BossFeed Briefing for February 4, 2019. Last Monday Instacart workers kicked off an internet-wide accountability session over the company's shady tip-taking practices. Last Friday was Groundhog Day; no shadow was seen. Today there is a snowstorm in the Puget Sound region. Tomorrow the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee will hold the first-ever hearing on a statewide secure scheduling bill in Washington state. And Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of the first day of the Seattle General Strike.
Three things to know this week:
Walmart announced they will now pay small bonuses to employees who show up to work consistently, without unexplained absences. They are allowing for some absences related to sick days and caregiving needs, and retail analysts suggest the company is trying to get ahead of moves to raise labor standards across the country.
Several years after securing a remarkable $4.8 billion in public dollars to build a much touted TV screen factory in Wisconsin, giant electronics manufacturer Foxconn has determined that they won’t build a factory in Wisconsin after all. They had promised 13,000 jobs.
The federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration is no longer requiring companies to electronically submit injury reports. They claim that the move to make it more difficult to identify companies with poor safety records is about “privacy”.
Two things to ask:
So like they thought that would help? After Instacart workers exposed the company for cutting pay & taking tips, their COO & CFO blamed an "algorithm glitch". Then the company said they would address the issue by establishing a new minimum pay standard of… wait for it… three whole dollars.
What’s the explanation then? A new poll found that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who wants to run for President, is viewed favorably by just 4% of the public. Hecklers have called out the billionaire “centrist independent” as an egomaniac, but he insists his run is not about vanity, but rather that he believes he brings something unique that he and only he can offer.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
Can you even imagine how upset you’d be if your kids threw cornflakes on the multi-million-dollar Basquiat panting hanging in your superyacht — and then the crew made the damage worse when they wiped it clean? Worries like that can make a worthwhile hate-read, as in The Guardian's look at the news from a superyacht conference in London where they discussed the new art-historical demands being placed on captains and crew. Hanging expensive art at sea is apparently a growing trend in the superyacht world, because “it acts as an icebreaker and says volumes about their taste” to guests. Perhaps, however, it says volumes about something else — a level of global inequality so great that this “problem” even exists... though on the other hand it is delightful to picture the time a stray champagne cork set off at a crew party apparently damaged the canvas of a valuable work.
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!