BossFeed Briefing for October 5, 2021. Last Thursday, WA leaders allowed the statewide utility shut-off moratorium to expire. Last Friday, the 42 million people in the US who receive food stamps saw benefits increase by an average of 25%. Yesterday, free legal representation became available to WA renters facing eviction proceedings. This Thursday is the 142nd anniversary of the birth of labor leader and songwriter Joe Hill. This Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Three things to know this week:
The WA Supreme Court unanimously upheld a small tax on big banks with more than $1 billion in profits. Former state Attorney General, 2012 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and present-day corporate lawyer Rob McKenna represented the banking industry in the case.
Amazon will soon charge Whole Foods customers a new $9.95 delivery fee. The company clarified that drivers will not receive any portion of the new fee.
The WA state minimum wage will rise by 80 cents to $14.49 in 2022. For a full-time worker paid minimum wage, that comes out to an additional $1,664 a year.
Two things to ask:
What’s in a name? Dollar Tree announced it will start selling some items for more than one dollar. Executives at the chain say they remain “fiercely protective” of providing value at $1.25 and $1.50 price points.
How would you spend $4,200? A Cowlitz County landlord paid $4,200 for a full-page ad in The Seattle Times in order to voice his opposition to the statewide eviction moratorium, opening with an anecdote about how he remembered people responding to housing insecurity “after the mountain blew” (presumably referencing the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption). The landlord has a host of negative tenant reviews dating back nearly a decade.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
Despite plenty of talk in the media and among policymakers about economic recovery, the overwhelming majority of domestic workers are still facing a deep crisis, reports Marta Martinez in The New Republic. A survey conducted in August by the National Domestic Workers Alliance found that 28% of domestic workers were still without work, 50% were still unable to pay rent, and 75% were still unsure they’d be able to afford food. There are an estimated 2.2 million domestic workers in the United States, and these survey responses underscore just how unevenly the so-called “economic recovery” has unfolded: 91% of domestic workers are women, and many are also immigrants, people of color, or undocumented. Allowing the economy to continue hitting the most-excluded workers the hardest is a policy choice — and it’s also a policy choice to start addressing the exclusion of domestic workers from our safety net, a process that’s already in the works in Seattle, where domestic workers are calling for a groundbreaking portable paid time off system that ensures they have a basic measure of economic security.
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!