BossFeed Briefing for September 14, 2021. Last Wednesday, a poll showed 67% public support for Seattle’s small Jumpstart tax on the highest salaries at the biggest companies. Sunday marked the first week with $0 in benefits for 120,000 unemployed workers in WA. Today, the Seattle City Council discussed draft legislation of our PayUp policies to raise pay, protect flexibility, and provide transparency for people working in the gig economy. This Thursday marks two weeks until the WA eviction moratorium is set to expire. This Sunday is the 5th anniversary of Seattle workers winning the strongest secure scheduling law anywhere in the nation.
Three things to know this week:
Thousands of farmworkers are getting payments as part of a wage theft settlement with a Central WA fruit-grower. The company has denied any wrongdoing but is paying a total of $3 million to workers.
The wealthiest 1% are evading $163 billion in taxes each year, according to the Department of Treasury. That’s only counting the taxes they actually owe under our current tax code, which can be as little as 1% of their total wealth.
The WA Attorney General’s office is forcing a Renton collections agency to pay $1.6 million to 1,405 WA residents. The AG found that the company illegally offered consumers so-called “settlements” which threatened future legal action, even though the statute of limitations had passed for lawsuits.
Two things to ask:
So that extra zero isn’t a typo? Wealthy travelers are looking to explore the outdoors while working from home, and that’s meant a boom in the market for “luxury overland adventure vehicles”. One popular option — the EarthCruiser FX — offers a luxurious 88-square feet for an asking price of only $439,000.
What happens if your favorite cause gets voted off the island? CBS is launching a new reality show called “The Activist” this fall, starring Usher, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Julianne Hough. The celebs will compete in head-to-head challenges to see which pressing issue — “health, education, or environment” — comes out on top, the prize for which is bringing your cause before “world leaders”.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
1 in 4 WA renters say it’s “very likely” they’ll be evicted if the state’s eviction moratorium expires as announced at the end of this month. That startling figure comes from a survey conducted before Labor Day weekend, when 120,000 people in WA lost unemployment benefits and those still able to receive unemployment benefits saw their weekly payments drop by $300. Meanwhile, the state’s ban on rent hikes expired back in July, which has led to surging rent prices in recent months — by an average of 11% in Puyallup and Eastern King County, for instance — and the state has only gotten a small portion of federal rent assistance money out the door. This is still a time of deep crisis for hundreds of thousands of low-income people across WA: state officials need to respond to the urgency of this moment by extending the eviction moratorium through the end of the year.
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!