DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc (HD.N) retail workers voted against forming a union at a location in Pennsylvania, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said late on Saturday. More U.S. companies including Starbucks Corp and Amazon.com and grocer Trader Joe's Inc have seen some workers petition to form unions. Home Depot did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment regarding the outcome of the voting. Home Depot Workers United sought to unionize to address concerns regarding wages, staffing and training, said Vincent Quiles, interim president of Home Depot Workers United and a receiving associate at Home Depot. The independent union in mid-October filed an unfair labor practices charge against the retailer for engaging in unlawful surveillance and interrogating workers at the Philadelphia location, according to Home Depot Workers United.

Four local chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International told Reuters they are assessing their options for lobbying and coordinated action against the deal, including potential strikes. Bryan Doherty, a spokesperson for the UFCW International, told Reuters it plans to request more information from the retailers about possible store closures and layoffs. On Monday afternoon, representatives of UFCW International met with nearly 100 local UFCW chapters on Zoom to discuss the merger and their collective response to it. Workers told Reuters that Kroger has not yet held conversations with the union to discuss the merger. Albertsons reached out to the union, offering to "keep lines of communication open," Mark Federici, president of UFCW local 400, told Reuters.

NEW YORK, NY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Ghost of Christmas Past haunts U.S. store shelves, sales floors and stockrooms this year. Retailers were sitting on $548.8 billion of inventory in July, a 21.6% increase from last year, according to U.S. Census data. Even with retailers slashing prices by up to 40%, shoppers so far this year are hesitant to make major holiday purchases. Increased markdowns and slowed consumer demand may hurt companies' gross margins, said Cowen retail analyst John Kernan in an October note. Analysts are expecting gross margins to shrink for each of the companies next quarter, according to data from Refinitiv.

☆ Apple workers vote to unionize second U.S. store
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Doyinsola Oladipo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Apple Inc retail workers voted to form a union at an Oklahoma location, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said on Friday, making it the tech giant's second U.S. store to organize. Employees at the Apple Penn Square store in Oklahoma City voted 56 to 32 in support of joining the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA), securing the needed majority, according to a tally by the NLRB. Apple workers near Baltimore, Maryland, voted in June to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The CWA in May withdrew an election petition on behalf of Apple workers in Atlanta, Georgia, claiming that Apple had repeatedly violated federal labor law and the rising number of COVID infections among store employees made a fair election impossible, according to the CWA. Some current and former Apple workers last year began criticizing the company's working conditions online, using the hashtag #AppleToo.

☆ Rideshare, retailers brace for tough U.S. independent contractor rule
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Broadly defining independent contractors as employees would also force companies to pay benefits, such as overtime pay and health benefits, that would hurt their bottom line. Employers can save about 30 percent by skipping payroll taxes and unemployment and benefit costs, workers' groups estimate. The meetings at the White House were one-sided, with officials at OIRA letting groups speak and not participating or asking follow-up questions, several employer sources said. A White House official said that listening without comment is part of the standard rulemaking process at OIRA. WORKERS WARN OF GROWING PAINGig Workers Rising, RideShare Workers United, Mobile Workers Alliance, We Drive Progress also met White House officials to broaden the definition of employee further, according to records and sources.

☆ BMW CEO warns against electric-only strategy
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-14 | by ( Doyinsola Oladipo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] BMW CEO Oliver Zipse speaks during a visit of the German Economic and Climate Protection Minister at the BMW plant in Munich, Germany, January 20, 2022. He has long advocated against all-out bans on combustion engine car sales in the face of rising pressure from regulators on the auto industry to curb its carbon emissions and environmental impact. Offering more fuel-efficient combustion engine cars was key both from a profit perspective and an environmental perspective, Zipse argued, pointing to gaps in charging infrastructure and the high price of electric vehicles. "How much energy you need and use, and circularity, is important - for environmental reasons but even more for economic reasons." Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Christoph Steitz and Mike HarrisonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Doyinsola Oladipo"

6 mentions found