsed Sanders thus far, including two in Iowa. Many national unions reworked their endorsement processes after endorsing Clinton early on — too early, Sanders supporters complained — in the 2016 cycle.

Kilynn Lunsford, national organizer for Labor for Bernie, said the volunteers are serious about not having “a repeat of 2016.”

“They want to make sure they have a voice in the process,” she added.

Refresher: “How the Iowa Caucuses work,” from the New York Times

2020 Watch

BUT, BUT, BUT: Biden on Saturday scored an endorsement from the 200,000-member ATU, which supported Sanders in 2016.

The issue of Biden’s electability was the driving force behind the decision and a key concern of the union’s membership, which was randomly surveyed by phone in an “extensive poll” conducted by a professional pollster ATU hired, union president John Costa told POLITICO’s Marc Caputo.

“The numbers came back very strong for Joe,” Costa said. “Not only did people support him, but we asked who would be best to beat Trump, and he was overwhelmingly seen as the best to do it.“

The announcement came a couple days after Sanders won the endorsement of the American Postal Workers Union.

Immigration

TRUMP EXPANDS TRAVEL BAN: Trump on Friday placed immigration restrictions on half a dozen new countries, including Nigeria, one of the most populous countries in Africa.

“The latest iteration of the ban will suspend immigration visas for citizens from four countries — Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan — without barring all citizens from those countries from entering the United States,” POLITICO’s Caitlin Oprysko reports. “It will also bar people from Sudan and Tanzania from the U.S. diversity visa program, which awards green cards to immigrants. The new ban goes into effect on Feb. 22, officials said on a conference call with reporters.”

An announcement of the new restrictions was initially scheduled for Jan. 27, the third anniversary of the original ban, which restricted travel from several majority-Muslim countries. But the date was pushed back in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China.

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Coronavirus

AMERICAN AIRLINES HALTS CHINA FLIGHTS: American Airlines canceled flights to China and Hong Kong after the Allied Pilots Association sued the company last week, CNN’s Shannon Liao reports. The union’s lawsuit says American is “negligently and intentionally exposing” pilots to the Wuhan coronavirus.

The airline canceled all flights to mainland China and said it would halt flights to Hong Kong through Monday. In a statement, the airline said it would “make decisions about Hong Kong flights each day based on our operational situation.”

That didn’t satisfy the APA. “While Hong Kong is a special administrative region, this virus does not recognize such a geopolitical wording,” a spokesperson told CNN. “Just look at the map. Hong Kong geographically is a landmass that's part of China. The geopolitical issues, which we obviously respect, the virus doesn't.”

Happening This Week

— The House is expected to vote on the PRO Act, Democrats’ massive labor reform bill. It’s headed first to the Rules Committee and should reach the floor by Thursday or Friday, according to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott’s (D-Va.) office.

— On Tuesday, Trump will give his State of the Union address. The president “will highlight his support for paid family leave and expanding access to affordable childcare,” according to a senior administration official, and “celebrate the administration’s workforce training initiative[s] such as the Pledge to the American Worker.”

In addition, the official said, Trump “will also take head-on one of the most significant threats to public safety: sanctuary cities” and highlight how “today's middle class boom is also a blue-collar boom.”

— On Wednesday at 2 p.m., a House Education and Labor subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Protecting Workers’ Civil Rights in the Digital Age.”

— On Thursday at 10:15 a.m., another Education and Labor panel will hold a hearing on “Solving America’s Child Care Crisis: Supporting Parents, Children, and the Economy.”

— On Thursday at 10 a.m., a House Small Business panel will hold a hearing on “Taking Care of Business: How Childcare is Important for Regional Economies.”

Around the Agencies

FORMER OSHA HEAD RELEASES BOOK: Obama OSHA administrator David Michaels is today releasing “The Triumph of Doubt,” which chronicles how corporate interests wage war against scientific consensus to defend their products, often to the detriment of public health. In the book, Michaels writes of the Obama administration’s attempts to crack down on silica exposure and the resistance he and other officials encountered from chemical manufacturers.

Unions

STEYER RECOGNIZES CAMPAIGN UNION: Tom Steyer’s campaign said Sunday it had recognized a staff bargaining unit with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2325. “Tom’s strongest partner has always been organized labor, and we look forward to partnering with IBEW as they represent our campaign staff,” campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in a statement.

Workers for other Democratic candidates, including Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren and Sanders, have already formed unions. With Steyer polling at just 3 percent in Iowa, his campaign might not be around long enough to negotiate a contract.

Sexual Harassment

VICTORIA’S DARK SECRET: “Victoria’s Secret defined femininity for millions of women,” Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Katherine Rosman, Sapna Maheshwari and James Stewart report for the New York Times. “But inside the company, two powerful men presided over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, as well as court filings and other documents.”

“Ed Razek, for decades one of the top executives at L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, was the subject of repeated complaints about inappropriate conduct,” including kissing and touching models and asking them to sit on his lap. An L Brands spokesperson didn’t dispute the report, but Razek told the Times the allegations were “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.”

What We're Reading

— "UAW moves to expel those charged, convicted in federal probe,” from the Detroit News

— "The Graying of the American Economy Is On Display in Iowa,” from the New York Times

— "The Future of BuzzFeed: Win or LOL?” from The New York Times

— "Nigeria scrambles to escape Trump’s immigration ban,” from The Washington Post

— "Vermont governor vetoes family leave bill,” from The Associated Press

— "Vermont lawmakers approve minimum wage boost; veto possible,” from The Associated Press

THAT’S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT!

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Follow us on Twitter Rebecca Rainey @rebeccaarainey