The online retailer has accused the NLRB’s Brooklyn office of appearing to support the union drive and alleged that labor organizers intimidated workers to vote in their favor, claims the union has dismissed. Citing the Brooklyn office’s conduct, Amazon last month secured the case’s transfer to the NLRB’s Phoenix-based region. That office’s director, Cornele Overstreet, said the evidence behind Amazon’s claims “could be grounds for overturning the election,” according to a filing on Friday.
Some 55% of employees who voted from Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in the borough of Staten Island opted to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which has argued for higher pay and job security. Turnout was about 58%. The election marked the first time U.S. staff at Amazon had decided to unionize in the company’s nearly 28-year history, a victory for organized labor that for years sought more worker protections at the country’s second-largest private employer. Overstreet did not specify which of Amazon’s 25 objections had potential to invalidate the election’s outcome. He said the parties can present testimony starting May 23, after which an NLRB hearing officer will recommend whether to uph…
Read moreThe decision makes the online retailer the latest company after Citigroup Inc, Yelp Inc and others to respond to Republican-backed state laws curbing abortion access, helping employees bypass them. It shows how companies are eager to retain and attract talent in locations that remain important to their operations despite legal changes impacting employees’ health.The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June in a case that gives its conservative majority a chance to roll back abortion rights or even overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. About two dozen states including Oklahoma and Alabama have laws poised to limit abortion access should the Roe ruling be overturned.
Amazon’s new benefit, effective to Jan. 1 retroactively, applies if an operation is not available within 100 miles (161 km) of an employee’s home and virtual care is not possible, the company’s message said. It is open to U.S. employees or covered dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna health plans, whether they work in a corporate office or a warehouse.The reimbursements that Amazon announced on Monday are not specific to abortion. They provide for o…
Read moreThe 26-year-old Burkina Faso native is the star student of a novel project aimed at training asylum seekers in one of Italy’s most emblematic crafts: making leather handbagsAnd after a 15-month apprenticeship, Bassirou has just become the first employee of a small company set up with the aim of turning the project into a self-sustaining venture.
“It is a great opportunity,” he says of his new career move. “I had done a bit of cutting and sewing back home but that was with cloth, not leather.”It wasn’t easy at the start, every little thing seemed difficult, but after a certain point, you get the hang of it.”Bassirou left Burkina Faso in west Africa, and a partner then pregnant with his now two-year-old daughter, in 2015.He says he fled because he feared for his life in the tumultuous aftermath of yet another military coup in the impoverished former French colony.Now he is awaiting the outcome of his application for asylum in Italy and is one of some 400 recently-arrived immigrants being looked after by Lai-Momo, a social cooperative that runs the EU-funded leather skills project in the small town of Lama Di Reno near Bologna.The decision to leave home was not an easy one, B…
Read moreThe company’s Swiss-based Luxury Goods International (LGI) subsidiary has been under investigation for allegedly avoiding tax on earnings generated by Gucci in Italy from 2011 to 2017.”The group has concluded today a settlement with the Italian Revenue Agency relating to claims vis-a-vis its Swiss subsidiary,” Kering said in a statement. “The settlement will involve the payment of 897 million euros in additional taxes, along with further payment for penalties and interest.”
Kering would record a tax charge of around 600 million euros in its 2019 accounts as a result, the company said.The settlement is the largest ever agreed by a company with the Italian tax authorities.Last January, the group refuted the accusations of tax evasion and sought to reassure both the markets and investors, stating, “At this stage of the proceedings, Kering does not have the necessary information to record a specific accounting provision based on a reliable estimate of the tax exposure.”Ultimately, the sum of 1.25 billion euros established by the agreement made with Italian tax authorities is a little under the estimates of between 1.3 billion and 1.4 billion euros reported in April. Howeve…
Read moreThree years on, Choi and other manufacturers operating in Vietnam say they are struggling to break even due to higher transportation and labour costs and weaker sales.They hope the upcoming second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi will lead to an easing of sanctions on North Korea and a revival of the Kaesong facility.
“We were abandoned, then given false hopes, but nothing really changed,” Choi, president of garment maker DMF, told Reuters at his Hanoi office.So far, warming ties between South and North Korea, and last year’s historic first summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore had yet to bear fruit, Choi said.”I hope to see a real change from this summit.”HOPE ON SANCTIONSThe Trump administration has previously said there would be no easing of sanctions until North Korea completely relinquishes its nuclear arsenal.But a week before his second summit with Kim, Trump signalled a possible softening of stance, saying he would love to be able to take sanctions off if there is meaningful progress on denuclearisation.South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who held multiple summits with North Korea’s K…
Read moreAt least five Leicester garment factories have been reportedly forced to close following an outbreak of coronavirus among their workers.A source told the Mirror that more than 20 members of staff had tested positive at one of these factories, including the owner. “Workers have not been furloughed and, when these factories closed, they had no money and so they went to other factories to find work. That is what is spreading the disease,” the source said.
It comes as a report from Labour Behind the Label accused garment factories in the city of ordering workers to continue to report for duty even when they were sick.According to testimony compiled by the campaign group, some factories implemented no physical distancing measures during the pandemic.A spike in coronavirus cases in Leicester prompted the Government to put the city under a tighter lockdown this week. While restrictions continue to be eased in the rest of England, non-essential shops and schools have been ordered to close again in Leicester for at least two weeks to halt the spread of the virus.According to The Guardian, experts have blamed garment factories and food processing plants for the increase in cases…
Read moreThere, in a narrow alley that is covered with plastic, about half a dozen women sit or stand as they braid long strips for use in belts, sandals and bags. They talk and laugh as their fingers fly, knotting each strip at the end when it is done.”I have been doing this for about 10 years. We used to get more work, now we get less, and get paid less,” said Nadelkari, who makes about 100 pieces a day. She is paid about 24 rupees ($0.40) for a set of 12 finished pieces.
“We only get paid once in six months, and they don’t keep proper accounts. But my husband doesn’t let me go out and work, and we need the money, so I can’t say ‘no’ to the work.”Nadelkari and her friends are among nearly 38 million home-based workers in India, according to a 2012 survey by WIEGO, a global non-profit focused on informal workers.Restricted to their homes because of limited mobility and lack of childcare, they are engaged in providing low-paid manufacturing or services for local and global supply chains.The women stitch garments, embroider and attach sequins, make shoe uppers, handicrafts, as well as roll incense sticks and prepare food items such as pickles.Unlike self-employed home-based workers …
Read moreIn the first three quarters of 2018, Dutch consumers spent a total of €1.253 billion at EU e-stores outside of the Netherlands. This is an increase of 16%, compared to the first three quarters of 2017, reports Statistics Netherlands.The number of sales by Dutch e-commerce companies increased by almost 18% during Q3 2018. In the first three quarters of 2018, the number of sales by Dutch e-stores increased by 19%, compared to the first three quarters of 2017.
The revenue of Dutch pure online players increased by 14 percent in the first three quarters. The sales by Dutch retailers operating both brick-and-mortar as well as a web store, increased by 26%. The total revenue of the Dutch retail trade was more than 3% higher in the first three quarters of 2018.Even though cross border EU spending is on the rise in the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands said that it still consists a relatively small part of total consumer spending. In 2017, cross border EU spending compromised less than 2% of the total retail sales in the Netherlands.Statistics Netherlands says that its not always easy for Dutch consumers to distinguish Dutch online stores from foreign ones, because online store…
Read moreAn agreement was signed at the Human Rights and Garment Conference in the Hague, the Netherlands on May 18, 2017.The first trial project will start in Vietnam and Bangladesh in factories from which FWF members and Better Work business partners source.
The FWF and Better Work will join forces to fulfil three primary objectives: coordinating factory assessments to reduce the duplication of audits; streamlining improvement processes so more brands can collaborate on remediation; and making a wider range of training opportunities available to tackle priority workplace issues such as sexual harassment, health and safety.“Together we are capable of better facilitating cooperation between garment brands on improved working conditions. Collaborating with Better Work provides a great opportunity to learn from one other. After all, we have the same objectives, just different approaches,” said FWF associate director Margreet Vrieling.The collaboration will also enable both parties to expand their work in strategic new areas. Engaging new European brands and smaller garment companies will bring benefits for Better Work, while Fair Wear Foundation will gain access to data gathered …
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