BossFeed Briefing for April 25, 2022. Last Thursday marked 29 years since the death of Cesar Chavez. Last Friday was Earth Day, and President Joe Biden visited the Seattle area. Tomorrow at 9:30AM, the Seattle City Council holds a second hearing on our landmark PayUp policy to raise pay, protect flexibility, and provide transparency for 40,000+ Seattle gig workers. This Thursday is Workers’ Memorial Day. This Sunday is International Workers’ Day.
Three things to know this week:
Mandolin, a dog-sitter on Rover, shared how the PayUp policy will ensure she actually gets paid for all her expenses and time spent working. Right now, Mandolin makes subminimum wages because Rover doesn’t pay her for key parts of the job, like driving from client to client, waiting to be let into the house, or finding and paying for parking.
Most WA voters surveyed in a new poll oppose an initiative to repeal the state capital gains tax on extraordinary profits. A few super-rich people are using their extraordinary profits to finance Initiative 1929, hoping to give themselves a tax cut and eliminate $500 million in annual funding for early education and childcare in the process.
The WA Department of Labor & Industries issued a $93,600 fine to a metal casting and arts foundry in Walla Walla for more than 40 health & safety violations. Investigators found a wide range of serious violations, including failure to require eye and face protection, lack of safety precautions for dangerous machinery, and failure to provide emergency training to workers.
Two things to ask:
Does he also think his $400 million net worth is “about average”? In a letter to shareholders, Amazon’s CEO claimed the company’s warehouse injury rates are “sometimes misunderstood” and actually “about average relative to peers”. In 2021, workers were seriously injured at Amazon warehouses at double the rate of non-Amazon warehouses.
Why not both? Some companies are experimenting with a five-hour workday, which studies suggest could improve productivity while allowing workers more time to be human outside work. Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) recently introduced a bill in Congress to shorten the workweek to 4 days, an idea also under being tested in several European countries.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
This new ProPublica report reveals just how little the wealthiest people in the United States pay in federal taxes and why they end up paying less of their total income than the rest of us. The 400 richest people in the country pay an average tax rate of just 22%—and for the 25 wealthiest humans, the true tax rate is a stunningly low 3.4%. In large part, that’s because the super-rich don’t amass wealth through traditional income or salaries; instead, their wealth comes from profits on stocks (aka “capital gains”), which the federal government taxes at a much lower rate than regular-person income. Rounding out this infuriating system is the fact that the ultra-rich are able to further shield their wealth by deducting the full value of contributions they make to foundations, which means that billionaire philanthropy—often framed by the rich as a purely altruistic act—can be a perfectly legal way to avoid paying taxes.
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!