BossFeed Briefing for August 28, 2023
The salmon are running, the air across much of Washington is/has been smoky due to damaging wildfires, and India has landed on the moon’s south pole. Saturday will mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:
It can be done: Workers in San Juan County, WA will be getting a 32 hour work week, without affecting their pay. Workers negotiated a 4 day work week and leaders were on board after seeing success with the trend in the UK and other parts of the country, and in each case productivity has increased.
CEO finds out hard work is hard: In a real life undercover boss move, an airline CEO worked a shift as a flight attendant. He said he was surprised by how hard it was to stay awake overnight and be attentive to customers.
Tacoma aroma no more: The 90+ year old paper mill in Tacoma is closing operations at the end of September. Over 400 workers will be receiving severance and outplacement assistance, the company says.
TWO THINGS TO ASK:
On the rise for once? According to statistics, Seattle-Tacoma area workers experienced a wage increase during 2022-2023, beating the national average. Minimum wage increases and inflation adjustments play into the numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
SpaceX in a Jam? Elon Musk’s rocket company is getting sued by the Justice Department. The department’s head of civil rights says SpaceX “actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company.”
AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:
DoorDash is doing a fantastic job of testing out the Seattle Office of Labor Standards' enforcement of gig worker protection policies – and it’s going great (for workers). DoorDash settled with workers to the tune of $1.64 million after OLS took the app company to task for violating Seattle’s Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) law. That $1.64 million includes $500,064 to 648 workers, $8,630 in fines to the city and $1.1 million in PSST credits for more than 26,000 workers. The settlement demonstrates that organizing to win the workplaces we deserve doesn’t stop at passing the policy: it needs to go hand-in-hand with good enforcement of our standards. Gig companies, like any other employer, need both regulation and enforcement informed by workers’ experiences in order to be held accountable.
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!