BossFeed Briefing for May 3, 2021. Last Wednesday, the Bellingham City Council approved $4/hour hazard pay for grocery workers. Saturday was May Day, a day of marches & rallies & protests led by immigrant workers across the country. Today would have been the 102nd birthday of folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. This Thursday is the 84th anniversary of a strike by 400 Black women tobacco stemmers in Richmond, VA, who after two days on the picket lines won their demands for higher wages, a forty-hour week, and union recognition. And this Sunday is Mother’s Day, a big day for moms and the biggest day of the year for the greeting card industry.
Three things to know this week:
DoorDash will pay $15,000+ each to ten Seattle delivery drivers for violating Seattle’s paid sick days law for gig workers, along with $145,000 to nearly 900 other gig workers. Last summer, DoorDash settled to the tune of $111,435 after violating the Gig Worker Hazard Pay ordinance.
Several members of the U.S. Senate are proposing a permanent increase to unemployment benefits. Currently, benefits only replace about 50% of wages — but a plan from Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) would raise that to 75%.
New York City has filed a lawsuit against fast food chain Chipotle, accusing the company of “complete disregard” for fair workweek laws that ensure workers have predictable schedules. Workers at dozens of restaurants across the city are owed an estimated $150 million in damages.
Two things to ask:
Wonder how much they’re investing in the lawyers? Opponents of WA’s new capital gains tax on extraordinary profits filed a lawsuit last week challenging the measure. Rich people in WA have a long history of using their vast wealth to hire fancy lawyers to challenge new taxes on their vast wealth.
Isn’t that the government’s job? Crowdfunding websites like GoFundMe report a sharp increase over the past year in funding campaigns for food, rent, and other basic necessities. Nearly half of coronavirus-related fundraisers on the site have not received a single donation.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
A renowned chef’s luxury restaurant on Lummi Island in the San Juans has for many years been a hostile and toxic place to work, reports Julia Moskin in the New York Times. Thirty five former staff members describe a work environment in owner Blaine Wetzel’s kitchen where managers targeted workers with racist, sexist, and homophobic slurs; where male kitchen staff sexually harassed female coworkers; where wage theft ran rampant; where harassment complaints were dismissed without investigation by the restaurant’s manager; and where the menu misrepresented Costco roasted chicken as an artisanal product. In March, Wetzel agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a class-action wage theft lawsuit brought by 99 employees, who spoke out about systemic tip theft and a failure to pay overtime to staff working 14-hour shifts. Wetzel denied all of the allegations to the New York Times — although by our count, it’s his word against that of 100+ former employees...
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!