BossFeed Briefing for February 8, 2021. Last Tuesday, Jeff Bezos announced he’ll be stepping down as Amazon CEO in July. Last Wednesday, the Washington Food Industry Association filed suit against the City of Seattle over the new grocery worker hazard pay law—the exact same industry group which sued Seattle this fall opposing gig worker hazard pay. Last Thursday was the 89th anniversary of widespread demonstrations led by unemployed workers in major U.S. cities to call for relief during the Great Depression. Today marks 44 days since the last time ESD released any data on average wait times for unemployed workers to get their claims addressed. This Friday is the Lunar New Year.
Three things to know this week:
A whistleblower at WA’s Department of Employment Security says that she was repeatedly told by supervisors not to help unemployed workers with their claims. The whistleblower worked answering calls on the agency’s “Lost Wages Assistance” line.
Big agriculture lobby groups are suing WA state over emergency farmworker COVID health & safety rules. They’re asking the courts to let them crowd workers closer together and provide less access to healthcare.
Detroit restaurant and grocery workers are now eligible to receive the COVID vaccine as essential workers. Here in WA, restaurant workers are essential enough that indoor dining has been re-opened in several counties, but restaurant workers are not considered essential workers for the purpose of the vaccine roll-out.
Two things to ask:
What happens when there’s no referee at work? The WA House Labor Committee voted Friday to advance the Worker Protection Act (HB 1076), a bill which would allow whistleblower enforcement of workers' rights. If passed into law this session, the bill will greatly improve workers' ability to make their rights real in the face of barriers to enforcement, including retaliation from employers, scarce free legal help, and limited enforcement action by state agencies.
Who’s next? Amazon is paying $61.7 million to workers for stealing delivery driver tips, as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement comes after years of gig worker organizing, which exposed and reversed similar tip theft practices at gig delivery companies like Instacart and DoorDash.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
Spain will pilot a four-day work week as part of the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Under the plan, the Spanish government will help cover the cost of the pilot program at several companies that agree to cut down the workweek to 32 hours with no loss of pay for workers. Proponents of the 4-day week point to benefits for employment and productivity, to which we’d just like to add that having more time to rest and enjoy our lives is a Good Thing for us as human beings, irrespective of the impact it has on our economic output. Critics of the plan say it’s unrealistic—which is the same-old argument that’s been used for more than a century to undermine workers organizing to win now-realistic things like the 8-hour workday, overtime pay, and the minimum wage.
Read this far?
Consider yourself briefed, boss.
Let us know what you think about this week's look at the world of work, wages, and inequality!