Daily Briefing – 403
OSHA Issues Vaccine ETS – Rules Mean Millions of Workers Must Get Shots by Jan. 4 or Test Weekly
The requirements released Thursday by the Labor Department apply to employers with 100 or more employees. While the administration has said the requirements are necessary to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, they have drawn opposition from many Republicans.
Companies subject to the rules must ensure that employees who aren’t vaccinated against Covid-19 produce a negative test at least weekly and wear a mask in the workplace. Employers aren’t required under the new policy to provide or pay for tests, with potential exceptions if collective bargaining agreements compel them to do so.
Federal Contractor Vaccination Deadline Extended to January 4 to Correspond with OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS)
The President today announced via a Fact Sheet the awaited OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that applies to employers with 100 or more employees. As anticipated the ETS requires either full vaccination for employees or weekly negative tests. He also announced new vaccine requirements for health care workers issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). An unpublished version of the ETS is available here. It is expected to be published in the federal register November 5, 2021. An unpublished version of the CMS rule is available here.
Importantly, for federal contractors, this announcement includes an extension of the Executive Order 14042 vaccine requirement to January 4, 2022, to correspond with the ETS and CMS deadlines. The current deadline is December 8, 2021.
Fed Dials Back Bond Purchases, Plots End to Stimulus by June, Affirms Forecast that Factors Driving High Inflation are “Expected to be Transitory”
The Federal Reserve approved plans to begin scaling back its bond-buying stimulus program this month and end it by June, a major step toward withdrawing its aggressive, pandemic-driven economic support amid a recent inflation surge. The Fed will reduce its bond purchases by $15 billion a month in November and by a further $15 billion in December, the central bank said Wednesday.
Fed officials in their post meeting statement Wednesday said they still anticipated elevated inflation would fall because high readings are “largely reflecting factors that are expected to be transitory.” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has so strongly signaled in advance the decision on the asset purchases that investors focused more on how he characterized inflation risks at his news conference—and the implications for how soon the central bank might raise interest rates.
Deere Strike Update: Workers Reject Second Agreement, Strike Continues
Hourly tractor assembly and maintenance workers at Deere & Co. factories voted down a second tentative agreement between management and United Auto Workers negotiators. 55% of local union members rejected the offer, though it performed much better than the first tentative agreement rejected earlier this year by 90% of voting workers.
The strike will continue, the UAW said in a statement. More than 10,000 workers in five states have now been on strike since October 14 after rejecting the first tentative agreement between the UAW and Deere management. Deere & Co.’s Chief Administrative Officer, Marc. A. Howze, said the company would continue its policy of using salaried employees as replacement workers as the strike continues. In a statement, he said the contract “was the right one for Deere, our employees, and everyone we serve together.”
Manchin Says ‘Unbelievable’ Virginia Results Validate Concerns Over Spending Package
Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin says the “unbelievable” Republican victories in Virginia’s statewide races Tuesday validate his concerns about inflation and moving the Build Back Better Act too quickly through Congress. Manchin said that GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s victory in a state that President Biden won by 10 points in 2020 also underscores the need for the House to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which progressives are holding up.
He cautioned that his Democratic colleagues need to take Tuesday’s election results as a warning and proceed more carefully with the reconciliation package that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) are racing to pass as soon as possible.
Dems Vow to Plow Forward on Biden Agenda
Joe Biden suffered his first major political lashing as president Tuesday, yet even as Democrats were processing a battering in the Virginia governor’s race and the uncomfortably close gubernatorial election in New Jersey, the White House and officials across the party pledged to forge ahead with the twin pillars of the president’s domestic agenda. Several made the case that Tuesday’s results only added to the pressure for them to do so.
The determination to stick with the $1.75 trillion social and climate spending bill underscores just how much the Democratic Party has bet its future on Biden’s legislative priorities. And it comes right as the president’s own political tailspin has put him in a weakened position to help them sell it.
U.S. COVID Update – Unvaccinated 11 Times More Likely to Die, 12 Times More Likely to Be Hospitalized
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decline, but many parts of the country are still experiencing high levels of community transmission. CDC’s COVID Data Tracker shows that, as of October 28, 2021, 221 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 191 million people are fully vaccinated. More than 15 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.
CDC’s COVID Data Tracker shows that in August 2021, people who were unvaccinated were 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated. People who were unvaccinated were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated.
NYS Vaccine and COVID Update
Vaccine Stats as of Wednesday November 3rd:
One Vaccine Dose
- 74.5 of all New Yorkers – 14,378,524 (plus 13,558 from a day earlier)
- In the Hudson Valley 1,503,700 (plus 954)
Fully Vaccinated
- 66.8% of all New Yorkers – 12,999,518 (plus 12,893).
- In the Hudson Valley – 1,338,216 (plus 751).
The Governor updated COVID data through Tuesday November 2nd. There were 37 COVID related deaths for a total of 58,139.
Hospitalizations:
- Patients Currently in Hospital statewide: 1,908.
Seven Day Average Positivity Rate:
- Statewide 2.22%
- Mid-Hudson: 1.73%
Useful Websites:
Kids’ Turn Arrives for COVID-19 Shots
The U.S. enters a new phase Wednesday in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with shots now available to millions of elementary-age children in what health officials hailed as a major breakthrough after more than 18 months of illness, hospitalizations, deaths and disrupted education.
With the federal government promising enough vaccine to protect the nation’s 28 million kids ages 5-11, pediatricians’ offices, pharmacies, hospitals, schools and health clinics were poised to begin the shots after the final OK late Tuesday.
From Boeing to Mercedes, a U.S. Worker Rebellion Swells Over Vaccine Mandates
The clock is ticking for companies that want to continue gaining federal contracts under an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden, which requires all contractor employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8. That means federal contract workers need to have received their last COVID-19 shot at least two weeks before the deadline to gain maximum protection, according to U.S. government guidance.
But the mandate has stirred protests from workers in industries across the country, as well as from Republican state officials. Opposition to the mandate could potentially lead to thousands of U.S. workers losing their jobs and imperil an already sluggish economic recovery, union leaders, workers and company executives said.
The ‘Great Resignation’ is Burning Out Those Who Stay
Much has been made about the “Great Resignation” and the abundance of Americans looking to leave their jobs. A record 4.3 million quit their jobs in August alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Those left behind are feeling the pain.
Following their former coworkers’ departures, 52% of those who chose to stay at their jobs said they’ve taken on more responsibilities, a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management found. Moreover, 30% report struggling to get necessary work done, 27% feel less loyalty to their organization and 55% now question whether their pay is high enough, according to the survey, which polled 1,150 employed U.S. adults in July.
How Do CEOs View the Labor Shortage?
The economy is bigger now than it was before the pandemic struck. However, we’re down 5 million U.S. workers from pre-crisis levels. The answer to that worker shortage is perplexing. Can it be pinpointed on COVID-19 spurred retirements? Or are workers simply giving up on, well, work? Regardless, it’s translating into remaining staffers taking on more responsibilities—which, of course, is only adding to burnout issues.
But how do CEOs view this worker shortage and so-called Great Resignation? Is it a speed bump, or something bigger? To find out, Fortune surveyed CEOs in collaboration with Deloitte this fall. We heard from 117 chief executive officers.
Why the Bank of England Meeting is Bigger Than the Fed (This Week Anyway)
Changes to New York Paid Family Leave
On Nov. 1, 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law amending the definition of family member for purposes of the New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (PFL) to include biological or adopted siblings, half-siblings and step-siblings. This amendment takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Currently, family members for purposes of PFL include a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, spouse and domestic partner.
In addition to the expanded definition of family member, the Workers’ Compensation Board adopted a revised regulation on Oct. 6, 2021, clarifying the amount of intermittent PFL available to employees working more than five days per week. This regulation also takes effect on Jan. 1, 2022 and is not retroactive.
Read more at Bond Schoeneck and King
$139 Trillion Pledged for Net Zero
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a coalition of international financial companies that is led by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, says it has secured up to $130 trillion in private capital, to help economies reach net zero. Carney: “We now have the essential plumbing in place to move climate change from the fringes to the forefront of finance so that every financial decision takes climate change into account.”
Until recently, big Wall Street players like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were happy to ignore GFANZ, the umbrella term for a series of net-zero alliances which also includes asset managers and insurers. Carney’s credibility in both public and private sectors was integral to turning this around. It’s important, too. Private capital is needed to provide most of the $100 trillion required over the next three decades to lift clean energy investment to $4 trillion annually and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Biden: OPEC And Russia Must Pump More Oil To Help America’s Working Class
The refusal of OPEC+ to increase crude oil production is affecting America’s working class, President Biden said at a news conference following the G20 meeting in Rome. “It [OPEC+’s decision to keep a lid on output increases] has profound impact on working class families just to get back and forth to work,” the U.S. President added, as quoted by NPR.
A fundamental reason oil prices have surged over the last year is that U.S. oil production declined by 3 million barrels per day (BPD) during the pandemic. That decline was exacerbated by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia just ahead of the pandemic, but then the pandemic crushed demand (and oil prices).
COP26: World Leaders Promise to End Deforestation By 2030
More than 100 world leaders have promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, in the COP26 climate summit’s first major deal. Brazil – where stretches of the Amazon rainforest have been cut down – was among the signatories on Tuesday.
The pledge includes almost £14bn ($19.2bn) of public and private funds. Felling trees contributes to climate change because it depletes forests that absorb vast amounts of the warming gas CO2. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the global meeting in Glasgow, said “more leaders than ever before” – a total of 110 – had made the “landmark” commitment.
NIH Letter Raises Concerns Fauci Mislead Congress
At issue was research overseen by a New York-based organization, EcoHealth Alliance. Together with its partners in China, EcoHealth has worked extensively on identifying bat coronaviruses that could spill over into humans, with the idea that such work could help researchers get ahead of and thus prevent a pandemic. Dr. Fauci has long been a proponent of such research, and EcoHealth funneled at least $600,000 of NIH grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to carry out this research since 2014. But many scientists see such work as unnecessarily risky, especially when carried out in foreign labs that don’t have the same safety protocols and reporting requirements as in the U.S.
In a new twist, the NIH admitted this week that the U.S.-funded research had produced “unexpected” results. The agency, which wrote a letter to Republican lawmakers who have been demanding answers for months, maintained it had done no wrong. But it blamed EcoHealth Alliance for failing to immediately report back when a bat coronavirus it was tinkering with started killing humanized mice at an unusually high rate during the fifth and final year of its grant in 2018-19.
Read more at the Christian Science Monitor
