BossFeed Briefing for December 6, 2021. The Tuesday before last, Dollar Tree announced it was raising minimum prices to $1.25. Last Tuesday, Barbados became a republic, removing the Queen of England as its head of state and formally ending centuries of British colonial rule. Last Friday was the 155th anniversary of textile strikers in Massachusetts winning a 10 hour workday. Tomorrow marks two weeks before the days start getting longer again. This Saturday marks 3 weeks until the WA minimum wage rises to $14.49/hr.
Three things to know this week:
Using the slogan #GoPuffYourself, hundreds of GoPuff drivers at dozens of warehouses around the country went on strike to demand better pay, flexible shifts, and deactivation protections. Drivers earned coverage in Vice, Business Insider, Axios, and more.
Two Olympia-area yacht clubs competed to collect donations for local food banks, raising a total of $14,594. The Shelton Yacht Club raised $3,032 — or about the same amount as the $3,000 initiation fee at the Olympia Yacht Club.
Many remote workers are forced to install productivity-monitoring software which tracks cursor movements and checks if your screen goes to sleep. In response, there’s a growing market for tools like the Liberty Mouse Mover, which automatically shakes the mouse every few minutes so employees can step away from their computer undetected.
Two things to ask:
They didn't spring for the third helipad? A virtual mega-yacht sold for a record $650,000 in an online metaverse gaming world called The Sandbox. The boat counts a DJ booth, two helipads, and a hot tub among its various “amenities.”
What do you think his New Year’s resolution might be? Microsoft’s CEO just sold half his shares in the company for $285 million, a transaction characterized by a Microsoft spokesperson as “personal financial planning.” Incidentally, the WA capital gains tax on extraordinary profits from the sale of stocks and bonds takes effect on January 1st.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
The new “Community Provides” report from the Washington Dream Coalition shows how undocumented people and community organizations came together to win emergency cash relief during the early stages of the pandemic — all while underscoring the need for permanent systems that support undocumented workers through times of economic crisis. Overall, 78,275 undocumented workers applied to the WA COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund, with the majority of applicants working in hard-hit industries like food service, agriculture, and construction. In 2020, 68% of those applicants received cash before the state’s initial investment in the fund ran out, leaving tens of thousands without any relief to help cover basic needs. Although we helped lead a coalition to win additional relief money during the 2021 WA legislative session, the issue of unmet need extends far beyond one-time cash payments: undocumented workers are still excluded from safety net systems like unemployment insurance, and it’s past time for the legislature to end this exclusion by creating a permanent, ongoing income support system for undocumented people.
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!