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Tag: labor and employment

  • The Fed could easily drive Black unemployment much higher than the overall jobless rate | CNN Business

    The Fed could easily drive Black unemployment much higher than the overall jobless rate | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Millions of jobs could be on the chopping block this year, as the Federal Reserve continues its rate-hiking campaign to tame inflation. But the effects of that action likely won’t reverberate evenly across the economy.

    The Fed has seen some success: Inflation has cooled for eighth consecutive months, according to the February Consumer Price Index. The Producer Price Index shows a dramatic drop in wholesale prices in February. And the Fed’s favored inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, has also started to moderate.

    But the job market has proved to be a formidable force, humming steadily in the face of climbing rates meant to slow its growth. After adding more than half a million jobs in January, the US economy then added 311,000 jobs in February, with an unemployment rate of 3.6% — just above a half-century low — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    However, the jobless rate isn’t expected to be that low for long.

    At its most recent policy-making meeting, the Fed released projections for the year ahead that showed unemployment could jump to 4.5%, representing another 1.5 million job losses, by the end of the year.

    While that’s a small improvement from the central bank’s previous 4.6% jobless rate estimate, economists say it’s possible the unemployment rate could rise above the Fed’s expectations. Moreover, they say that historically disadvantaged groups could be disproportionately affected by the central bank’s stringent monetary policy.

    While some groups often sidelined in the job market have seen benefits from this hot job market — women have seen a faster pace of job gains than men in recent months, for example — others, including Black women and Latino men, have seen slower recoveries in jobless rates since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

    Recession fears gained traction last month when the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent markets wobbling, raising concerns about the economy’s ability to handle more stress. Goldman Sachs revised its estimate of the United States entering a recession over the next 12 months to a 35% chance, up from its estimate of a 25% chance before the banking sector turmoil.

    That’s of particular concern to certain demographic groups: Jobless rates for Black and Hispanic Americans often increase by more than those of their White counterparts during recessions, said Rakesh Kochhar, a senior researcher focusing on demographics and social trends at the Pew Research Center.

    History makes that discrepancy clear.

    A Pew Research Center report comparing two recessions in recent decades shows how Black and Hispanic Americans experience disproportionate effects on their jobless rates during periods of economic downturn. From the second quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2009, during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate rose 6.5 percentage points for Black Americans. The Hispanic unemployment rate climbed 6.3 percentage points. For White workers, it increased 4 percentage points.

    And from the first quarter of 1990 to the first quarter of 1991, the unemployment rate climbed 1.4 percentage points for Black Americans and 2.1 percentage points for Hispanic Americans. The White unemployment rate rose 1.3 percentage points.

    Economists say it’s hard to guess the trajectory of the unemployment rate this year, noting it could very well exceed the Fed’s estimate.

    “There’s just tons of momentum, and once you slow the economy enough to get the unemployment rate moving up, it’s very hard to sort of turn that cruise ship back around,” said Josh Bivens, research director and chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

    As such, the Fed’s tightening efforts could easily drive the Black unemployment rate much higher than the overall jobless rate, said William Spriggs, an economics professor at Howard University and chief economist to the AFL-CIO.

    “If the Fed continues to use unemployment as its measure of labor force slack, and thinks they want a 4.5% unemployment rate — to make that happen, the Fed would have to induce net job loss in the labor market,” Spriggs told CNN in an email. “If we go through two months of negative job growth, all bets are off. The Black unemployment rate will easily get to 9% in that scenario.”

    One other likely consequence of growing unemployment is slowing wage growth, Bivens said.

    Like rising unemployment, stunted wage growth tends to hit marginalized groups harder. A 2021 Economic Policy Institute report shows that a 1 percentage point increase in overall unemployment correlates with about 0.5% slower wage growth for White median hourly wages. Wage growth falls by roughly 0.8% for Black median hourly wages.

    “A lot of people have this idea that in a recession, if unemployment rises by a couple of percentage points, as long as you’re not one of those unlucky people to lose the job, you’ve dodged the bullet,” Bivens said. “And that’s not true at all.”

    Still, a robust labor market isn’t a permanent solution to bridging employment disparities, even if the Fed does keep rates lower, says Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.

    The job market’s recent strength is unsustainable, she said. The US economy needs about 75,000 net job gains a month to keep stable and is currently adding about 350,000 net job gains a month on average, according to Edelberg.

    “[The Fed is] right to be confident that one of the things that’s going to have to happen to get inflation back down to a normal, stable level is to get job growth to a normal, sustainable level,” Edelberg said. “But if the Fed’s actions resulted in a slower labor market, then inflation stayed high — that would be a disaster.”

    The March jobs report from the Department of Labor, due to be released Friday at 8:30 a.m., is expected to show the US economy gained 240,000 positions last month. ADP’s private-sector payroll report, generally seen by investors as a proxy for the trajectory of Friday’s number, fell short of expectations, with just 145,000 jobs added. Economists had expected private hiring would rise by 200,000 positions last month.

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  • Progressive Brandon Johnson will be elected Chicago mayor, succeeding Lori Lightfoot, CNN projects | CNN Politics

    Progressive Brandon Johnson will be elected Chicago mayor, succeeding Lori Lightfoot, CNN projects | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Chicago voters will choose Brandon Johnson, a progressive Cook County commissioner backed by the powerful teachers union, as the city’s next mayor, CNN projects.

    Johnson will win Tuesday’s runoff election over Paul Vallas, a moderate former city schools superintendent who had campaigned on a pro-police message in a race where concerns about violent crime were central.

    Johnson told supporters his victory had “ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city” and demonstrated a “bold, progressive movement” that he said should be a blueprint for the country.

    “Now, Chicago will begin to work for its people – all the people. Because tonight is a gateway to a new future for our city; a city where you can thrive no matter who you love or how much money you have in your bank account,” he said.

    Vallas said at his election night event that he had called Johnson to concede the race.

    “This campaign I ran to bring the city together would not be a campaign that fulfilled my ambitions if this election is going to divide us more. So it’s critically important that we use this opportunity to come together, and I’ve offered him my full support on his transition,” Vallas said.

    Vallas and Johnson were competing to replace Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose bid for a second term ended when she finished third in the nine-candidate February 28 first round – failing to advance to the top-two runoff.

    Lightfoot had sparred with two of the most powerful forces in this year’s mayor’s race: the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Vallas, and the Chicago Teachers Union, which backs Johnson – a former teacher and union organizer.

    The clash between those two unions is part of a larger battle over how the city handled the Covid-19 pandemic – a period during which violent crime increased and schools were shut down.

    Vallas campaigned on a pro-police, tough-on-crime message. He vowed to fill hundreds of vacancies in the Chicago Police Department, and said he would emphasize community policing and place officers on public transit, after a recent violent crime spike at the Chicago Transit Authority’s trains and stations alarmed many commuters.

    He also highlighted Johnson’s history of supporting calls to “defund the police” – a message that became popular with progressives in 2020 in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd but that has since receded amid violent crime increases in Chicago and other cities. Top Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have long rejected the slogan.

    Johnson said during the campaign that he did not want to slash police spending. He said he would promote 200 new detectives, arguing that solving more crimes would increase Chicago residents’ trust in police and deter crime.

    In his victory speech Tuesday night, Johnson nodded to his clashes with Vallas over crime and policing. He said he envisions “a city that’s safer for everyone by investing in what actually works to prevent crime. And that means youth employment, mental health centers, ensuring that law enforcement has the resources to solve and prevent crimes.”

    Vallas and Johnson spent the weeks leading up to the runoff courting the approximately 45% of the electorate that did not vote for either candidate in February.

    They were particularly focused on Black and Latino voters outside of Johnson’s progressive base and Vallas’ support in White ethnic neighborhoods and the northwestern portion of the city.

    Vallas featured Black mainstays of Chicago politics, including former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and former US Rep. Bobby Rush, in his closing television advertisement touting his Democratic credentials.

    Johnson had argued that Vallas was too conservative for the electorate of a city where 83% of voters backed the Democratic presidential ticket in 2020. He highlighted donations Vallas’ campaign received from business interests and Republicans, as well as digital ads paid for by a PAC with ties to former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

    “When you take dollars from Trump supporters and try to pass yourself as a part of the progressive movement – man, sit down,” Johnson said at a rally in Chicago with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders last week.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Taxes and adulting: What to know about filing taxes on your own for the first time | CNN Business

    Taxes and adulting: What to know about filing taxes on your own for the first time | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    For most people in their early- to mid-20s, filing taxes is right up there with having to pay rent and realizing you can’t take summers off anymore: an unwelcome fact of being an adult.

    If you’re a recent graduate working your first full-time job or supporting yourself for the first time, this tax-filing season may indeed be your first experience doing your own taxes without the help of a parent.

    So here are seven things to keep in mind.

    If you’re confounded by filing your taxes, you may think it’s because you’re young and inexperienced. Nonsense. Tax filers of all ages get confused by tax rules and the intricacies of all the tax documents required. And it doesn’t help that tax provisions are tweaked frequently.

    Your tax return is a financial snapshot of your life over a 12-month period, in this case 2022. And a lot can happen during that time that will have tax implications and need to be reported.

    “Think about what went on in your life in the past year,” said Tom O’Saben, the director of tax content at the National Association of Tax Preparers.

    For example, O’Saben asked, did you work more than one job? Did you move for a new job? Did you get laid off? Did you get married or have a child? Did you make student loan payments? Did you make money selling anything you own? Did you buy a home?

    Next, pull together all necessary documentation. In addition to receipts and other paperwork you may have kept, you should also have tax forms that were either mailed to you or sent electronically — from your employers, brokerage firms, college, loan servicers, the state unemployment office, etc.

    You’ll need the information on these forms to fill out your tax return accurately. Keep in mind, the IRS also has a copy of these “third-party” forms that were sent to you, so its systems will flag if there is any discrepancy between what is on the form sent to you and what you put on your return.

    Most people realize what they earn at a full-time job is subject to income tax and that those taxes are automatically withheld by your employer.

    But any side hustle income you generate, or money you make as a gig worker, is also taxable, even if you’re paid in cash or via a payment app. Ditto for tips. And often tax on that type of income is not withheld. You’re just paid a gross amount and will have to set aside money to cover the taxes owed on it.

    Severance payments and unemployment benefits may be taxable too.

    And so is investment income — meaning the profits (or “capital gain”) you make on the sale of an investment or property — which is basically the price for which you sell something minus the original price you paid for it. (Also worth noting: if you have investment income, also called “passive” income, it is taxed at a lower rate than your paycheck — i.e., “earned” income — assuming you held your investment longer than a year.)

    Most dividends and interest payments are also taxable.

    And remember all that lucrative fun you had betting on the SuperBowl or spending a weekend with friends in Vegas? Yup, your winnings from gambling and sports betting are considered taxable income. (The semi-good news is if you had any gambling losses last year, they can offset your wins, so it may be that you won’t owe tax on your winnings if your losses cancel them out.)

    For many of these types of income you should have received forms from your employer (a W2 if you’re a full-time employee); from your clients if you’re a contract or gig worker (eg. a 1099-K, a 1099-NEC) or, starting next year, from the payment apps on which you get paid for your goods and services (e.g., a 1099-MISC). Meanwhile, banks and brokerage firms will send you 1099-INTs (for interest), 1099-DIVs (for dividends) and 1099-Bs (for your capital gains and losses).

    If you live in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington or Wyoming, you don’t have to file a state tax return because those states don’t impose an income tax. If you live in New Hampshire and Tennessee, you won’t have to file a return for your salary and wages. But you may have to file a return if you got income from dividends and interest during the tax year.

    The standard deduction reduces your adjusted gross income. The amount for tax year 2022 is $12,950 for singles; $25,900 for married couples filing jointly; and $19,400 for heads of household (e.g., a single parent).

    “That’s the amount of money you don’t have to pay tax on,” O’Saben noted.

    The only filers who itemize their deductions are those whose deductions add up to more than the standard deduction. Itemized deductions include: charitable contributions, state and local income and property taxes, mortgage interest and casualty loss if you live in a federally declared disaster area.

    But even if you just take the standard deduction you may also take in addition what are called “above-the-line” deductions. These include up to $2,500 in student loan interest that you paid in 2022 (your student loan servicer should send you a Form 1098-E); any contributions you made to a deductible IRA or to a Health Savings Account; and, if you’re a teacher, up to $300 of what you spent on school supplies and personal protective equipment for your classroom.

    [For a fuller list of different types of taxable income (“additional income”) and above-the-line deductions (“adjustments to income”), see Schedule 1 to the federal 1040 form.]

    A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill and if it’s a “refundable” credit, which some are, it can actually increase your refund.

    Some credits to be aware of, especially if you’re not making a lot of income:

    The Earned Income Tax Credit: The EITC is intended to help low- and moderate-income workers (defined in 2022 as those with earned income under $59,187), and especially filers with children.

    The EITC is also available to earners without qualifying children and it’s worth $560 for 2022.

    Education credits: If you were in school last year, footed the costs and are not claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s tax return, you may be eligible for an American Opportunity Tax Credit or a Lifetime Learning Credit. To see if you qualify, here’s an IRS table comparing the eligibility requirements and the value of each of those credits. Also, check to see if your educational institution sent you a Form 1098-T, which you will need if you claim one of these credits.

    The Saver’s Credit: The Saver’s Credit is a federal match for lower-income earners’ retirement contributions for up to $2,000 a year.

    The Child Tax Credit: If you’re a parent you may claim a maximum child tax credit of $2,000 for each child through age 16 if your modified adjusted gross income is below $200,000 ($400,000 if filing jointly). Above those levels, the child tax credit starts to get reduced. And the portion of the credit treated as refundable — meaning it is paid to you even if you don’t owe any federal income tax — is capped at $1,500, and that is only available to those with earned income of at least $2,500.

    And if you paid for child care in 2022, you may be eligible to claim a dependent care credit.

    Your federal tax return is due on April 18. That is the day by which you must have filed your 2022 individual tax return and paid any remaining federal income taxes owed for last year. The only exceptions are for those who lived in federally declared disaster areas, in which case their deadlines are later.

    But anyone can apply for — and will automatically be granted — a six-month extension until October 16, 2023 to file their return if they submit Form 4868 by April 18.

    Note, though, that an extension to file is not an extension to pay if you still owe the IRS more in taxes for last year than you actually paid in 2022.

    So, unless you have good reason to believe you will receive a refund, get a ballpark estimate of what more you think you’ll owe the IRS and send in that check by April 18 if you file for an extension. Otherwise you could be hit with a late payment penalty. And that could be compounded by a failure-to-file penalty if you didn’t file on time or didn’t get an automatic filing extension.

    Sign up for CNN’s Adulthood, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has tips to help you make more informed decisions around personal finance, career, wellness and personal connections.

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  • Oil prices surge after OPEC+ producers announce surprise cuts | CNN Business

    Oil prices surge after OPEC+ producers announce surprise cuts | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong/Atlanta
    CNN
     — 

    Oil prices spiked during Asian trade Monday after OPEC+ producers said they would cut production in a surprise move.

    Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped 4.8% to $83.73 a barrel, while WTI, the US benchmark, rose 4.9% to $79.36.

    Rising oil prices could mean inflation remains higher for longer, adding pressure to a hot-button issue for consumers around the world.

    On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would start “a voluntary reduction” in its production of crude oil, alongside other members or allies of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

    The cuts will start in May and last through the end of the year, an official with the Saudi Ministry of Energy was quoted as saying by Saudi state-run news agency SPA.

    The reductions are on top of those announced by OPEC+ in October, according to SPA.

    That month, oil producers had agreed to slash output by 2 million barrels a day, the largest cut since the start of the pandemic and equivalent to about 2% of global oil demand.

    Saudi Arabia now says it will cut oil production by another half a million barrels a day.

    Meanwhile, Iraq will slash production by 200,000 barrels per day, and the United Arab Emirates will decrease output by 144,000 barrels per day.

    Kuwait, Algeria and Oman will also lower production by 128,000, 48,000 and 40,000 barrels per day, respectively.

    In a Sunday note, Goldman Sachs analysts said the move was unexpected but “consistent with the new OPEC+ doctrine to act pre-emptively because they can without significant losses in market share.”

    The collective output cut by the nine members of OPEC+ totals 1.66 million barrels per day, said the analysts, who hiked their price forecast for Brent this year to $95 per barrel.

    Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry described its latest reduction as a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil markets, according to SPA.

    The White House pushed back on that notion — as well as the latest cuts by OPEC+.

    “We don’t think cuts are advisable at this moment given market uncertainty — and we’ve made that clear,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said. “We’re focused on prices for American consumers, not barrels.”

    In October, OPEC+’s decision to cut production had already rankled the White House.

    US President Joe Biden pledged at the time that Saudi Arabia would suffer “consequences.” But so far, his administration appears to have back off on its vows to punish the Middle East kingdom.

    Russia, a member of OPEC+, also said Sunday that it would extend a voluntary reduction of 500,000 barrels per day until the end of 2023. The move was announced by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, as cited by state-run news agency TASS.

    That decision was less surprising. Goldman analysts said they had forecast the cut would last into the second half of the year.

    — CNN’s Hanna Ziady and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

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  • Starbucks fires Buffalo union worker who ‘ignited a movement’ to organize | CNN Business

    Starbucks fires Buffalo union worker who ‘ignited a movement’ to organize | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Starbucks has fired a Buffalo, New York, worker who “ignited a movement” from one of the first stores in the coffee chain to unionize, Starbucks Workers United said Friday.

    The firing came the same week that former CEO Howard Schultz testified before Congress, where he was grilled by lawmakers for the company’s labor practices and alleged union-busting.

    Alexis Rizzo had been shift supervisor at the Genesee Street store in Buffalo for 7 years, the union said. That store was one of the first of two locations to officially win their union campaigns in January 2022 after the federal labor board certified its results. Rizzo was the worker who first contacted the union.

    “This is retaliation at its worst,” a statement from Starbucks Workers United said. The union noted two other employees were fired and a union leader was written up.

    CNN is still seeking comment from Starbucks and Rizzo.

    “Instead of negotiating a first union contract as required by law, Starbucks has chosen to double down on its illegal union-busting by firing Alexis Rizzo,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted Friday night, saying Rizzo “must be reinstated.”

    The pro-union senator placed pressure on Schultz’s alleged union-busting tactics when he testified before the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions on Wednesday.

    “Over the past 18 months, Starbucks has waged the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country,” said Sanders.

    Schultz noted during the hearing that the company’s baristas earn an average of $17.50 an hour, which is more than the minimum wage in multiple states, “including, respectfully Chairman Sanders’ [state],” referring to Vermont.

    The three-time CEO asserted he prefers the company to have a direct relationship with its employees instead of going through a union, denying the company violated labor laws or that he was a union buster.

    Nearly 300 locations have voted to join Starbucks Workers United. National Labor Relations Board judges found Starbucks has committed 130 labor violations and the agency has issued more than 70 official complaints against it. Starbucks has filed its own series of complaints against the union, and in his testimony before Congress, Schultz said the company considers these claims “allegations,” not findings of fact.

    Starbucks and the union have yet to sign a contract.

    “What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall,” Sanders said during the hearing.

    In a statement, the union said, “Starbucks can fire our leaders, but they cannot stop our movement or stop the public from seeing the truth.”

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  • A grassroots group took on Amazon and won. Then came the hard part | CNN Business

    A grassroots group took on Amazon and won. Then came the hard part | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    When the Amazon Labor Union shocked the world last April by successfully forming the first US union in the e-commerce giant’s history, Chris Smalls, the president and face of the organization, celebrated by making champagne rain on the street and thanking Jeff Bezos “for going to space” while workers organized.

    Smalls, a worker who was fired by Amazon

    (AMZN)     in the early days of the pandemic and then labeled as “not smart or articulate” by a company lawyer, quickly emerged as an icon for the resurgent US labor movement. He went on a media tour that took him from the red carpet to the White House, often clad in his “Eat the Rich” jacket and Versace sunglasses.

    But in the year since the landmark victory, Smalls and ALU appear to have fallen back to earth. Amazon still refuses to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table, dashing the Staten Island workers’ hopes of creating their first contract. The group fell short in its campaigns to organize two other Amazon warehouses in New York, including one across the street from the unionized facility. Meanwhile, Smalls and the union have been grappling with public infighting which, combined with its stalled progress on other fronts, could threaten the union’s future.

    The early struggles for ALU highlight the challenges of taking on one of the biggest employers in the world. It has also renewed questions about whether a grassroots organization, rather than a more established union, is best suited for the task, even though no established union has ever made it this far in organizing a US union at Amazon.

    “I think that’s a lesson here, that an established union would have helped the local leaders in these internal battles to get worked out, and to help them prepare and structure a bargaining approach and strategy,” said Thomas Kochan, a longtime labor researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Institute for Work and Employment Research.

    But in a recent interview with CNN, Smalls was enthusiastic about the state of his union, noting that “it’s been going great,” while pointing to the realities of being a grassroots group.

    “If anybody could do it better, please be my guest,” Smalls said of running ALU. “This is not an established union that’s been around, this a grassroots movement that’s going to have growing pains, and there’s a lot of uncharted water because it’s never been done before.”

    “Our expectations is insane,” he added. “People expect us to be moving like we’re an established union that’s been around for 100 years. That’s not the case, we’re as grassroots as they come.”

    When Heather Goodall and her colleagues started organizing at an Amazon warehouse in Albany, they met with representatives from multiple established unions, including the Teamsters, to discuss the effort. But ultimately, they decided to organize with ALU.

    In the grassroots group, Goodall initially saw a fighter. The union, founded by Smalls after he was fired from the Staten Island warehouse following his decision to lead a protest over pandemic working conditions, was the one group to actually “beat the billion-dollar bully,” as she put it to CNN last year. And the decision of the Albany workers to organize with ALU suggested Smalls’ group could extend its influence throughout Amazon’s sprawling network of warehouses.

    Instead, ALU lost the fight to unionize in Albany in October and tensions later boiled over between Goodall and Smalls, with the Albany organizer telling CNN she pushed back on Smalls’ pay, travel and leadership.

    “I told Christian, ‘We have a problem, you need to stop traveling, you need to focus on the workers,’” Goodall told CNN. “I wanted to protect the integrity of the ALU, so I kept it internal, but some of the challenges that I was arguing with him about started to really shake the foundation of the ALU.”

    Heather Goodall and Amazon Labor Union members rallied at the ALB1 Warehouse in Schodack ahead of their labor union election on October 10, 2022.

    Goodall said the tensions only increased in January, when she said she learned Smalls was earning a salary of $60,000 from the union, and as she questioned how much was being spent by the group to rent office space in New York City.

    “I started to realize that Christian had really convinced himself that he is the end-all and that’s not how a union is run,” Goodall said. “That was kind of the beginning of end.”

    Goodall said she was told to “get on board” and when she continued to raise concerns about union leadership, she said she was eventually removed from her role as chairperson for the ALB1 Amazon facility, and stopped receiving her $300 weekly paycheck from the union in early February.

    Smalls, for his part, did not directly address the claims about her removal when asked. “First of all, there is no infighting because they’re not in,” he said.

    Smalls said that “every union president in this country travels” and defended his salary as a fraction of what other union presidents earn. He said he sees his travel as important for getting young people excited and involved in the broader labor movement, saying, “I’m fighting for workers on a greater scale.”

    He also said he earns money from some of his public appearances, but added that, “I put my life on the line long enough,” after spending more than 300 days unemployed and at the bus stop across the street from the Staten Island facility trying to unionize it. “My speaking engagements is yeah, for my own personal well-being, I was out of a job from 2020 with no help, I have a lot of bills and a lot of debts that I accumulated that I need to get rid of.”

    And despite now rubbing shoulders with celebrities like Zendaya, appearing on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people and gracing the cover of New York magazine, Smalls insists the fame hasn’t changed him. “I’m still a worker who was fired three years ago during the pandemic,” he said. “I’m the same person who I was in 2020, I’ve always done as much as I can, I’m only one person and I can’t be at every place at every given time.”

    Chris Smalls in front of the Amazon LDJ5 fulfillment center in the Staten Island borough of New York, on Feb. 7, 2022.

    Even with her criticisms, Goodall echoed Smalls in calling the infighting at the organization “growing pains” for the budding union and said she is hopeful that ALU will soon make a “comeback.”

    “I don’t care about the money, I’m continuing everything that we’ve been doing,” Goodall said.

    “This can be a learning experience,” she added. “We are going to elect strong leadership and we are going to make this a historic movement going forward and make it about the workers.”

    The union’s stated goal is to fight for better pay, benefits and working conditions for warehouse staff. For ALU to prove itself now, it ultimately needs to be able to get Amazon to the bargaining table and secure its first contract for workers at the Staten Island facility — and show workers that it can win some negotiations with the e-commerce giant.

    “They’re under a lot of pressure,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, “because they went around talking about what a great victory they have. Then everybody says, ‘Okay, what’s next?’”

    Bronfenbrenner, who is also the co-director of the Worker Empowerment Research Project, an interdisciplinary network of labor market researchers, added that not having a first contract a year after an election is “not a big deal” for the union, as “only a third of a third of newly-organized workplaces” meet this milestone in that timeframe.

    “What’s different about this,” she said, is that Amazon is challenging not just ALU’s win but also the “legitimacy” of the National Labor Relations Board. The company has claimed the independent federal agency tasked with overseeing union elections exerted “inappropriate and undue influence” with the Staten Island effort. (The NLRB has pushed back at that claim.)

    An Amazon employee signs a labor union authorization for representation form outside the Amazon LDJ5 fulfillment center in the Staten Island borough of New York, on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.

    Amazon, which has long said that it prefers working with employees directly versus through a union, has signaled it’s prepared to take its fight through higher courts. In remarks late last year at the New York Times DealBook conference, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, in his opinion, the legal battle with the union was “far from over with.” He added: “I think that it’s going to work its way through the NLRB, it’s probably unlikely the NLRB is going to rule against itself, and that has a real chance to end up in federal courts.”

    As Bronfenbrenner put it, “Amazon could stall it forever, and they know that.”

    The union was likely caught off-guard by the struggles that come after winning an election, Bronfenbrenner said. “They were very focused on the organizing, and not having had a lot of experience, they didn’t really think about the battle for a first contract.”

    Now, the public infighting only risks making it harder for ALU to accomplish its goals.

    “They have to resolve those differences, and go to the bargaining table as one united organization,” MIT’s Kochan said. “The longer those internal divisions persist and get publicity, the more emboldened Amazon is going to be to say, ‘See, they can’t even agree among themselves, and we don’t have to do anything, but sit on our hands and this thing is going to fail on its own accord.’”

    But ultimately, Kochan said he thinks it’s important to remember that the workers are fighting a system that is rigged against them.

    “I think the biggest lesson is our labor laws are so badly broken,” he said, “and it needs fundamental change so that we don’t frustrate workers who want to have a union and recognize the uphill battles they have to fight to get a first contract.”

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  • Alabama men’s basketball star Brandon Miller declares for NBA Draft, per reports | CNN

    Alabama men’s basketball star Brandon Miller declares for NBA Draft, per reports | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    University of Alabama men’s basketball star Brandon Miller has declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

    The 20-year-old freshman forward Miller is considered one of the top prospects in this year’s draft class. Miller averaged 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in 37 games played.

    Miller said he thanks “God, my family, my fans and all the coaches at the University of Alabama,” in a statement to ESPN.

    Miller helped lead the Crimson Tide to a 31-6 record and the top overall seed in the men’s NCAA tournament. Miller, playing through an injury, struggled in the tournament and Alabama would go on to lose in the Sweet 16 to San Diego State.

    CNN has reached out to the Alabama athletic department for comment but did not immediately hear back.

    The embattled star did not miss a game for the Crimson Tide this season, despite a fatal shooting near campus which the school said he is a “cooperative witness” in.

    A law enforcement officer testified that another man had texted Miller to bring the man’s gun to the scene, where Jamea Jonae Harris was shot dead in January, according to CNN affiliate WBMA.

    Two men have been charged with murder.

    Miller has not been charged with any crime.

    The Alabama athletic department said in February that Miller is “not considered a suspect … only a cooperative witness” in the murder case.

    The 2023 NBA Draft is scheduled for June 22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

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  • A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN

    A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A train hauling ethanol derailed Thursday morning in Raymond, Minnesota, igniting several rail cars and forcing a mandatory evacuation of the city of about 800, officials said.

    The fire was still burning more than 8 hours after the derailment, the US Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement late Thursday morning.

    “Four cars containing ethanol, a highly flammable product, ruptured, caught fire and continue to burn,” said the EPA, which had members at the scene by 6:30 a.m.

    And there’s a risk that more ethanol could spill.

    “Four additional cars containing ethanol may also release,” the EPA said. “The local fire department is currently the lead for the response and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. The evacuation remains in place.”

    The EPA team is on the ground in Raymond to conduct air quality monitoring.

    Preliminary information suggests 14 of the train’s 40 cars were carrying hazardous material, “including ethanol, which was released – leading to a fire,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Thursday.

    In addition to ethanol, the train was carrying mixed freight including corn syrup, said Lena Kent, general director of public affairs for BNSF Railway.

    Ethanol can explode when mixed with vapor and air. Ethanol exposure can lead to coughing, dizziness, the feeling of burning eyes, drowsiness and unconsciousness.

    First responders work the scene of a train derailment Thursday in Raymond, Minnesota.

    The derailment happened around 1 a.m. Homes within a half-mile of the derailment were evacuated, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said.

    “There have been no injuries as a result of the crash or emergency response,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook. “BNSF specialists are on scene and continued mitigation is occurring.”

    Brittney Phelps and her family were startled by a knock on their door at 1:30 a.m. It was a first responder going door to door telling residents to flee as a precaution.

    “I heard a loud crash but didn’t think anything of it ‘til ambulances were outside the house,” Phelps said.

    She soon smelled the stench of ethanol and saw the wrecked train cars and large fire, Phelps told CNN.

    The derailment happened at about 1 a.m. Thursday, the Raymond Fire Department said.

    The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed a nearby highway due to the derailment and blaze, the fire department said. The main railroad track is blocked, and an estimated time for reopening the line was not available.

    “The City of Raymond is not accessible to the public, so Unity Church in Prinsburg is willing to be a drop off location for bottled water and snacks for the firemen,” the wife of a fire department member said, according to the department’s Facebook page. “These brave souls have been working hard for hours already, and have several hours of work ahead for them.”

    The cause of the derailment is under investigation. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive at the site Thursday afternoon, the NTSB said.

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state emergency management leadership will travel to Raymond on Thursday to visit the site of the derailment, the governor’s office said.

    The derailment happened nearly two months after another train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio – igniting a dayslong inferno, spewing poisonous fumes into the air and killing thousands of fish. The Ohio health department is preparing to offer health tests to first responders as part of a long-term effort to monitor the health of those who responded to the disaster.

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  • UBS brings back Sergio Ermotti as CEO to oversee Credit Suisse rescue | CNN Business

    UBS brings back Sergio Ermotti as CEO to oversee Credit Suisse rescue | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong/London
    CNN
     — 

    UBS is bringing back its former chief executive, Sergio Ermotti, to manage the hugely complex and risky task of completing the bank’s emergency takeover of rival Credit Suisse

    (CS)    .

    The surprise appointment, announced Wednesday, highlights the scale of the challenge facing the Swiss lender as it executes a first-of-its-kind merger of two global banks with combined assets of nearly $1.7 trillion.

    The Swiss government engineered the rescue 10 days ago as Credit Suisse teetered on the brink of collapse, a failure that would have rocked a global financial system already reeling from the second-biggest American banking collapse in history.

    Ermotti was UBS

    (UBS)     CEO between 2011 and 2020 and is credited with successfully overhauling the bank following its bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. He is seen as a safe pair of hands capable of turning around embattled Credit Suisse.

    His second stint in the top job, which begins April 5, means the end of current CEO Ralph Hamers’ tenure after just two and a half years in the role, during which time the bank has delivered successive record results.

    Hamers “has agreed to step down to serve the interests of the new combination, the Swiss financial sector and the country,” UBS said in a statement. Hamers will remain at the lender for a transition period.

    UBS chairman Colm Kelleher thanked Hamers for his contribution but said the board felt Ermotti was “the better horse” for such a massive integration. “There’s a huge amount of risk in integrating these businesses,” Kelleher said at a press conference.

    As a first order of business, Ermotti will need to cut thousands of jobs and downsize Credit Suisse’s investment bank, while aligning it with a more conservative risk culture — a task he is familiar with.

    During his previous tenure as CEO, Ermotti “transformed” UBS’ investment bank “by cutting its footprint and achieved a profound culture change within the bank which allowed it to regain the trust of clients and other stakeholders, while restoring people’s pride in working for UBS,” the lender said in its statement.

    Kelleher and Hamers both highlighted the cultural differences with Credit Suisse. UBS’ smaller rival has been plagued by scandals and compliance failures in recent years that wiped out its profit and cost several top managers their jobs.

    In a fresh blow to Credit Suisse’s reputation, a US Senate investigation published Wednesday found that the bank is complicit in ongoing tax evasion by ultra-wealthy Americans.

    “We do not want to import a bad culture into UBS,” Kelleher told reporters, adding that UBS would put all Credit Suisse employees “through a culture filter, to make sure we don’t import something into our ecosystem that causes culture issues.”

    Hamers said integrating the banks is something he would have “loved to do,” but that he supported the board’s decision, which was in the best interests of the new entity and its stakeholders — including Switzerland and its financial sector.

    The merger is high-stakes for Switzerland’s economy, too. The combined bank’s assets are worth twice as much as the country’s annual output, while local deposits in the new entity equal 45% of GDP — an enormous amount even for a nation with healthy public finances and low levels of debt.

    In the Wednesday statement, Kelleher said the deal “imposes new priorities on us,” while supporting UBS’ existing strategy.

    He added: “With his unique experience, I am very confident that Sergio [Ermotti] will deliver the successful integration that is so essential for both banks’ clients, employees and investors, and for Switzerland.”

    Ermotti told reporters he felt a “call of duty” to accept the role and that during his previous stint as CEO he had believed that an acquisition of this kind was the “right next move for UBS.”

    “I always felt that the next chapter I wanted to write back then was a chapter of doing a transaction like this one.”

    Ermotti is currently chairman of Swiss Re

    (SSREF)     and intends to step down after the insurer’s annual general meeting next month.

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  • The company behind Johnnie Walker and Guinness appoints first female CEO | CNN Business

    The company behind Johnnie Walker and Guinness appoints first female CEO | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    One of the world’s largest alcoholic drinks companies has appointed its first female CEO.

    Diageo, which makes Guinness beer and Johnnie Walker whisky, said Tuesday that chief operating officer Debra Crew would succeed Ivan Menezes, who will retire from the company after 10 years at the helm.

    Crew is to take over on July 1, the company said in a statement. Her appointment means women will make up more than 50% of Diageo’s executive committee, it added.

    Diageo is the seventh-largest member of the FTSE 100

    (UKX)     index and will now become the largest UK-listed company led by a woman. There are just nine other FTSE 100

    (UKX)     companies led by women, including pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline

    (GLAXF)     and bank NatWest.

    Diageo is the world’s fourth biggest alcoholic drinks company by market value, after AB InBev

    (BUD)     and China’s Wuliangye Yibin and Kweichow Moutai. It is fifth biggest if French luxury goods group LVMH

    (LVMHF)    , which sells Moët champagne and Hennessy cognac, is included.

    Menezes is stepping down following a very successful tenure at Diageo, during which the company’s share price has almost doubled. It sells more Scotch whisky, tequila, vodka and gin by net sales value than any other business in the world.

    “Ivan has transformed Diageo’s global footprint, brand portfolio and strategic focus, positioning our business as a clear leader in premium drinks,” chairman Javier Ferrán said in the statement.

    “The Board has diligently planned for Ivan’s successor, and we are delighted to have appointed a leader of Debra’s calibre to the role,” he added. “I have no doubt that Diageo is in the right hands for the next phase of its growth.”

    Crew joined Diageo in 2020 from Pepsi

    (PEP)    Co. She is the former CEO of tobacco company Reynolds American and has worked at Kraft Foods, Nestle

    (NSRGF)     and Mars.

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  • Government to step up efforts to monitor health of East Palestine residents, first responders | CNN

    Government to step up efforts to monitor health of East Palestine residents, first responders | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Almost two months after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, the state Department of Health is preparing to offer blood and urine testing and physical exams to first responders who rushed to fight the blaze.

    The testing is set to start within the next two weeks and will be the first step in a long-term effort to monitor the health of responders to the accident, according to an email obtained by CNN.

    This move closely follows an announcement that a health assessment clinic for East Palestine residents that has been operating out of a local church will become permanent and expand its services.

    Roughly 300 firefighters from 50 departments – many of whom were volunteers – responded to the derailment and fire, which happened the night of February 3 and continued to burn for several days.

    Many of the firefighters had their gear ruined by the heat and chemicals. Some wore breathing apparatus to protect themselves from the fumes and smoke, but others didn’t have or didn’t know that they needed self-contained breathing apparatus to protect their lungs and airways, according to firefighters who were at the scene and spoke with CNN.

    The email about health testing, which was sent to area fire chiefs Sunday, says the long-term monitoring plans for the first responders are still being developed, but a first step will be the physicals, which will include “blood work, urinalysis, and an exam.” It does not describe what the tests will look for or their purpose.

    The Ohio Department of Public Health said in a statement Monday that it “has been working with the East Palestine fire chief to make sure responders’ unique needs are addressed.

    “In early March, ODH began soliciting first responders to voluntarily fill out a specialized After Chemical Exposure (ACE) survey, and more than 200 have filled those out so far. This collects information on type of exposure and PPE worn as well as any health impacts responders may be experiencing,” the statement says. “The next step in our comprehensive plan of ongoing monitoring of first responders involves creating a clinical service within the next several weeks. This service is in the planning stages and many details still have not been determined, but it would include voluntary laboratory testing.”

    In addition to the testing through the health department, firefighters who responded to the derailment will be followed by the Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study, Candice McDonald, deputy chief executive of the National Volunteer Fire Council, said Monday.

    The study, which is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, aims to follow 10,000 firefighters for 30 years to learn more about how their exposures contribute to cancer risks.

    Cancer caused by chemicals in smoke is the leading cause of death for firefighters, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters.

    First responders to the Ohio derailment were among the most heavily exposed to a cocktail of chemicals that spilled into the ground and nearby creeks.

    David Comstock, chief of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, says there are still a lot of unknowns about the nature of the chemical hazards that the firefighters were exposed to that night.

    “One of the things that I’ve raised is, what’s in tank car A? And what’s in tank car B? But what happens when they mix and burn? Now, what do I have?” he said.

    Comstock says that three firefighters from his station responded to the derailment and were 50 to 100 feet from a burning railcar. He asked them what was in the derailed cars, “and my crews couldn’t answer me,” he said.

    It was hard to get information about the chemicals on the scene, he said.

    He arranged physical exams for the firefighters at his station within a week, but he wishes they had happened even faster. He spoke to some doctors who advised blood testing within 48 hours.

    “Your blood, your body, processes many of the chemicals out of it within that time period, that they don’t become detectable at that point,” he said.

    It’s unclear how much information testing will yield now, Comstock said, but he hopes the exams and tests from the Department of Health will offer a baseline so the first responders will know if their health changes over time.

    East Palestine residents will also soon get expanded access to health services. The temporary health assessment clinic that opened in downtown in the wake of the train derailment will remain open permanently, Gov. Mike DeWine testified Wednesday before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

    “We started back clinic shortly after this tragedy occurred. This morning … I met with medical leaders from the East Liverpool City Hospital. And we are announcing today that we’ll be making this clinic into a permanent clinic for the community,” DeWine said last week.

    “This is going to be a full-service clinic that will provide comprehensive care and treatment. Anybody can walk in anyone can be treated. And this is a long-term commitment to the health of the people of East Palestine,” said DeWine, who offered his testimony remotely, from the library of East Palestine High School.

    DeWine gave few details on the services that might be available to the clinic or who would ultimately pay for them.

    Currently, residents can walk into the clinic to get information about their risk, answer questions as part of an ongoing health study, and meet with a physician to get a basic exam and advice on any necessary follow-up care.

    DeWine suggested that these offerings might be expanded under a partnership with East Liverpool City Hospital. His comments were also an acknowledgment of ongoing health needs in the community.

    East Palestine residents are “worried about their future they’re worried about where things are going to be in five or 10 or 15 years. It’s important that they be able to continue to get assessed,” he said.

    DeWine said it would be particularly important for the health of the first responders to continue to have regular checkups.

    “They all need to be assessed. That needs to be established – a baseline – and they need to be assured that in five years or 10 years, there’s still a place where they can go.”

    DeWine said Norfolk Southern would be expected to pay for those things.

    “We look to the railroad to establish that fund,” he said.

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  • Netanyahu announces delay to Israel judicial overhaul plans amid huge protests | CNN

    Netanyahu announces delay to Israel judicial overhaul plans amid huge protests | CNN

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    Jerusalem
    CNN
     — 

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday his controversial plans to weaken the judiciary will be delayed after widespread strikes and protests drove the country to a standstill.

    Netanyahu said he would delay the second and third votes on the remaining legislation until after the Knesset’s Passover recess in April “to give time for a real chance for a real debate.”

    Netanyahu added that he is “aware of the tensions” and is “listening to the people.”

    “Out of the responsibility to the nation, I decided to delay … the vote, in order to give time for discussion,” he added.

    But he insisted that the overhaul was necessary, and reiterated criticism of refusal to train or serve in the military in protest at the planned changes.

    “Refusing is the end of our country,” he said.

    Reacting to Netanyahu’s announcement, Arnon Bar-David, the leader of the Histadrut labor union, announced that a planned general strike would now be called off.

    “The general strike stops from this moment,” Bar-David told CNN affiliate Channel 13, although he warned Netanyahu against reviving the legislation.

    “If the prime minister returns to aggressive legislation he’ll find us facing him. Legislation without consent will be met with a general strike.”

    The original proposals would have amounted to the most sweeping overhaul of the Israeli legal system since the country’s founding. The most significant changes would allow a simple majority in the Knesset to overturn Supreme Court rulings; the Netanyahu government also sought to change the way judges are selected, and remove government ministries’ independent legal advisers, whose opinions are binding.

    But months of sustained protests over the plans drew global attention and rocked the country. The political crisis deepened on Sunday when Netanyahu’s office announced the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a one-line statement, after he became the first member of the cabinet to call for a pause to the controversial plans.

    In the hours that followed, Israeli society ground to a halt as anger at the bill mounted. Netanyahu was also condemned by his opponents and a host of former Israeli prime ministers.

    “We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries,” former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said at the Knesset.

    As he fought to push ahead with his effort last week, Netanyahu’s government also passed a law making it harder to oust prime ministers that was condemned by critics as a self-preservation tactic.

    By a 61-to-47 final vote, the Knesset approved the bill that states that only the prime minister himself or the cabinet, with a two-thirds majority, can declare the leader unfit. The cabinet vote would then need to be ratified by a super majority in the parliament.

    Netanyahu, who is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to appear in court as a defendant, is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He denies any wrongdoing.

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  • Truck fire shuts major Maryland highway weeks after deadly tanker fire in the region | CNN

    Truck fire shuts major Maryland highway weeks after deadly tanker fire in the region | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A tanker crash sparked a massive fire on a Baltimore County interstate Friday morning, state police and local officials said, just weeks after a deadly tanker fire about 50 miles away.

    Firefighters stood back as a yardslong trail of bright orange and red flames roared from the pavement, fueling thick black smoke that rose into the predawn darkness, an image released by the Baltimore County Fire Department shows.

    The tanker overturned and was the only vehicle involved in the crash, Sgt. Arthur Horton of Maryland State Police told CNN. A tanker strike team responded, the fire department said.

    The crash on I-795 forced all ramps from inner and outer loops to close, Maryland’s State Highway Administration said.

    The fire was put out, the fire department said in a Twitter post shortly before 9 a.m., and crews were working with the Maryland Department of the Environment to contain diesel fuel. “Beltway will be shut down for an extended period. Avoid the area,” the fire department said.

    The tanker driver was taken to a local trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

    The crash happened weeks after a deadly gas tanker explosion following a crash on a highway in nearby Frederick, Maryland. The March 4 explosion on US Route 15, about 50 miles west of Baltimore, damaged homes and vehicles and killed the tanker driver. Hazardous materials, including gasoline and diesel fuel, were contained within hours, Frederick County officials said.

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  • King Charles state visit to France postponed amid violent pension protests | CNN

    King Charles state visit to France postponed amid violent pension protests | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    King Charles’s state visit to France has been postponed amid planned protests over the French government’s controversial pension reforms.

    Both France’s Élysée Palace and Buckingham Palace confirmed the trip had been shelved on Friday morning.

    The British monarch and Queen Consort were supposed to visit the country from Sunday through Wednesday, and they would have traveled to Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux. However a decision to postpone the visit was made after demonstrations turned violent in some areas, including Bordeaux, on Thursday.

    Clashes between groups of protesters angry over proposed pension reforms and police broke out after workers staged a national strike throughout Thursday, with flare-ups in Paris and regional capitals. In Bordeaux, demonstrators set fire to the entrance of the city hall during skirmishes with police, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

    The Élysée Palace said in a statement that the King’s state visit “will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”

    “In view of yesterday’s announcement of a new national day of action against pension reform on Tuesday, March 28 in France, the visit of King Charles III, originally scheduled for March 26-29 in our country, will be postponed,” the statement read.

    “This decision was taken by the French and British governments, after a telephone exchange between the President of the Republic and the King this morning, in order to be able to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in conditions that correspond to our friendly relationship,” it continued.

    A Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed the postponement to CNN, adding: “Their Majesties greatly look forward to the opportunity to visit France as soon as dates can be found.”

    A UK government spokesperson also confirmed the King would not travel to France next week, adding that “this decision was taken with the consent of all parties, after the President of France asked the British Government to postpone the visit.”

    Charles and Camilla were due to travel from France to Germany on Wednesday for a state visit. The second leg of the trip is still expected to go ahead.

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  • Inside Vice Media’s descent, why this advocacy group doesn’t want TikTok banned, and more on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

    Inside Vice Media’s descent, why this advocacy group doesn’t want TikTok banned, and more on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

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    On this week’s “Nightcap” with CNN’s Jon Sarlin, Semafor’s Max Tani explains what’s going very wrong at Vice. Fight for the Future’s Evan Greer says the US should not ban TikTok. And “Winner Sells All” author Jason Del Rey explains Amazon’s recent hiccups. To get the day’s business headlines sent directly to your inbox, sign up for the Nightcap newsletter.

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  • Opinion: Why France is fuming at Macron | CNN

    Opinion: Why France is fuming at Macron | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Catherine Poisson is an associate professor of Romance Languages at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Her research has focused on literature and culture of France from the 19th century to the present. The views expressed in this article are her own. Read more opinion at CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    As a native of France who has lived in America for many years, I never fail to be shocked at the sight of older workers packing groceries at the supermarket. It suggests to me a deplorable lack of social supports that could allow aged people to enjoy a dignified retirement.

    While it’s true that some people choose to work past retirement, most of us in this country, at some point or the other, have seen elderly people hard at work in occupations that people many years younger would find taxing.

    And yet, many Americans somehow seem to be puzzled by the recent protests over retirement benefits that are roiling the country of my birth.

    For the past three months, a spasm of demonstrations has gripped France over moves by the government to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. In recent days, French indignation led to a no-confidence vote that President Emmanuel Macron only narrowly survived. A new round of mass protests called by organized labor took place on Thursday — the ninth day of strikes since the bill was introduced in January.

    Schools are closed because teachers are on strike. Transportation, including France’s usually reliable train service, is suddenly erratic because of the work stoppages. On top of all this, Parisians have seen their city’s streets strewn with tons of trash, after sanitation workers launched a labor action in solidarity.

    I return to France for several weeks each year, but have lived in the United States some 30 years and know both countries well. One thing that seems clear to me is that the kind of upheaval playing out in the country of my birth would be almost unthinkable in America. Americans seem not to be able to understand the source of the boiling national rage felt by the French over the planned increase in the retirement age.

    The closest analogy in the United States to anything like what my compatriots are experiencing would be the decision four decades ago to raise the age at which Social Security benefits are doled out.

    And that’s exactly what happened: The US government announced in 1983 that it would gradually raise the age for collecting full Social Security retirement benefits from 65 to 67 over a 22-year period, beginning in 2000. Of course, older Americans care deeply about Social Security — and often cast their votes accordingly. Still, it’s hard to imagine such a change going over quite so easily in France.

    For the most part, the demonstrations in France haven’t awakened Americans’ sense of empathy or solidarity. Instead, it has elicited expressions of sheer befuddlement. What on earth, my friends and acquaintances here ask, do the French have to complain about?

    Life in France is not perfect. But French citizens have a generous health care system, which means workers pay next-to-nothing out of pocket for medical care. University education is nearly free. Unemployment benefits allow laid-off workers to sustain a reasonable quality of life while they look for their next jobs.

    Yes, French workers have all of that. It is, in short, part of their birthright as citizens of France.

    After World War II, both the retirement system and the National Health care system were introduced in France, and though there have been limitations over the last twenty years, social benefits still make it among the most envied countries in Europe in terms of its social programs.

    If Americans are baffled by the French willingness to fight to hold onto these hard-won benefits, it is in part because the two countries have very different ideas about what it means to be a worker. In the United States, work is an identity. You are what you do.

    For those of us raised in French culture, work refers to a finite period of life lasting roughly 40 years. And when that work is done, you are still young enough and fit enough to enjoy the best of what life has to offer. It’s the norm that retirement years — or decades actually — are spent traveling, caring for grandchildren or picking up new hobbies.

    It’s part of our social compact: The French work hard during their most productive years during which time they pay what most Americans would consider usuriously high taxes. But then comes the much anticipated “Troisieme Age” — the “third age.” It’s a concept French people grow up with and cling to fervently for their entire lives.

    The “first age” is childhood. During life’s “second age,” many of us are saddled with responsibilities of work and raising children. The third age however promises a good, healthy retirement free from want and worry — the kind of retirement many in the United States cannot even dream of. It is no wonder that people are willing to take to the streets to protect it.

    The ongoing protests are also seen as a pushback against Macron’s imperious governing style. Years ago, he earned the nickname “Jupiter” — after the king of the Roman gods — as he was derided by some for his highhanded approach to governing — imposing his will, in the eyes of his critics, as if he were a sovereign rather than elected.

    Macron says retirement reform is necessary because the system is near collapse. There’s some disagreement about that, however. The budget appears to be balanced for the next dozen years, although it’s true that falling birth rates and increasing longevity pose a problem that will have to be addressed.

    Still, there are less draconian ways to fix problems posed by a future retirement fund shortfall. For starters, Macron might reverse his move to abolish the wealth tax. He might also reconsider corporate tax breaks that have benefited big business handsomely.

    His administration’s use last week of a constitutional maneuver to bypass a vote in the National Assembly and raise the retirement age is an example of his imperial style. It’s an approach to governing that Macron has used multiple times, including when he passed a budget late last year. And as the protests wear on, there’s been another sign of government heavy-handedness: Macron now has resorted to the “requisition” of some striking workers — in short requiring them to return to their places of employment or risk losing their jobs.

    Such moves are, in my view, an admission of political impotence rather than strength. The president has failed to see politics as the art of persuasion and is instead ruling by fiat. The brutal police crackdown on demonstrators protesting pension reforms led to hundreds of arrests in recent days, another sign that he lacks political deftness. The unions meanwhile show no sign of backing down, and are continuing to organize massive protests urging workers to stand firm and remain off the job.

    So what’s next? Surely the French will continue to take to the streets, something they always do with great gusto. Beyond this, it’s hard to say how this upheaval ends.

    There’s no question that the French are slow to embrace change. I am and will always remain staunchly French, although after many years in the US, I can see that my compatriots need to show greater flexibility. They hold on too long to obsolete aspects of their cherished way of life. It’s time for the French to abandon their “c’est tout ou rien” (“all or nothing”) approach as we negotiate what French society will look like in the future.

    But then I read about the latest moves to raise the US retirement age to 70, and think that my protesting countrymen have a thing or two that they can teach workers in America when it comes to protecting the sanctity of their golden years.

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  • TikTok CEO testifies before Congress for the first time | CNN Business

    TikTok CEO testifies before Congress for the first time | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    TikTok CEO Shou Chew made his first appearance before Congress on Thursday and was immediately hit by intense criticism from lawmakers, including calls for the app to be banned.

    Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, opened Thursday’s hearing by tearing into TikTok, and telling Shou: “Your platform should be banned.”

    “I expect today you’ll say anything to avoid this outcome,” she continued. “We aren’t buying it. In fact, when you celebrate the 150 million American users on TikTok, it emphasizes the urgency for Congress to act. That is 150 million Americans that the [Chinese Communist Party] can collect sensitive information on.”

    In his opening remarks, Chew attempted to stress TikTok’s independence from China and played up its US ties. “TikTok itself is not available in mainland China, we’re headquarterd in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we have 7,000 employees in the U.S. today,” he said.

    “Still, we have heard important concerns about the potential for unwanted foreign access to US data and potential manipulation of the TikTok US ecosystem,” Chew said. “Our approach has never been to dismiss or trivialize any of these concerns. We have addressed them with real action.

    Chew’s moment in the hot seat comes as some lawmakers are renewing calls for the app to be banned in the United States due to perceived national security concerns because of its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance. TikTok acknowledged to CNN last week that federal officials are demanding the app’s Chinese owners sell their stake in the social media platform, or risk facing a US ban of the app. A number of countries, including the US, have already instituted a ban of the app on government devices due to the security concerns.

    TikTok doesn’t operate in China. But since the Chinese government enjoys significant leverage over businesses under its jurisdiction, the theory goes that ByteDance, and thus indirectly, TikTok, could be forced to cooperate with a broad range of security activities, including possibly the transfer of TikTok data.

    With his appearance, Chew may hope to reassure Americans and temper the heated rhetoric in Washington about the app – but the first two hours of the hearing showed just how challenging a task that might be.

    Much of Chew’s attempts to stress that his company is not an arm of the Chinese government appeared to fall on deaf ears. Numerous members of Congress interrupted the chief executive’s testimony to say they simply don’t believe him.

    “To the American people watching today, hear this: TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you, manipulate what you see and exploit for future generations,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers.

    In an exchange with Rep. Anna Eshoo, Chew talked up TikTok’s ongoing efforts to protect US user data and said he has “seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data; they have never asked us, we have not provided it.”

    “I find that actually preposterous,” Eshoo fired back.

    “I have looked in — and I have seen no evidence of this happening,” Chew responded. “Our commitment is to move their data into the United States, to be stored on American soil by an American company, overseen by American personnel. So the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company, asking for data.”

    “I don’t believe that TikTok — that you have said or done anything to convince us,” Eshoo said.

    Perhaps no exchange sums up Thursday’s hearing like a moment following Rep. Kat Cammack’s lengthy critique of TikTok’s content moderation and links to China.

    “Can I respond, Chair?” Chew asked McMorris Rodgers after Cammack’s time was up.

    McMorris Rodgers considered Chew for a brief moment.

    “No. We’re going to move on,” she said.

    As lawmakers doubled down on their questions about TikTok’s data collection practices, Chew also emphasized that the data TikTok collects is data “that’s frequently collected by many other companies in our industry.”

    “We are committed to be very transparent with our users about what we collect,” Chew said. “I don’t believe what we collect is more than most players in the industry.”

    Independent researchers have backed Chew’s assertions. In 2020, The Washington Post worked with a privacy researcher to look under the hood at TikTok, concluding that the app does not appear to collect any more data than your typical mainstream social network. The following year, Pellaeon Lin, a Taiwan-based researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, performed another technical analysis that reached similar conclusions.

    Still, even if TikTok collects about the same amount of information as Facebook or Twitter, that’s still quite a lot of data, including information about the videos you watch, comments you write, private messages you send, and — if you agree to grant this level of access — your exact geolocation and contact lists.

    While national security was expected to be the primary focus of the hearing, multiple lawmakers also highlighted concerns about TikTok’s impact on children.

    Democratic ranking member of the committee Rep. Frank Pallone, for example, said Thursday: “Research has found that TikTok’s algorithms recommend videos to teens that create and exacerbate feelings of emotional distress, including videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.”

    Rep. Bob Latta, a Republican from Ohio, accused TikTok of promoting a video on the so-called “blackout challenge” or choking challenge to the feed of a 10-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, who later died after trying to mimic the challenge in the video.

    Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida also said there is a lack of adequate content moderation, which leaves room for kids to be exposed to content that promotes self harm.

    “Your technology is literally leading to death,” Bilirakis said to TikTok CEO Shou Chew.

    Citing examples of harmful content served to children, he said, “it is unacceptable, sir, that even after knowing all these dangers, you still claim that TikTok is something grand to behold.”

    TikTok, for its parts, has launched a number of features in recent months to provide additional safeguards for younger users, including setting a new 60-minute default for daily time limit for those under the age of 18. Even that feature, however, was criticized by lawmakers as being too easy for teens to bypass.

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  • French airports, schools and oil refineries hit by national strike over pension age increase | CNN Business

    French airports, schools and oil refineries hit by national strike over pension age increase | CNN Business

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    Paris
    CNN
     — 

    French transport networks, oil refineries and schools were hit by widespread disruption Thursday as workers staged a national strike to protest an increase in the retirement age that was pushed through parliament without a vote.

    Though sporadic demonstrations had popped up in Paris and other cities after the French government forced the bill through last week, Thursday marked the first day of coordinated action since then. It is the ninth day of strikes since the bill was introduced in January.

    Only two out of 14 metro lines in Paris were operating a normal service. RER train services, which run in the city and its suburbs, were severely reduced and only half of high-speed TGV trains were working. The nationwide strike has also affected air traffic, with 30% of flights impacted at Paris Orly airport.

    Unionized workers blockaded a major oil refinery in Normandy and another one in Fos-sur-Mer in the south of France, according to a government spokesperson.

    “We are intervening in a targeted manner to unblock oil storage tanks that are blocked by demonstrators,” the minister of energy transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacherin, said in a statement.

    “If the strike is a fundamental constitutional right, blockading is not one… The police is mobilized in difficult conditions and has my full support.”

    The government renewed its requisition order requiring workers to go back to work at the two blockaded refineries, the government spokesperson said.

    The government’s plan to raise the retirement age for most workers by two years was opposed by huge numbers of people. But despite protests that drew more than a million people onto streets across the country, President Emmanuel Macron’s government did not back down. It rammed the legislation through the French National Assembly last week using a constitutional clause that allows the government to bypass a vote.

    The country’s generous pension system and early retirement have long been a point of pride since they were enacted after World War II. Under the new law, the retirement age for most workers will be 64, still one of the lowest in the industrialized world.

    As a result of the refinery strikes, kerosene stocks at Charles De Gaulle airport, which serves Paris, were “under pressure,” and those at Orly airport were being monitored, according to the civil aviation authority.

    Earlier in the day, around 70 protesters blocked terminal one at Charles de Gaulle airport, an airport spokesperson told CNN.

    About 20% of teachers in public education also took part in the strikes, according to France’s education ministry.

    A protester stands near burning garbage bins during a demonstration as part of protests against the pension reform, in Nantes, France, March 23, 2023.

    Macron and his government have defended the retirement reform as necessary to keep the pension system funded. Taxes on current workers pay for the benefits of retirees, and as people live longer — and more baby boomers retire — the system would otherwise eventually go bankrupt, though the threat is not immediate.

    When the proposal was unveiled in January, the government said the reforms were necessary to prevent a projected 13.5 billion ($14.7 billion) euro hole opening up in the pension system in 2030.

    During an interview with two of France’s main television networks Wednesday, Macron said the bill should be enacted by the end of this year. He also defended the decision to push through the reform as financially necessary, no matter how unpopular it was.

    “It’s in the greater interest of the country. Between opinion polls and the national interest, I chose the national interest,” Macron said.

    — CNN’s Joseph Ataman and Olesya Dmitracova contributed to this report.

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  • Jamie Dimon and other big bank CEOs met with top Biden economist Lael Brainard | CNN Business

    Jamie Dimon and other big bank CEOs met with top Biden economist Lael Brainard | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Lael Brainard, President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, met with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and other leading Wall Street CEOs on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter told CNN.

    The meeting comes as the banking industry remains in turmoil following the biggest bank failures since 2008.

    Brainard, the director of the White House National Economic Council, met with Dimon and other big bank CEOs at a Washington event held by the Financial Services Forum, the sources told CNN.

    Beyond Dimon, it’s not clear specifically which CEOs met with Brainard but the Financial Services Forum represents the leaders of eight of America’s biggest banks. Its members include Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

    It’s not known specifically what Brainard and the bank executives discussed, but US officials and regulators have stayed in close contact with bank industry leaders in the wake of deposit runs that collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this month.

    Brainard, who recently moved to the White House from the Federal Reserve, met with Dimon and the other bank CEOs as part of a series of meetings held over the past month with business, labor, advocacy and academic leaders, one of the sources told CNN.

    Representatives for both JPMorgan and the White House declined to comment.

    News of Dimon’s scheduled meeting with Brainard, the former No. 2 official at the Federal Reserve, was previously reported by Reuters.

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  • How frustrated parents of Los Angeles students are getting creative managing their children while school is out | CNN

    How frustrated parents of Los Angeles students are getting creative managing their children while school is out | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Tucked into a small art studio at a California university, Sea Krob took their 3-year-old and 7-year-old to graduate school with them because they didn’t have a daycare option this week.

    They are one of the parents of the half-million students who are out of school for three days because of the Los Angeles Unified School District school worker strike.

    “It’s really frustrating that the one thing that was supposed to be dependable is not,” Krob, 32, told CNN. “And it’s not because the workers are striking, but it’s because LAUSD would rather make time to find volunteers and make plans for our kids not to be in school than just meet the needs of the people that they’ve employed.”

    The stakes are high for school workers, including bus drivers, custodians and other support staff represented by Service Employees International Union Local 99 asking for more equitable wages, more work hours and more staffing to provide better student services.

    It is the same district that shut down for a six-day strike in 2019, when teachers went to the picket lines to fight for smaller class sizes, more staff and an increase in wages.

    This strike has left parents scrambling to find childcare, many cobbling together creative solutions to keep their children on track with school, while also working their full-time jobs.

    For Krob, that’s meant notifying individual professors of their situation and asking if they can bring their two children with to classes. Krob is a full-time graduate student pursuing art at California State University, Long Beach.

    “My partner is out of sick days for the year already – it’s March – so I am on the whims of whatever professor I have to have my kids come with me,” they said.

    For safety and liability reasons, Krob cannot take their children into the art lab where they work, so they had to forgo their lab hours this week, they said. Instead, they are getting creative with how they spend time during the strike and borrowing art supplies from a university office.

    “I just stretched out a big piece of paper so that we could color on it for the three days and make art, hang out and do our best,” they said.

    Krob commutes on public transit two hours each way to get to the university from their Los Angeles home. It’s been an extra challenge doing that with their two children in the pouring rain this week.

    What frustrates Krob, who supports the staff on strike, is that the resources for parents are through the school system, which is shut down, they said. They wish there was more support for parents.

    “I think that the people who are striking are totally within their right and they should be able to engage in a strike and parents still have resources to be able to take care of their kids, and that shouldn’t be cut off.”

    Sandra Colton-Medici, an online business entrepreneur, has two children in two different situations: Only one of them gets to go to school this week.

    Her 5-year-old daughter attends kindergarten at a LAUSD school, while her 3-year-old attends some classes at a private school.

    Sandra Colton-Medici smiles with her two children, aged 5 and 3.

    “I had to wake up both of them and say, ‘One of you is going to school and the other one is not,” Colton-Medici said. “That was a little bit difficult for one to say, ‘But what do you mean I’m not going to school?’”

    Her 5-year-old didn’t understand that her teachers and support staff are marching outside the school, but they aren’t in school today, she said. The 44-year-old broke it down into simple terms to explain the strike to her children.

    “The teachers and the support staff there, they’re going to talk to their employer, their boss, to say we need more to take care of ourselves,” Colton-Medici said. “In order to do that, they have to take a break from school.”

    In a moment of innocence, she says her oldest daughter asked, “‘So do they need money? I have money in my coin purse.’”

    Her daughter’s teacher provided informational and educational packets to do at home and Colton-Medici is doing her best to act as a fill-in educator – all while running her business from home.

    “If I had to grade myself with how I’m dealing with their time off from school and me balancing that thing that people call work-life balance, I would probably say I’m giving myself a 10 for effort and like a six for like completion,” she said. “I know that there’s going to be something that I’ve missed.”

    Colton-Medici’s husband is working in the office, but he stayed at home Tuesday morning to care for their older daughter while she took their toddler to her school. She’s grateful she can also call on her mother if she needs backup childcare, especially since she said there was enough advance notice of the strike to make plans.

    “I know by Thursday, in a few days, it might be a little overwhelming, especially since I do run my own business from home,” she said.

    Thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and SEIU members rally outside the LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

    Colton-Medici said she feels for the support staff when she sees them ushering kids into school, walking them to the nurse or giving them a hug at the end of the day. She knows that some of those staffers work as crossing guards and have double duties.

    She said it’s important to support the people on strike and make sure they are valued. She reminds people that some of these support staffers also have children in school, some of whom may be at home because their parents are on strike.

    “Yes, we are pseudo inconvenienced, but how do you get inconvenienced by your own child?” Colton-Medici said. “I’m just trying to be better, trying to be more of an educator today, in addition to being able to hug my kids because I think that’s really important too.”

    While the strike is inconvenient for parents in the district, Wade Armstrong says he and his wife have the flexibility to make it work with their son, Declan, being out of school.

    “We’re really lucky because my wife and I, we both work at home,” Armstrong, 47, told CNN. “It’s not such a big impact in terms of we have to find child care and stuff like that, which some of our friends do have to do.”

    Yet, the parents are concerned because of the learning time that’s lost for all children during the strike.

    “It’s annoying and we’re sad to see the learning loss for our kids,” Armstrong said. “It’s really coming on the heels of the holidays and with spring break coming up soon, it really feels like we’ve barely even had a spring semester.”

    Their son is a fourth grader, but this isn’t the first time the 9-year-old has been affected by a strike. He was in kindergarten during the 2019 LAUSD strike.

    The previous strike was tougher for the Armstrongs to deal with, as neither of them were working from home and they needed child care. This time around, their son is older and more self-sufficient.

    Armstrong said the materials sent home from school aren’t directly related to what’s going on in the classroom, so he’s focusing more on spending time with his son and having some of Declan’s friends over to help other parents.

    Wade Armstrong and his son, Declan, play with their dogs while Declan is at home on a school day due to the LAUSD strike.

    While Armstrong said he’s “disappointed” that the district and the union couldn’t reach a resolution, he understands why so many staffers are on the picket lines.

    Armstrong said his son talks fondly about classroom aides who help special needs students, and they make time to help the whole class with projects. Cafeteria workers are also doing admirable work, especially after feeding so many children during the pandemic, he said.

    “There’s a lot of the aides and staff in our schools who really aren’t getting paid much at all and I know how essential they are from what my son tells me about his days in school,” Armstrong said. “I hope they get paid.”

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