DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Misclassifying employees as gig workers creates 'a race to the bottom' for businesses, Biden's top labor and antitrust regulators say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Businesses have an incentive to misclassify workers as contractors to undermine their competitors, according to the DOJ Antitrust Division. It's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those called "gig workers" — freelancers, contractors, on-call workers, and temp agency workers, who for decades have increasingly replaced full-time employees as independent contractors. Not so for gig workers. In 2018, 20% of workers were contract workers, and 65% of part-time workers and over half of contract workers went without benefits, according to NPR. "Our goals are the same," Abruzzo said, as NLRB and DOJ Antitrust want to end "misclassification and employment structures that cause vertical constraints on competition."

☆ Arizona's terrible NHL team is begging voters for $200 million to build a permanent home, but stadiums are consistently huge money pits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Arizona's terrible NHL team is stuck using a college arena for its games as it awaits a public vote. This May, voters will decide the future of a $2.1 billion plan that includes the Coyotes' new arena. The NHL's Arizona Coyotes are for the moment stuck in an arena that is three times smaller than any other in the league. The professional team might need the facility for a few more years, but they can't even emblazon their own logo on center ice. The city also paid $50 million to the NHL to keep the team in the city while the franchise navigated bankruptcy.

☆ Elizabeth Warren: Crypto giants are ‘collapsing under the weight of their own fraud’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Senator Elizabeth Warren, a longtime crypto critic, warned recent turbulence in the digital asset space will only continue unless a host of regulators strengthen protections for investors. “For all their talk of innovation and financial inclusion, crypto industry giants — from FTX to Celsius to Voyager — are collapsing under the weight of their own fraud, deceit and gross mismanagement,” she said. “Crypto fraud is a big problem, but it’s one we can fix,” Warren said. And without naming Bankman-Fried directly, Warren praised the SEC for charging “crypto crooks” with defrauding ordinary investors. “All our regulators need to get in the game,” Warren said, calling on environmental and banking officials to step up.

Labor shortagesAs the pandemic swooped in, air travel was among the industries most affected, as more than 90% of flights were grounded. Today, labor shortages exist throughout the economy, but the problem drags on in the air travel sector, where more extensive employee training is usually required. Steven Senne / APOutdated technology and infrastructureThere is near-universal agreement that the infrastructure underpinning segments of America's air travel system is outdated and vulnerable. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Montana, said the incident highlighted "a huge vulnerability in our air transportation system." Air travel should be predictable and consistent, and you shouldn’t have to wonder if air traffic control is going to be working today as you head to the airport.

☆ U.S. targets non-compete clauses that block workers from getting better jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Noncompete agreements "block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand," said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. The training repayment would be banned if it "is not reasonably related to the costs the employer incurred for training the worker," the proposed rule said. FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter said in 2020 that surveys have estimated that 16% to 18% of all U.S. workers are subject to noncompete provisions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce indicated that it opposed the proposed rule. Ardagh Glass S.A. and O-I Glass Inc, the two largest U.S. glass container makers, had noncompete provisions that affected more than 1,700 workers.

☆ Southwest airlines flight delays and cancellations are only the tip of the iceberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( William J. Mcgee | William J. Mcgee Is The Senior Fellow For Aviation At American Economic Liberties Project | A Nonprofit Fighting Concentrated Economic Power | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

I can tell you without hesitation: Both the airlines and the Transportation Department are at fault. Only Congress and the Transportation Department oversee airlines, and the department and its subsidiary, the FAA, have long struggled with a dual mandate to both promote and regulate airlines. Obviously the airline industry also has become too big to care, despite the $54 billion taxpayer bailout during Covid. Since then, the U.S. airline industry has returned to profitability and, in some cases, notched record revenues. Domestic airlines are mistreating passengers with impunity and are clearly unafraid of backlash from consumers, the media or the Transportation Department.

☆ TikTok banned on government devices under spending bill passed by Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The bill includes an exception for law enforcement, national security and research purposes. TikTok has repeatedly said its U.S. user data is not based in China, though those assurances have done little to alleviate concern. While it fell short of antitrust advocates' hopes, the inclusion of the merger filing fee bill still gained praise. Miller said the bill will "significantly strengthen antitrust law for the first time since 1976." Empowering state AGs in antitrust casesAnother antitrust bill included in the package was a version of the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act.

The U.S. Justice Department, which approved Ticketmaster's much-criticized purchase of Live Nation in 2010, is different than it was 12 years ago. A probe is well short of a decision to file a lawsuit asking a judge to break up a company. Ticketmaster previously said in a statement the Swift ticket sale problems were caused by unprecedented demand, much of it by bots trying to buy tickets to resell. "Live Nation was a new entrant, but it had the wherewithal to really compete," he said. A previous Ticketmaster fight with the department culminated in a December 2019 settlement that extended for another five years a consent decree that was part of the deal's initial approval.

☆ Kroger, Albertsons unions, antitrust experts urge FTC to block merger -letter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Siddharth Cavale | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The merger should be blocked, as it would harm workers, consumers and communities," said the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400, who authored the letter. Twenty-six organizations undersigned the message, including the American Economic Liberties Project, Center for Economic and Policy Research, along with seven UFCW local chapters representing more than 100,000 Kroger and Albertsons' workers. The letter, first seen by Reuters, also urged the FTC to immediately investigate Albertsons' "unusual" $4 billion dividend to shareholders on Nov. 7, which it said would leave the company "largely depleted of liquid assets" and "unsustainable as an ongoing concern." read more"The allegation that this dividend will somehow hinder our ability to compete in the marketplace is meritless," an Albertsons spokesperson said in an emailed response to the letter. Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What would a Kroger-Albertsons merger mean for grocery prices?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

A Kroger-Albertsons merger could reshape the grocery industry. The companies say they will divest hundreds of stores in areas where they overlap to win regulatory approval. Albertsons has higher prices than Kroger and other grocers, analysts say, and they predict Kroger will try to reduce Albertsons prices to be more competitive against discount chains like Aldi. Antitrust advocates say the merger would force out competition and concentrate power among the largest chains, driving up prices. A Kroger-Albertsons merger would spark a fresh wave of mergers and acquisitions as companies seek to keep up, analysts predict.

☆ Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren blast the $25 billion merger between grocers Kroger and Albertsons, one calling it an 'absolute disaster' for consumers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren blasted the Kroger-Albertsons merger. Sanders called it "an absolute disaster" for consumers that would result in higher grocery costs. The grocery store chains announced Friday that they've entered into a merger agreement that values the combined company at about $24.6 billion. "That's good for small businesses, it's good for consumers, and it actually, in many cases, reduces the need for regulatory oversight. And without local competition offering lower prices, consumers are stuck with nowhere else to stop.

☆ Amazon dominates the $113 billion smart home market — here's how it uses the data it collects
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Katie Schoolov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Then in 2019, it paid $97 million for a mesh Wi-Fi system called Eero to help connect multiple smart devices in the home. Amazon's Eero mesh WiFi systems are shown inside the Amazon smart lab in Seattle, Washington, on September 9, 2022. Amazon's Ring Video Doorbell 4 is shown at the Amazon smart home lab in Seattle, Washington, on September 9, 2022. Or you may have actually told Alexa, 'Alexa, I'm leaving,' and to switch on your alarm system, for example," Koopmans said. Amazon's Smart Thermostat is shown inside the Amazon smart lab in Seattle, Washington, on September 9, 2022.

☆ Mexican union calls for U.S. probe into alleged labor abuses at Panasonic plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-18 | by ( Daina Beth Solomon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"They were given a contract they didn't even know about," Moreno said of the Panasonic deal with rival union SIAMARM. The dispute at Panasonic grew out of a vote last year in which workers rejected their union contract. Labor authorities then scheduled a vote April 21-22 for workers to choose between two other unions vying to take over the contract - SNITIS and SIAMARM. However, SNITIS says Panasonic signed a contract with SIAMARM ahead of the April election and began to withhold union dues from worker paychecks. SIAMARM, part of one of Mexico's biggest labor groups, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), could not be reached for comment.

Search resuls for: "American Economic Liberties Project"

13 mentions found