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☆ Amazon workers press company on climate change response after Pakistan floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The employees say the aid is a way for Amazon to take greater responsibility for its role in producing the greenhouse emissions that cause climate change. Scientists have said the flooding that killed more than 1,700 people and displaced millions in Pakistan was much more likely to occur because of climate change. And it is attracting some Amazon workers not previously involved in workplace activism. One letter received 8,700 signatures from Amazon employees. “It definitely had an effect on people,” said Eliza Pan, a former program manager at the company who left in 2019 to go work on climate change issues, but is still involved with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

☆ FTC proposes to ban noncompete clauses, says move will strengthen workers' hands.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule Thursday to ban the use of noncompete clauses in worker contracts, a change that would significantly boost the negotiating power of employees. “The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy,” FTC Chairwoman Lina M. Khan said in a statement. According to a 2019 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, somewhere between a quarter to about a half of all workers are subject to noncompete clauses. The FTC said that 1 out of 5 workers are bound by noncompete clauses. Wilson said she believed the rule was outside the FTC’s scope and would be vulnerable to legal challenges.

☆ Sick and family leave are top union demands post-Covid-pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Rail workers nearly went on strike over paid sick leave. Glen Stubbe / Star Tribune via AP fileMore than 100,000 rail workers were days away from a likely strike after the rail companies refused demands for five paid sick days. Labor experts and organizers say the pandemic aimed a floodlight at the public health ramifications of in-person work, elevating for workers the importance of paid leave in contract disputes. “This was the sticking point for the railroads.”Following Congress’ resolution of the impasse, activist investors have put forth proposals to get two of the biggest rail companies, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, to offer their workers paid sick leave next year. “We appreciate the work of the negotiating teams and the mediator in reaching this agreement in principle.”Other unions are paying attention to these fights — and gearing up to make sick leave a major part of their negotiations.

WASHINGTON — If it’s Monday ... It’s the last day of campaigning before tomorrow’s Georgia Senate runoff. ... NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard covers the closing messages by Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. And just looking at the campaigns, which get the biggest bang per advertising buck, it’s Warnock at $25.2 million, versus Walker at $10.1 million. But now it’s $11.8 million — behind Warnock’s $25 million and the $20.3 million from Georgia Honor, a Democratic Super PAC. Runoff watch: Walker accuser speaks to NBC NewsDays after she first revealed an allegation of domestic abuse against Georgia Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker, a former girlfriend of his sat down with NBC News to detail those allegations.

Now Biden faces a backlash from a core of rail workers and allied groups, as some of them see a betrayal in the bill he pushed to avert a rail strike. The standoff between rail workers and the profitable companies that employ them posed an awkward dilemma for Biden, forcing him to find an elusive middle ground between dueling campaign pledges. A rail strike threatened to unravel the job gains that no doubt will be central to any Biden re-election campaign. He said he is not giving up on paid sick leave for rail workers and other Americans who don’t receive such benefits. …”Still, the president could have used more leverage to reach a deal that included paid sick leave, union officials and allies contend.

☆ Rail workers at biggest unions split on contract, strike potential unclear
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Workers at two of the country's biggest rail unions split over a tentative contract their leaders had hashed out with freight rail companies — leaving open the possibility of a debilitating rail strike in the middle of the holiday season. The 28,000-member SMART-TD union, which represents rail conductors, voted no on the contract, after one of their divisions voted it down. A strike could also impact the country’s commuter rail system, with the potential to halt service entirely on some lines serviced by freight rail workers and cause backlogs and traffic snarls on others. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents rail companies in the bargaining process warned about the economic threats of a strike. The Association of American Railroads, the trade group which represents the rail companies, estimates losses of $2 billion a day.

☆ Rail strike potential grows, threatening to worsen supply chain backlogs, inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

That’s how much paid sick leave some freight rail workers are demanding from the rail companies before they sign new contracts. Rail workers say years of grievances about workforce cuts, coupled with new scheduling requirements, have pushed them to the brink of exhaustion. But if any of the unions decides to strike, all rail unions will honor the work stoppage. Kennedy said the union had never agreed to higher wages at the expense of a benefit like paid sick leave. “A rail strike, even one of short duration, would be catastrophic,” said John Drake, a vice president at the Chamber of Commerce.

☆ Worker complaints alleging anti-union shutdowns rise as organizing surges
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

The company, G&D Integrated, had closed the factory, saying it had suddenly lost its decade-old contract with a Japanese company, workers said. Starbucks closed multiple stores this year following union activity. Trader Joe’s, for example, abruptly closed a wine shop in the center of New York City where workers had been organizing. Demonstrators protest outside a closed Starbucks in Seattle on July 16. More than 40 percent of the stores had union campaigns, according to data from Starbucks Workers United, the union that has been organizing the workers.

☆ Elon Musk idea to charge for Twitter verification draws critics
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Critics of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover say any plan to charge users for identity verification could make information on the site less trustworthy and more vulnerable to manipulation — devaluing the company. The idea of a monthly fee for the blue verification checkmark by users' names was reported Sunday by Casey Newton’s tech-focused newsletter Platformer. Musk hasn't confirmed a charge will be added but on Sunday tweeted, “The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” on his own verified account. Jeff Jarvis, a prolific Twitter user and journalism professor who studies how information travels in the digital age, worries such a plan could backfire. “Twitter has had many, many people working on issues like user interface design and innovation, testing it with user groups, and people who specialize in working with VITs — very important Twitter users,” she said.

☆ Workers lacking paid leave quit at higher rates in pandemic, report shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The report found that workers without paid sick leave quit at three to four times the rate of comparable workers between 2019 and 2021. About a quarter of workers in the U.S. do not have paid sick leave, a proportion that is higher among lower-wage workers. In the congressional report, salaried workers — who typically enjoy more benefits and stability — fared better than hourly workers within companies. Female hourly workers experienced worse outcomes than male hourly workers 30% of the time, but among salaried workers, the difference was less than 10%. Both Black and Asian hourly workers were less likely to be promoted than their white counterparts, while Black hourly workers were fired at higher rates than white ones.

☆ Waymo workers form union in the latest push to organize Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Food service employees at the autonomous driving company Waymo are forming a union, the latest push by support workers to organize at Silicon Valley's most prominent companies. The workers are employed by Sodexo, which contracts service work for Google and other companies. "We are confident this one will also reach an amicable agreement for workers, the union, and our client very soon." The workers are part of Silicon Valley's ranks of contractors who support and supplement the work at tech companies. Her team unionized in 2020, and some of them have been joining meetings with the Waymo workers to show them the ropes of organizing and talk up the union.

The White House struck a tentative deal Thursday to avoid a rail strike that risked major disruptions across the United States, with freight workers securing a key demand. Pandemic pressures, including those that scrambled supply chains, worked in freight workers’ favor, logistics experts said. A rail strike would dent many industries, as about 40% of goods that are shipped long-distance rely on the nation’s rail system. Rail workers often are on-call 24/7 year-round and are allotted time off only after being called to a number of consecutive on-call shifts. A labor union source told NBC News that getting rail carriers to negotiate on attendance policies was a major breakthrough.

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