BossFeed Briefing for January 18, 2022. Last Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell extended the city’s eviction moratorium through Valentine’s Day. Last Saturday, a tsunami warning was issued for the entire West Coast after an underwater volcano erupted near Tonga in the South Pacific. Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This Friday is the 12th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Next Tuesday is National Opposite Day, which raises the question: is it actually?
Three things to know this week:
Governor Inslee issued an executive order to partially restore some affirmative action policies for WA state public institutions. The order requires state agencies, public schools, and public universities to submit plans to create greater equity in hiring and access to public services.
A large-scale survey of Kroger workers in WA, OR, and CA shows 14% of workers were homeless in the last year, 34% skipped or reduced meals, and 36% were concerned about getting evicted. At least 21,000 people work for Kroger-operated QFC and Fred Meyer grocery stores across WA, most of them union members.
A bill to provide monthly direct cash payments to low-income WA residents was just introduced in the WA state House. If the program is passed into law, low-income WA residents could apply to receive 3 years of monthly basic income payments equal to the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in their ZIP code—which, in the Seattle region, is currently about $1,900/month.
Two things to ask:
Need some Binax with that Botox? High-end home delivery services—which offer “premium essentials” ranging from CBD-infused water, to Botox injections, to AirPods—are now also offering at-home COVID tests. One delivery company is selling BinaxNOW rapid tests for $40—a 67% markup over the usual retail price.
Three would be a crowd, right? The City of Walla Walla is considering a plan to remove a public statue honoring Marcus Whitman, a missionary who played a key role in the colonization of the region and whose arrival in the 1840s caused a deadly measles outbreak which decimated the Cayuse tribe. Previously, Walla Walla County agreed to accept a second identical statue of Whitman after it was removed from the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
The Biden Administration recently bragged that unemployment claims were down in December, with just 1.9 million people claiming benefits—but the total number of unemployed workers was 6.3 million, which means our income support system for people without work is failing to reach at least 70% of unemployed workers. Black, Latinx, women, and disabled workers are more likely than white workers to be unemployed without benefits, a gap that’s held true throughout the entire pandemic, and undocumented immigrant workers are entirely excluded from unemployment benefits. Back in September, millions of workers lost benefits after Congress chose to cut off expanded federal pandemic unemployment benefit programs. Months later, as Omicron surges and millions remain without the vital income support everyone should be able to count on, we’re left to wonder: How could it possibly be a sign of "economic recovery" when millions are still jobless and locked out of accessing the very system designed to support them through times of economic crisis?
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!