Saturday, April 4, 2020
Leaked Memo Reveals Amazon Execs Plotted to Paint Fired 'Not Smart' Worker as 'Face of Entire Union/Organizing Movement'
"In the middle of this crisis they're not thinking about people dying, hurting, or how their own fate is tied to these workers. Nope. They're thinking they've got to hold off the union organizing."
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/leaked-memo-reveals-amazon-execs-plotted-paint-fired-not-smart-worker-face-entire
Amazon executives plotted to smear a fired employee who had organized his fellow warehouse workers over health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak as "not smart or articulate," according to a leaked document that also included plans to paint him as the face of the entire unionizing movement within the company.
The behind-closed-doors remarks also betray the company's public claims that Chris Smalls, who led a walkout at a Staten Island facility earlier this week, was subsequently terminated over workplace violations related to social distancing and not because of his organizing activities.
In a tweet referencing the leaked memo, first obtained and reported on by Vice, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said the language in the notes by Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky referring to Smalls—who was fired Monday—was an example of "a racist and classist PR campaign."
"If execs are as concerned about worker health and safety as they claim, then they should provide the full paid sick leave ALL workers deserve," Ocasio-Cortez added.
Zapolsky made clear in in his remarks detailed in the leaked notes of the meeting that the company would level its attacks at Smalls in an effort to make him the focus of a coordinated smear campaign as a way to distract press coverage away from a focus on Amazon's safety record.
"He's not smart, or articulate, and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him, we will be in a much stronger PR position than simply explaining for the umpteenth time how we're trying to protect workers," said Zapolsky.
"We should spend the first part of our response strongly laying out the case for why the organizer's conduct was immoral, unacceptable, and arguably illegal, in detail, and only then follow with our usual talking points about worker safety," Zapolsky continued. "Make him the most interesting part of the story, and if possible make him the face of the entire union/organizing movement."
In comment to Vice News reporter Paul Blest, who broke the story on Thursday afternoon, Zapolsky said his comments "were personal and emotional" and borne of "frustration" over what the general counsel described as Smalls' endangering of "the health and safety of other Amazonians."
According to Blest's reporting:
The discussion took place at a daily meeting, which included CEO Jeff Bezos, to update each other on the coronavirus situation. Amazon SVP of Global Corporate Affairs Jay Carney described the purpose to CNN on Sunday: "We go over the update on what's happening around the world with our employees and with our customers and our businesses. We also spend a significant amount of time just brainstorming about what else we can do" about COVID-19.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, Carney—former press secretary in the President Barack Obama White House—came under fire from progressives Wednesday for attacking Smalls on Twitter. The content of the memo and the strategy of making Smalls and the alleged danger he presented to his coworkers the focus of the communications push against worker organizing was in full display after Carney claimed that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was acting against the interests of workers by defending Smalls.
"Why are you attacking your own workers for putting each other at risk of infection when your company is the one doing that?" economist Marshall Steinbaum asked Carney.
Smalls, in an opinion piece for the Guardian Thursday, noted that the company was not treating all exposed workers the same and opined that could have to do with efforts to tamp down a surging labor movement at the retail behemoth:
On Saturday, a few days before the walkout, Amazon told me they wanted to put me on "medical quarantine" because I had interacted with someone who was sick. It made no sense because they weren't putting other people on quarantine. I believe they targeted me because the spotlight is on me. The thing is, it won't work. I am getting calls from Amazon workers across the country and they all want to stage walk-outs, too. We are starting a revolution and people around the country support us.
Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said the Amazon memo shows just how much the company fears a rising labor movement growing within its workforce—even amid a pandemic.
"In the middle of this crisis they're not thinking about people dying, hurting, or how their own fate is tied to these workers," tweeted Nelson. "Nope. They're thinking they've got to hold off the union organizing."
'This Is Unacceptable': Trump Administration Says Millions May Have to Wait 5 Months to Receive $1,200 Relief Check
"That's not even remotely fast enough for the millions of working people who have seen their hours slashed, their expenses rise, and their government refuse to take sufficient action."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/unacceptable-trump-administration-says-millions-may-have-wait-5-months-receive-1200
More than 10 million Americans lost their jobs last month and are in desperate need of immediate financial assistance amid the coronavirus crisis, but the Trump administration said in a draft plan circulated internally Thursday that people who do not have direct deposit information on file with the IRS—a group that is disproportionately low-income—may have to wait until September to receive the one-time $1,200 payment authorized under the latest stimulus.
The IRS said in the draft plan that it intends to start sending electronic payments by late next week to those with direct deposit information on file from their 2018 or 2019 tax returns, the Washington Post reported.
During a press briefing Thursday evening, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin—who just last week dismissed surging unemployment as "not relevant"—promised that Americans without direct deposit information on file will soon be able to access a "web portal" to provide their banking details to the IRS."However, $30 million in paper checks for millions of other Americans won't start being sent out until April 24, as the government lacks their banking information," according to the Post. "And some of those checks won't reach people until September, the document shows, underscoring the reality that many Americans could have to wait five months to receive their checks."
Patricia McLaughlin, a Treasury Department spokesperson, told the Post that "the overwhelming majority of eligible Americans" will receive stimulus payments within the next three weeks, but progressive lawmakers and advocates are warning that millions of vulnerable people—including those living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and veteran pensions—could fall through the cracks.
"This is unacceptable," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said of the possible five-month delay in an email to supporters late Thursday. "That not even remotely fast enough for the millions of working people who have seen their hours slashed, their expenses rise, and their government refuse to take sufficient action."
"This lockdown could last for months," said Ocasio-Cortez. "As people lose their jobs, we can't leave them in the cold while big corporations easily access their bailout money."
Others similarly raised alarm about the IRS' estimated timeline, which experts warn could be derailed by technical glitches.
"This is such a stupid disaster. We did not have to have mass unemployment," tweeted New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo. "The policy response could have been to have the government pay companies' payroll, like European countries are doing. Instead we're letting people lose their jobs and sending them too-small checks too late."
The Washington Post reported that the IRS draft plan "would distribute paper checks to the lowest-income Americans first, prioritizing payments for individual taxpayers with incomes of $10,000 or less on April 24."
"Checks for earners of $20,000 or less would be in the mail May 1, followed by those with incomes of $30,000 on May 8, $40,000 on May 15, and continuing in income increments of $10,000 each week," according to the Post. "The IRS plans to issue about 5 million checks each week."
Late Wednesday, the Trump administration reversed policy guidance that would have required millions of Social Security recipients to file a tax return in order to receive their payments. However, critics said the reversal needlessly leaves out many SSI recipients and veterans, potentially causing massive delays in payments.
As millions of people worry about payment delays, many others—including high school seniors, college students, and immigrant families—have learned in recent days that they are not eligible for the one-time $1,200 payments, which are part of a massive stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last Friday."These are important members of our communities living with additional burdens in this pandemic," Chuck Marr, senior director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote in a blog post Thursday. "There's no reason to add to that burden by making them navigate filing a tax return when their government has all it needs to deposit a rebate in their bank account."
Aaron Klein, a fellow in economics studies at the Brookings Institution, estimated Tuesday that around 70 million Americans "are likely to have to wait at least another month, or more," to receive their stimulus payment because they didn't owe taxes—and thus did not file a return—in 2018 or 2019, or they did not use direct deposit for their tax refund.
"Despite being the largest economy on earth we lack both government run real-time payments and universal bank accounts, systems common among developed countries," Klein noted. "Americans shouldn't have to wait for Congress to act. Federal bank regulators have substantial authority to fix these problems. The Federal Reserve could require all checks under $5,000 to be immediately available to consumers, a power Congress delegated in the 1980s."
"Ultimately, where there is a will, there is a way," Klein wrote. "The president appears more interested in putting his name on the check than getting it to Americans as quickly as possible. The response to COVID is exposing a lot of problems ignored for too long. Add our basic banking and payment systems to this growing list."
As Global COVID-19 Cases Top One Million, UN Adopts Resolution Urging 'Intensified International Cooperation'
The resolution passed as the U.N. chief declared that "now is the time to redouble our efforts to build more inclusive and sustainable economies and societies."
by
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/global-covid-19-cases-top-one-million-un-adopts-resolution-urging-intensified
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday evening approved its first resolution on the global coronavirus outbreak, calling for "intensified international cooperation to contain, mitigate, and defeat the pandemic" that has now killed over 55,000 people and infected more than one million worldwide.
The COVID-19 outbreak is a "threat to human health, safety, and well-being," the resolution states, recognizing "the unprecedented effects of the pandemic, including the severe disruption to societies and economies, as well as to global travel and commerce, and the devastating impact on the livelihood of people."The resolution (pdf), titled "Global Solidarity to Fight the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)," encourages all countries to tackle the crisis by "exchanging information, scientific knowledge, and best practices, and by applying the relevant guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization," a specialized U.N. agency.
"The poorest and most vulnerable are the hardest hit by the pandemic," warns the document, "and that the impact of the crisis will reverse hard-won development gains and hamper progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals."
The resolution "emphasizes the need for full respect for human rights, and stresses that there is no place for any form of discrimination, racism, and xenophobia in the response to the pandemic." It also recognizes the efforts of frontline workers and governments to address the crisis.
Sponsored by Ghana, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland, the approved resolution was formally backed by 188 of the U.N. body's 193 members.
In response to the virus outbreak, the General Assembly has temporarily shifted to a "silence procedure" for passing resolutions; rather than meeting and voting to adopt a resolution by a majority or consensus, resolutions now pass as long as none of the member nations object before set deadlines.
The General Assembly declined to pass a rival coronavirus resolution sponsored by Russia. The New York Times reported that "diplomats said the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, and Ukraine objected to the Russian draft, which was co-sponsored by Central African Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela."
In addition to calling for a global response to the coronavirus "based on unity, solidarity, and renewed multilateral cooperation," the approved resolution "calls upon the United Nations system, under the leadership of the secretary-general, to work with all relevant actors in order to mobilize a coordinated global response to the pandemic and its adverse social, economic, and financial impact on all societies."
The resolution was adopted mere hours after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres published an op-ed about the pandemic in the Guardian, arguing that "we are still far away from having a coordinated, articulated global response that meets the unprecedented magnitude of what we are facing."
Guterres outlined a three-point call to action "based on science, solidarity, and smart policies":
Suppress transmission of the coronavirus;
Tackle the devastating social and economic dimensions of the crisis; and
Recover better.
The U.N. chief also highlighted the importance of "aggressive and early testing and contact tracing, complemented by quarantines, treatment, and measures to keep first responders safe, combined with measures to restrict movement and contact."
"The virus is spreading like wildfire, and is likely to move swiftly into the global south, where health systems face constraints, people are more vulnerable, and millions live in densely populated slums or crowded settlements for refugees and internally displaced persons," he warned. "Clearly, we must fight the virus for all of humanity, with a focus on people, especially the most affected: women, older people, youth, low-wage workers, small and medium enterprises, the informal sector, and vulnerable groups."
Regarding long-term recovery efforts, Guterres wrote that "we simply cannot return to where we were before COVID-19 struck, with societies unnecessarily vulnerable to crisis. The pandemic has reminded us, in the starkest way possible, of the price we pay for weaknesses in health systems, social protections, and public services. It has underscored and exacerbated inequalities."
"Now is the time to redouble our efforts to build more inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and other global challenges," he added. "The recovery must lead to a different economy. Our roadmap remains the 2030 agenda and Sustainable Development Goals."
Under Cover of Pandemic, Trump's NLRB Moves to Make Unionizing 'Nearly Impossible for Workers'
"The Trump NLRB takes this moment to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have. Shameful does not even begin to describe this."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/under-cover-pandemic-trumps-nlrb-moves-make-unionizing-nearly-impossible-workers
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule this week that critics warn could make unionizing "nearly impossible for workers" at a moment when employees across the nation are fighting for stronger protections against the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposed rule change from the board—which is controlled by three appointees of President Donald Trump—was published in the Federal Register on April 1. The new rule would eliminate the NLRB's "blocking charge policy," which permits the delay of union election results if the employer is accused of unlawful coercion or other unfair labor practices.
Opponents of the new rule said the changes could empower employees to illegally manipulate union election results and allow a minority of workers to decertify a union that a majority of workers voted to form.The proposal would also allow employees to file for decertification of a union in as few as 45 days after the union is voluntarily recognized by an employer. Under the new rule, a petition for decertification could be filed if just 30% of employees in a bargaining unit support the move.
The rule is set to take effect on May 31 after a 60-day public comment period.
Heidi Shierholz, labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), called the rule change "unbelievable."
"The Trump NLRB takes this moment to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have," tweeted Shierholz. "Shameful does not even begin to describe this."
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement that "the board is effectively sealing off any viable path to unionization at a time when workers need a voice on the job more than ever."
"Donald Trump's caustic hostility to collective bargaining has manifested itself in the most anti-worker NLRB in America's history," said Trumka. "The labor movement will fight these actions with everything we have."
The proposed rule comes as grocery store employees and other workers deemed essential amid the coronavirus outbreak are walking off the job and holding "sick outs" to protest unsanitary workplaces and lack of protective gear.
The new rule marks the second time in less than a month that the Trump administration has advanced a union-busting proposal.
Last month, as Common Dreams reported, unions accused Trump of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to attack organized labor after the Federal Labor Relations Authority issued a rule proposal that would allow federal employees to cancel union dues at any time after a year of membership, rather than in the annual 15-day window established under current law.
In a blog post on Tuesday responding to the NLRB proposal, EPI government affairs director Celine McNicholas wrote that "it is unconscionable that the agency responsible for ensuring workers have the right to a voice in the workplace has denied them the ability to exercise these rights."
"Today and in the coming weeks, many workers will walk off the job over concerns for their health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic," McNicholas wrote. "These workers are risking their lives to deliver services that have been deemed essential to our nation."
"At the very least," said McNicholas, "we should demand that the federal agency responsible for ensuring these workers have the rights to a union and collective bargaining use our taxpayer dollars to conduct union elections for workers who want representation, as opposed to issuing rules that make it harder for workers to have a voice on the job."
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